This backstage footage features Nicki Minaj’s commentary on the different standards encountered by female performers compared to their male counterparts. Minaj begins by contending, “you have to be a beast – that’s the only way they respect you.”  She then contrasts her own behavior with that of notoriously demanding male stars – namely, Lil Wayne – for whom respect comes easily. Exasperated, Minaj suggests, “when you’re a girl, you have to be everything. It’s not enough to be good at what you do. You have to be sweet, and you have to be sexy, and you have to be this… I can’t be all those things at once, I’m a human being.”

discussion

What are the double standards to which Minaj is referring?  Do these apply only to celebrities and music stars? How do ideas about what constitutes acceptable behavior for male compared to female stars compare with the behavior of everyday people?

What is the significance of Minaj’s remarks about Donald Trump and Martha Stewart?

What connections between money, power, and sex is Minaj insinuating?