'If I Were A Boy' Gender Representation Analysis

If I Were A Boy, Beyoncé, 2008

Beyoncé's "If I Were A Boy" music video revolves around role reversal, the lyrics of the song are amplified throughout, focusing on the contrasts between how a male and a female act in a relationship. The video goes through the day in the life of a couple, of which Beyoncé plays the typical male character in the relationship, and the husband is typically female.

We see the husband cooking breakfast for his wife, hoping to eat together, but she doesn't have time and leaves for work. Within the video, Beyoncé is a police officer, which is a very male dominated profession because the qualities required for law enforcement are typically found in males, including authority, bravery and confidence. Beyoncé exhibits these when stopping drivers, practicing target shooting and arresting people. On the other hand the husband is a secretary, a typically female dominated profession. While he is at work he is online, looking for a gift to give to his wife.

Beyoncé's coworker is male, who appears to be attracted to her and after their shift they go to a restaurant with other colleagues, during which Beyoncé ignores her husband's calls. In contrast, her husband chooses not to go out with his colleagues, all of which are female, this may be because he is thinking of his wife, showing his commitment to the relationship.

Later on Beyoncé, her husband and her coworker attend a party and Beyoncé is flirting with her coworker while her husband stands alone. When she notices him watching she heads over to talk to him but he rejects her, leaving while she follows. They drive home in silence and the husband confronts Beyoncé about what happened at the party. He says "You know, when you act like that, I don't think you realise how it makes me look, or feel." to which she responds "Act like what? Why are you so jealous? Its not like I'm sleeping with the guy." At that point the roles are reversed, or obversed, as it appears that in reality, the husband is the police officer, flirting with his female colleagues, while Beyoncé is the wife, having her calls ignored by her husband. The audience realises that while wife's actions which seemed abnormal during the video, flirting, ignoring calls, taking her husband for granted, may look very normal if we had flipped it and seen the husband flirting, ignoring calls and taking his wife for granted. This time, the husband says "Why are you so jealous? Its not like I'm sleeping with the girl." in a joking manner, acting like its nothing.

At the end of the video everything is back to normal and the husband is walking down the stairs, not having breakfast with his wife and putting on his uniform before heading out to meet his female co-worker.