Madonna Louise Ciccone has remained in the public eye for as long as I can remember. In 1983, the year I was born, she came out with her debut album entitled Madonna. By the time MTV became my lifestyle, she was already emerging as the trashy and irreverent pop sensation that led to a fashion revolution of girls in fishnet stockings and wild hair. She has long outgrown her youthful exuberance exemplified by songs like “Material Girl” and “Like A Virgin” and has reportedly ‘tamed down’ (http://www.madonnamusic.com) and has taken the role of a mother to Lourdes and Rocco, the latter with second husband, Guy Ritchie. But for more than fifteen years, she has been ever present as a subject of great public scrutiny as well as fascination. Her talent as a performer is unquestionable, consistently improving with each of her eight LPs and breaking through as an actress with Evita. But perhaps it is her incessant thirst to shock people and create controversy that Madonna has never ceased to leave the scene.

What It Feels Like For A Girl from her l

Though written in anger, the song actually does not come off as a protest of women demanding society for respect. It does not advocate feminism or say women are greater than men. Instead the lyrics provide an idea of the mindset that society forces women to swallow—that being a woman is degrading. It expresses the frustrations of trying to be the best, of having the freedom to speak their minds and express themselves, and yet being treated unfairly largely because of their sexuality. This song is a plea for women to be understood—to, simply put, “know what it feels like for a girl in this world.”

As a performer, the image she projected was “selfish, vulgar and sexual”(83), qualities considered offensive for a woman to possess. Sexually uninhibited and aggressive, her marriage to Sean Penn and involvement with John Kennedy, Jr. and Dennis Rodman developed into huge controversies as well. Certainly, there is a constant drive in her to unabashedly express her female sexuality. She admits, “I’m angry with the way I was brought up. Angry about how sexist this society we live in is. Angry with people who assumed that because I had a sexuality I couldn’t be talented.” (245)

What It Feels Like For A Girl ‘s trance-y melody together with its simple yet well-chosen words is immensely comforting. Its lyrics speak of the unfair treatment

Some topics in this essay:
Feels Girl, Cement Garden, Madonna MTV, Girl Music, Guy Ritchie, Dennis Rodman, Louise Ciccone, feels girl, Lourdes Rocco, Sean Penn, girl degrading, patriarchal society, speak minds,