Further, Cardi could have replaced “Dasani” with “water,” which would have still successfully illustrated her vagina as wet. Cardi’s objectification makes her so powerful as a sexual being that men not only desire her but need her to survive. In the third verse of “WAP” and in a nod to the song’s title, Cardi refers to her vagina as “punani Dasani.” Cardi’s linguistic objectification assigns newfound importance to her vagina, as it is not only objectified as a bottle of water––a consumable good––but a necessary one, as water is essential to human existence. ![]() Cardi’s sexual power grows even more as a result of her lyrical self-objectification. ![]() This objectification visibly buttresses Cardi and Megan’s sexual confidence as seen in their impressed facial expressions as they interact with the sculptures, which translates into pride in their own bodies. The sculptures themselves reveal to the duo that, as sexually powerful figures, they deserve to be cast in valuable metal and mounted on the walls for all to see. The camera quickly pivots from focusing on the sculptures to the women’s own buttocks and breasts, clarifying the link between the sculptures and the rappers. ![]() Cardi and Megan further objectify themselves through golden sculptures of buttocks and breasts, also with water flowing out of them. By portraying their naked bodies as larger-than-life objects of visual consumption, Cardi and Megan emphasize their significance as sexual beings worthy of commemoration. Rather, I argue that the statues bolster Cardi and Megan’s quest for sexual power. The statues of the women ask us to read the women themselves as inanimate physical objects, but Cardi and Megan’s objectification does not strip them of their agency. Within the first few seconds, the property gates open to reveal a revolving statue of two naked women, mirroring Cardi and Megan down to the smallest details, such as the statues’ hairstyles, with water flowing from their breasts, legs spread open, and tongues stuck out. In their 2020 music video for their song “WAP,” Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion upend our cultural expectations by presenting self-objectification as a tool for attaining sexual power.Ĭardi and Megan objectify themselves throughout the video. I argue that, in opposition to much female objectification in rap music, Cardi and Megan objectify themselves as a means to an end––and that end is ultimately a feminist one that highlights their own power. Cardi and Megan similarly denigrate themselves, yet they use self-subjugation as a mode of sexual pleasure. ![]() Especially for Black women and especially in the world of rap music, women’s embodied power has been denied. Cardi and Megan further objectify themselves through visual images, as the singers appear in their video in what is essentially a museum of women’s bodies clearly made to be looked at for pleasure. The publicly available YouTube version of “WAP” censors the words “wet-ass pussy,” replacing them with “wet and gushy,” but the explicit and self-objectifying lyrics––too risqué even for YouTube––evoke sex positivity and celebration of women’s bodies and power. Premiering in August 2020, in the midst of that summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, the video highlights performances exclusively from other famous women of color, with the exception of white reality television star Kylie Jenner opening a door. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s sexually-charged “WAP” (“Wet-Ass Pussy”), both its lyrics and accompanying music video, features two Black women performing in a colorful mansion flooded with water and filled with statues of ample buttocks, roaming wild animals, snakes, and an indoor pool.
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