“Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” by Shania Twain
40 Days of Country – Song #31 – Lent 2016
What would you said if I told you the best-selling female singer in the history of country music wasn’t even from this “country?” Well, with over 85 million records sold, five Grammy awards, and three consecutive Diamond-certified albums, that just happens to be the case with the “Queen of Country Pop,” Shania Twain. Whether it was her anthemic, break-through single, “Any Man of Mine,” (which my sister legitimately played on repeat at all hours of the day, whether she was home to hear it or not, when we were younger,” or one of her famous ballads like, “You’re Still The One,” and “From This Moment On,” from 1995 to 2002, it was difficult to turn on the radio (or go to a school dance) without hearing Shania Twain.
In 2003, Shania Twain opted for one of her all-time greatest hits, as she kicked off the Superbowl XXXVII Halftime show with “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” a choice almost as comically ironic as when I noticed one of my high school teammates was listening to the song through his headphones as his “pump up” song before his match at a local wrestling tournament! Twain begins the song with the phrase, “Let’s go girls,” and then dives full, force into a celebration of all things “woman.” While Shania certainly embraces certain feminine charms, i.e. “the best part about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun,” in 1999, the song stood as an anthem of female empowerment.
While circumstances have certainly improved for women in America since Shania Twain was debating between her “men’s shirts” and “short skirts,” a look at the news and current events reveal we still have a way to go when it comes to true gender equality. It appears that ever since Adam blamed Eve for eating the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3, men have sought to subject women to their authority ever since. Funny thing though, an old rabbinical belief is that the reason the serpent talked to Eve about eating the fruit instead of Adam because he chose the only creature in the Garden capable of carrying on an intelligent conversation! (Take that all you Adam’s out there!) But seriously, as Paul reminds us in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Hopefully our culture will one day truly reflect that reality.
Reconciling Savior, open our eyes to the truth that is all around us, that all people, women and men, are created in your good image, and that in Christ, we are all united and equal. Amen.
