The Era of the Sensitive Soul?

The game is surely up when one of our most prominent icons, the archetypal “Independent Woman” of our time admits that all the feisty demands that any prospective suitor be prepared to “put a ring on it” or witness the proud and flirtatious exploits of the newly liberated Single Lady were in fact the projections of fancy, voiced by Sasha Fierce, Beyonce’s alter ego who it would appear is a cipher for all the strength, attitude and resolution expected of our female icons these days – Sasha looks and sounds like Beyonce but makeup, costume and rousing choruses aside is just a construct – a character who bears as much relationship to the woman herself as Thomas Harris did to Hannibal Lecter (we hope).

So are we disappointed or relieved? Does the position of the feminist cause within the 21st century mean that it is now ok to be a sensitive soul? Is there now hope for the romantic? Or has Beyonce dropped the ball – is it icons like the newly ousted Sasha Fierce that prolong the cause long after today’s women have extinguished their bras and returned to the kitchen? If sisters can no longer do it for themselves and we need to hide behind our Sasha Fierces then surely we shouldn’t expose our apparent strength and defiance as simple illusion. Unless, that is, we have outgrown this phase and entered a gentler age, in which women no longer need to enforce their rights because they have been granted – the point of true equality.

Has feminism reached a point of redundancy or have we reached a new peak of liberation at which we can now cast off our harder alter egos in favour of our softer selves without compromising our right to male respect? Does female empowerment lie with the feminine? Have we come forward in going back to more traditional, softer female identities or had we never left them in the first place?

Do we waive our right to female empowerment when we choose girlishness or does the power lie in accepting these traits on our own terms?

The right to follow Beyonce’s lead and proudly advertise who “I Am” while reserving the right to unleash a more forceful “me” should the situation demand it is surely the best of both worlds while also being illustrative of the divisive influence that social change has on those who do not fully subscribe to the old or the new. The underlying message appears to be that in order to champion the cause of female equality while also maintaining the qualities which make us female most of us have to divide (ourselves) in order to conquer.