Cardi B Has Doubts About #MeToo, Especially When It Comes To This Overlooked Group In Hip Hop

In the short time since Cardi B's career has blown up, fans have learned that she always speaks up for what she believes in, and this time is no different. In an interview for her Cosmopolitan cover, Cardi B addressed the #MeToo movement, and her words are a reminder of how this movement needs to be inclusive for all victims of sexual assault, no matter who they are or where the abuse took place.

For the last several months, countless women have come forward to share their stories of sexual assault and misconduct at the hands of powerful Hollywood men, and for the first time, it seems like the world is starting to listen. But according to Cardi B, if women who work in the music video industry came forward to do the same thing, they probably wouldn't be heard like more mainstream actors and models have been.

"A lot of video vixens have spoke about this and nobody gives a f*ck,” Cardi told Cosmo. “When I was trying to be a vixen, people were like, ‘You want to be on the cover of this magazine?’ Then they pull their d*cks out. I bet if one of these women stands up and talks about it, people are going to say, ‘So what? You’re a ho. It don’t matter.’”

Video vixens are women who star in hip hop music videos, and as The Cut pointed out, they are often described as over-sexualized or seen as props who bring viewers in to watch the video based on how they look. But regardless of what they do or don't do in music videos, Cardi B is right — they deserve respect, and they deserve to be heard if they decide to open up about assault.

Cardi also added that she isn't convinced that all men who seem to support the Time's Up and #MeToo movements are actually trying to make Hollywood a better place for women and stop assault from happening. "These producers and directors — they're not woke, they're scared," she said.

And on the subject of respecting all women, Cardi also addressed her past as a stripper, emphasizing exactly how important it is that women who are in that line of work be treated like normal human beings, because obviously, they are.

Cardi said:

“People ask, ‘Why did you strip?’ I don’t really want to say, ‘Oh, because I was in a relationship with a guy and I needed money to leave.’ People say, ‘Why do you always got to say that you used to be a stripper? We get it.’ Because y’all don’t respect me because of it, and y’all going to respect these strippers from now on.”

If Cardi B is making it her mission to kill the stigmas that still exists around strippers and video vixens, she's off to a really good start. After hits like "Bodak Yellow" and "Finesse," people are listening to her, and it's awesome to see her using her voice for good. And on top of that, she's absolutely right — all women should receive a basic level of respect, and that means being taken seriously when they report assault, regardless of what their career may be.

It's hard to say where the #MeToo movement will go from here, but hopefully, women will keep speaking up and being heard and believed — regardless of who they are or what they do for work. This movement needs to be inclusive, because no woman deserves to experience the kind of behavior that has constantly made headlines over the past year.