How to be a Feminist and love Reggaeton

Violent and vulgar, loved and loathed, reggaeton is one of the world’s most controversial musical genres, and also one of the most popular. Criticised for its sexist lyrics and degradation of women; is it possible to be feminist and love reggaeton?

Even those who don’t want to admit it have danced to Despacito like there’s no tomorrow at some point this year, with the hit song holding the record for the most watched video of 2017 in more than 40 countries according to Forbes. Like in most reggaeton videos, Despacito has a leading lady, wearing few clothes and with a physique beyond the reach of normal women (without surgery). But Despacito is an example that is relatively PG. In other videos and songs, women are often objectified, paraded as sexual objects, with lyrics so shocking that there have even been petitions for censorship.

Despite all of this: I am a feminist, and I love reggaeton. How do you reconcile the two?

While in Puerto Rico, I learnt reggaeton with Coabey Dance Academy, working on a basic routine to a mash-up of hits by Puerto Rican artists. Our version of reggaeton was girl power. But what I hadn’t expected was that this experience was going to change my outlook.

Months before embarking on my Bailando Journey to learn how to dance, a friend and I talked about how, just once in our lives, we would like to be thin enough to get away with wearing a short crop top. When I was asked to wear one for my reggaeton video, I was horrified, but eventually accepted. Something about Puerto Rico had changed me. I saw women of all shapes, sizes and ages wearing whatever they wanted, and carrying it so well. They don’t care what other people think. They looked great not because they had perfect bodies, but because they exuded confidence. For the first time in my life, at 30 years old, I bought clothes I had never imagined wearing, and it was strangely liberating.

When it came to filming the video, I was a bit worried about some of the ‘riskier’ moves in our choreography. Having worked on women’s empowerment and gender equality issues, would it make me a hypocrite to dance like this and post it on YouTube? But talking with people at the dance school, they had something to say that changed my perspective:

Did you ever think that being able to wear whatever you want, and being able to dance however you want, might make you a feminist?

I was stunned and started to think about the reasons why I had even felt ashamed of dressing or dancing in this way in the first place. Fear. Fear of being judged, of confirming a stereotype, of being harassed, or worse, attacked. A fear that is driven by prejudice – that a woman is ‘too fat’, ‘too easy’ or ‘asking for it’ because she dresses or behaves in a certain way. That’s when I realised that something was terribly wrong. So I decided to stop caring and bought more crop tops.

There is even a whole feminist reggaeton movement. One Mexican vlogger even went as far as making an amusing parody that makes fun of ‘machismo’, while one of the most emblematic songs “Yo quiero bailar”, the 2002 hit by Ivy Queen, the ‘Queen of Reggaeton’, calls on women to dance however they want, with whom they want, whenever they want.

Porque yo soy la que mando, soy la que decide cuando vamos al mambo

Because I’m the one who gives the orders, the one who decides when we’re going to mambo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acOk35Crs7Q&list=RDacOk35Crs7Q

Following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, the worst natural disaster the island has seen in almost a century, many have been left with nothing. Please think about making a donation to Tainas Unidas Inc, a group of women in New Jersey, including salsa dancer Griselle Ponce, who are working with partners on the ground.

You can donate here: Tainasunidas.org/donate