The ‘I Luh Ya Papi’ popstar has quietly and consistently reinforced a feminist model through performance and was recently appointed the UN’s first ever Global Advocate for Girls and Women

Text Kat George

We look for feminist role models in pop culture and celebrity all the time. We question if this artist is feminist enough, if that video is reductive to women, and what more the artists and performers that we admire can be doing to champion the feminist cause. And for the most part, artists are responding, co-opting “feminism” as a buzzword to promote conversation around their releases and sell tracks and tours. But there are some who don’t shout “feminism” from the rooftops but who do happen to consistently reinforce a sincere and just as important feminist model not only through performance, but in character. Jennifer Lopez, for instance. That’s right: J.Lo might be the most overlooked feminist celebrity icon you never knew we already had. J.Lo is quietly a feminist force, and one who doesn’t ask you to pat her on the back for it (not that there’s anything wrong with the loud and proud feminist). If you look at her musical discography, she’s been championing women for nearly two decades, and has been severely underappreciated for it. As early as 1999’s On The 6, Lopez had a succinct and demanding message about womanhood that she’s unrelentingly carried on throughout her career: that female self-sufficiency rules, she deserves a man who supports that, and supports her. “If You Had My Love”, the song that launched J.Lo into the musical world, essentially defined this premise, as she sang, “Now if I give you me, this is how it's got to be”, laying out the exact expectations she has of a man if she were to hand over her heart.

Much of J.Lo’s music adheres to the same theme, unendingly faithful to the idea that a woman is entitled to know and ask for what she wants, and expect respect and strength from her relationships in kind. She acknowledges the struggle with this in “I’m Real” (2001) where she sings, “And when I'm feelin' sexy/ Who's gonna comfort me/ My only problem is/ Their insecurity.” Lopez message was, and has since been, clear in its insistence that a woman doesn’t have to bend for love, and that when she’s giving herself wholeheartedly to a relationship, that relationship must serve her immaculately. Where love is more of a burden than a tool, Jenny praises, “The strength to stand alone” (“Alive”, 2002), and in “I’m Gonna Be Alright” (2002) puts her own interests first when leaving a relationship – “Though it brings tears to my eyes / I can feel it And I know inside that I'm gonna be alright”, a sentiment seconded in “All I Have” (2003) where she sings “All my pride is all I have.” Unlike the widely accepted social idea that a woman’s fulfillment is based on her ability to keep a romantic relationship together, J.Lo suggests that autonomy and self-love are more important for women than enduring toxic treatment as payment for companionship. In direct contradiction to the biggest hits around the same time like On The 6 TLC’s “No Scrubs” and Destiny’s Child’s “Bills Bills Bills”, which put the onus on the male to have money rather than on the woman’s financial independence way that can be considered central to her construction of the feminine persona. In “Feelin’ So Good” (2000) she sings, “I'm feeling so good/ I knew I would/ Been taking care of myself/ Like I should,” while her anthem “Jenny From The Block” (2002) sees her “In control and loving it”.

“‘I Luh Ya Papi’ sees J.Lo taking on those masculinities: languishing in a mansion with her entourage, partying on a yacht surrounded by half-naked men, and in all senses truly flipping the gender roles generally associated with music videos”

Her liberation through financial independence sets the precedent for her to demand more from relationships in her music, and indeed, destroy the kept woman/damsel in distress paradigm that plagues so many pop representations of women. It’s all there in the title of “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” (2000), in which she sings “What I need from you is not available in stores,” or in “Do It Well” (2007) where to her romantic interest she asserts, “I ain't takin' no cash or credit, just a guarantee.” It’s something that just now is beginning to gain precedence with pop stars like Beyonce, Nicki Minaj and even Kim Kardashian, who point to their financial success as a sign of independence and ownership of their identity, something J.Lo has been proclaiming, consistently and perhaps prophetically, since the late 90s. J.Lo has also managed to upturn many notions about the “unruly” woman through her music, with a true commitment to a party that seems to be constantly going on in her world. “Let’s Get Loud” (2000), “Play” (2001)”, “Get Right” (2005), and most recently her Pitbull collaborations like “On The Floor” (2011) and “Live It Up” (2013) put her in traditionally male shoes: popping bottles and partying it up with hotties on the dance floor. The most flagrantly feminist J.Lo has ever been, in this respect, is in her video for 2014’s “I Luh Ya Papi”, which explicitly addresses the way women are hyper-sexualized in music videos, and the way men employ certain tropes in their videos in order to enhance this objectification. “I Luh Ya Papi” sees J.Lo taking on those masculinities: languishing in a mansion with her entourage, partying on a yacht surrounded by half-naked men, and in all senses truly flipping the gender roles generally associated with music videos.