The Queen Bee Phenomenon: A Colonial Impulse

Queen Bee Behaviour: Colonial Coping Among Today’s Pop Divas

The pop divas of today have been cast into rigid categories, expectations, and ideals: they are expected to bend over backward for the male gaze, remain a role-model for the children watching, all while keeping their spots secured for themselves in a lucrative male-dominated music industry.1 So why are women in pop so often embroiled in controversies and catfights with one another? Consider Taylor Swift’s much-hyped diss track against Katy Perry “Bad Blood” back in 2014 and Katy Perry’s not-so-subtle revenge song, “Swish Swish” back in 20172: they both know that their cuts at each other will generate more attention and amount to greater dollar signs for them than any innocent ballad. Consider Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s ongoing tension as women in hip-hop: the first interview Cardi B did after they were both featured on Migos’ 2018 track, “Motorsport,” she acted oblivious to Nicki’s part in the song saying, “Oh, I didn’t hear that. I didn’t hear that verse.”3 Nicki capitalized on her bad blood with Cardi on Beats 1’s Zane Lowe to promote the first two singles of her album––her tears and anger captured the attention of the public more than any of her solo music releases. Consider Mariah Carey’s response to being asked about her pop rival, Jennifer Lopez, by paparazzi in the early 2000s when she innocently answered: “I don’t know her.”4 Except she did know her: their feud allegedly originated in 2001 when Mariah heard the sample she planned on using for her own song “Loverboy” in Jennifer’s “I’m Real.”5 Mariah used a variation of the now-iconic reply when asked by talkshow host Andy Cohen about Demi Lovato: “She should come up to me, introduce herself,” and additionally when asked about Ariana Grande and the common comparisons between the both women’s vocals: “Honestly, I’m not familiar.”6

Are women in pop music hopelessly catty? Can the pop divas of today be diagnosed with a case of queen bee syndrome? Psychologists at the University of Michigan in 1973 first explained the queen bee syndrome as describing a woman in a position of authority in a male-dominated environment who treats subordinates more critically if they are female and may refuse to help other women at all.7 Potential culprits of this phenomenon pride themselves on occupying a limited position as a woman in a male-dominated industry and so they engage in “self-group distancing”8 which is common in situations of under-representation. This takes place because other women pose a dire threat to their seemingly scarce position of power and influence.9 The fears of today’s pop divas may be well-founded as studies have shown that the music industry is far from accomplishing gender parity. Based on the University of Southern California Annenberg study from January 2020, titled “Inclusion in the Recording Studio?” women represent less than one-third of all performers, 12.5 percent of songwriters across 800 songs, and 2.6 percent of producers across 500 songs.10

As women in pop distance themselves from each other and their fans subsequently buy into this maneuver filled with internalized misogyny, the ideas of queen bee behaviour are reinforced: that only one woman at a time can occupy the throne of a particular pop niche.11 This sets off a series of performative mudslinging which forces aspiring musicians to participate in these often unfair competitions among women.12

Perhaps queen bees are less common than we think. Because women are stereotyped as kind and men as aggressive, women are judged more harshly when they violate the expected standards of niceness for their gender––we more quickly perceive them to be meaner and cattier than men.13 These queen bee behaviors prove not to be inherently female, however. This is a natural way of reacting to discrimination when belonging to a nondominant group.14 The “queen bee syndrome” is an unhelpful label; it places the blame on women, when in reality, these behaviours are a product of discrimination perpetuated by men through sexism and gender stereotyping.15 Often in discussions of famous women acting as “mean girls,” men are seldom included as a contributing factor to the issues, yet they undoubtedly play a significant role. While these women should be held accountable for their actions, the blame should not be laid solely on the women, but also on the male-majority music industry that prescribes women into narrow categories, demeans them as inferior artists, encourages them to adopt traditionally masculine characteristics in order to succeed in the business, and profits off their conflicts.16

The “shade,”17 feuds, and disses exchanged between pop divas today should be seen not as the disease itself but as symptoms of colonial baggage––queen bee behaviour is colonial coping. As more women advance in the music industry and gender parity improves, queen bee behaviour will become as obsolete and irrelevant as an old diss track.18

Carter Sawatzky (they/them)

English major, Gender Studies minor