Beyoncé Talks Owning Sexuality & LGBT Rights in Out Magazine’s Power Issue

Beyoncé Covers Out Magazine May 2014

Channeling her inner Marilyn Monroe , which is something I think everyone should do, Beyoncé covers the May 2014 issue of Out Magazine , where she speaks on various subjects such as women owning their sexuality, human rights for all, backlash from her sexualized new music, sounding more raw and much more.

Take a look at a few of the excerpts from her Aaron Hicklin interview, as well as her sexy-yet-classy black and white photoshoot with New York based fashion photographer duo Santiago & Mauricio below.

Beyoncé’s Color Cover for Out Magazine May 2014

On new music backlash and women owning their sexuality:

“I’d like to believe that my music opened up that conversation. There is unbelievable power in ownership, and women should own their sexuality. There is a double standard when it comes to sexuality that still persists. 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. You can be a businesswoman, a mother, an artist, and a feminist—whatever you want to be—and still be a sexual being. It’s not mutually exclusive.”

On human rights for EVERYONE:

“While I am definitely conscious of all the different types of people who listen to my music, I really set out to make the most personal, honest, and best album I could make. I needed to free myself from the pressures and expectations of what I thought I should say or be, and just speak from the heart. Being that I am a woman in a male-dominated society, the feminist mentality rang true to me and became a way to personalize that struggle…But what I’m really referring to, and hoping for, is human rights and equality, not just that between a woman and a man. So I’m very happy if my words can ever inspire or empower someone who considers themselves an oppressed minority…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.”

On sounding more raw on her new album:

“When I recorded ‘XO’ I was sick with a bad sinus infection. I recorded it in a few minutes just as a demo and decided to keep the vocals. I lived with most of the songs for a year and never rerecorded the demo vocals. I really loved the imperfections, so I kept the original demos. I spent the time I’d normally spend on backgrounds and vocal production on getting the music perfect. There were days I spent solely on getting the perfect mix of sounds for the snare alone. Discipline, patience, control, truth, risk, and effortlessness were all things I thought about while I was putting this album together.”

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