Question

Please analyze how Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's lyrics in Beyoncés song flawless (song lyrics will be inserted at bottom) refers to gender and sexuality and demonstrates an awareness of how language and meaning are shaped by culture and context. Explore the way Adichies uses language and how she influences her audience and gives meaning to her speech.

also this question is not exactly related to psychology but their wasn't an option for English.

lyrics:

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."
Because I am female
I am expected to aspire to marriage
I am expected to make my life choices
Always keeping in mind that
Marriage is the most important
Now marriage can be a source of
Joy and love and mutual support
But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage
And we don't teach boys the same?
We raise girls to see each other as competitors
Not for jobs or for accomplishments
Which I think can be a good thing
But for the attention of men
We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings
In the way that boys are
Feminist: the person who believes in the social
Political, and economic equality of the sexes

Answer 1

Adichies through her poem is not enforcing anything about feminism on her readers,rather,she is opening the eyes of her readers to look into themselves to find out the practices that they have been following intentionally or unintentionally regarding the gender bias.The author is expressing herself through the poem and questioning the existence of such practices in the society that are challenging to human dignity. She is giving an insight of how such practices of discrimination on the basis of sexes creates a narrow cage for both men and women, how they are both expected to behave accordingly and how they are limited by this line of gender in expressing themselves as human beings .