Gender Dynamics in "If I Was a Boy"

In Beyonce Knowles’ “If I Were a Boy” she describes the internal struggle of being a woman in a heterosexual relationship. She posits the idea of changing the gender dynamic of the relationship, even playing with the notion of becoming a man herself. Knowles, by changing the gender dynamic of her relationship, makes clear that women in normal heterosexual relationships are not allowed the same freedom, or happiness that men are allowed. She offers as the alternative of homosexuality to these normal heterosexual problems, stating that heterosexual relationships will never be equal, and that only a woman is truly capable of appreciating another woman’s love.

In a normal heterosexual relationship such as Knowles is describing the role of the women is to be more of a follower than a leader. This gender dynamic seems to me to be a bit outdated. The opening lines of the song are some of the most telling of the entire piece. “If I were a boy even just for a day I’d roll out of bed in the morning. I’d throw on what I wanted and go drink beer with the guys”. Here Knowles is speaking to the injustice of being a woman. She feels that it is her position in society to act a certain way, even if that way is not how she wants to act. She feels forced into doing things that she does not always want to do. She watches her lover and how he acts. She daydreams about how nice it would be to be able to act as he does, seemly without a care in the world.

Later in the song she describes to the listener that if she were a man she would be more capable of loving a woman properly. This is because she understands how it feels to be hurt by a man. Knowles appears to be playing with the notion of homosexuality as a possible escape from the shackles of heterosexual relationships. “If I were a boy I think I could understand how it feels to love a girl I could be a better man.” Knowles appears to be stating that a possible outlet for women who feel the way she does is to be with another woman. Instead of reversing the gender dynamic she reaches the conclusion of changing it entirely to include two females.