Flawlessness courtesy of Beyonce.

Editor’s Note: We like to keep profanity, violence, and misogyny to a minimum at Progressive Pupil, but ‘Yonce said some things that need address. There is some strong language to follow. 

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller

We say to girls “You can have ambition, but not too much

You should aim to be successful, but not too successful

Otherwise you will threaten the man”

These powerful words from feminist and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have become an anthem for women’s liberation and empowerment in Beyonce’s song Flawless. The I woke up like this anthem started a short-lived craze of women posting selfies in online forums like tumblr as a showing of self-love. These women appear to feel empowered by the pride, inspiration and permission Beyonce has given them to be themselves. This selfie phenomenon would have more clout if Beyonce’s pictures were less than perfect – we see enough images in the media of unattainably perfect looking women.

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