Beyonce covers the latest issue of Out, eschewing a shirt for the sexy lead image and sending a related message to women.
“Women should own their sexuality,” she tells the publication. “Men are free and women are not. That is crazy. The old lessons of submissiveness and fragility made us victims. Women are so much more than that.”
Miley Cyrus actually makes a similar point in the May issue of Elle, wondering to that magazine why no one cares when men grab their crotch… yet critics flip out when females make a similar move.
Beyonce’s record-breaking, self-titled BEYONCE album has been notable for its raw, open depictions of female sexuality and empowerment – but it’s also stirred some controversy.
Bill O’Reilly slammed the artist for having sex in the back of a limo in her “Partition” video and for referencing Monica Lewinsky in that same track.
Aside from empowering her own gender, Beyonce says she’s proud to inspire her LGBT followers as well.
“I’m very happy if my words can ever inspire or empower someone who considers themselves an oppressed minority,” she says. “We are all the same and we all want the same things: the right to be happy, to be just who we want to be and to love who we want to love.”
The May issue of Out – the Power Issue – comes out on April 22.