Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Doesn’t Completely Agree With Beyoncé’s Feminism

Beyoncé may have quoted Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk in her song "Flawless," but the Nigerian writer doesn't necessarily agree with the singer's style of feminism. According to Vulture, in a recent interview with Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, Adichie discusses how her work was already well-known before Queen Bey gave it her golden touch and isn't thrilled with the implication that she should be thankful to the singer. To be clear, Beyoncé did ask Adichie's permission before using her quote in her music. Adichie points out that "with this song, she has reached many people who would otherwise probably never have heard the word feminism, let alone gone out and buy my essay." Additionally, Adichie may not always agree with Beyonce's politics, but appreciates her level of political engagement. "Her style is not my style, but I do find it interesting that she takes a stand in political and social issues," the Americanah author told the newspaper. "She portrays a woman who is in charge of her own destiny, who does her own thing, and she has girl power. I am very taken with that." Adichie continues: "Still, her type of feminism is not mine, as it is the kind that, at the same time, gives quite a lot of space to the necessity of men." Adichie made it clear that "men are lovely, but I don't think that women should relate everything they do to men: did he hurt me, do I forgive him, did he put a ring on my finger?" Perhaps an obvious reference to Beyonce's 2010 Grammy-winning Song of the Year, "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)"? "We women are so conditioned to relate everything to men. Put a group of women together and the conversation will eventually be about men," she said. "Put a group of men together and they will not talk about women at all, they will just talk about their own stuff." Adichie concluded by saying, "We women should spend about 20% of our time on men, because it's fun, but otherwise, we should also be talking about our own stuff."