Billboard Top 100 - 1996, #68 
Take a trip through time with me.
In 1967, Aretha sang Respect. The song's message was "I belong in this house too, and you should treat me right." In '79, Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive) declared her strength to make it without that man. In '84, Madonna's Material Girl used men to get ahead. But by 1996, all a girl really had left to say was "who the hell are you, and why are you in my way??"
And this is why Just A Girl makes me think of Title IX. Title IX created slews of new opportunities for women (and not just in athletics), eventually fostering generations of confident, successful women who no longer subscribed to the idea of the "man's world." It likely had more impact on society than Women's Liberation and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Gwen Stefani grew up in an age mostly free of the heavy-handed chauvinism her predecessors experienced. That must have made her more aware when she did see it, and it looked that much more absurd. That's the real sentiment in this song: it's sarcastic and annoyed as much as angry. It calls out those last remaining dinosaurs who still think they might put a woman in her place. Ms Stefani might say: "Here, silly chauvinist, have some guitar and drums loud enough to blow out your speakers, and a nice fat KISS MY ASS!"
Take a trip through time with me.
In 1967, Aretha sang Respect. The song's message was "I belong in this house too, and you should treat me right." In '79, Gloria Gaynor (I Will Survive) declared her strength to make it without that man. In '84, Madonna's Material Girl used men to get ahead. But by 1996, all a girl really had left to say was "who the hell are you, and why are you in my way??"
And this is why Just A Girl makes me think of Title IX. Title IX created slews of new opportunities for women (and not just in athletics), eventually fostering generations of confident, successful women who no longer subscribed to the idea of the "man's world." It likely had more impact on society than Women's Liberation and the Equal Rights Amendment.
Gwen Stefani grew up in an age mostly free of the heavy-handed chauvinism her predecessors experienced. That must have made her more aware when she did see it, and it looked that much more absurd. That's the real sentiment in this song: it's sarcastic and annoyed as much as angry. It calls out those last remaining dinosaurs who still think they might put a woman in her place. Ms Stefani might say: "Here, silly chauvinist, have some guitar and drums loud enough to blow out your speakers, and a nice fat KISS MY ASS!"
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