Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARASAriana Grande is following in Christina Aguilera's feminist footsteps!
Over the weekend, the 21-year-old "Problem" singer shared an empowering essay showing her support for female rights and girl power.
"Being ‘empowered'… is not the same as being a ‘bitch'…" Grande wrote. "HAVING SOMETHING TO SAY… is not the same as HAVING A BAD ATTITUDE. What I meant when I said what I said about not being Sean's ex is that I am tired of living in a world where women are mostly referred to as a man's past, present, or future PROPERTY / POSSESSION. I… do not. belong. to anyone. but myself. and neither do you."
She added, "If a woman has a lot of sex (or any sex for that matter)… she's a ‘slut.' If a man has sex…. HE'S. A. STUD. A BOSSSSSS. a KING… If a woman even TALKS about sex openly… she is shamed! But if a man talks or RAPS freely about all the women (or more commonly used 'bitches'/'hoes'…how lovely) he's had…he is regaled."
Grande's point of view may sound familiar to Christina Aguilera fans who've been by her side since her raunchy Stripped days. First off, Grande's point about double standard almost exactly echoes the lyrics of Xtina's hit song "Can't Hold Us Down."
"If you look back in history/ It's a common double standard of society," Aguilera sings. "The guy gets all the glory the more he can score/ While the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore/ I don't understand why it's okay/ The guy can get away with it & the girl gets named."
Aguilera also said of the song back in 2002, "This is directed to any male who puts down a female for stating her mind. This is definitely to make women feel empowered to do and say what they want to."
Years later, Aguilera told Maxim of double standards in the music industry, "Well, imagine if a woman released an album with the word sex in it, like Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds. Instead of feeling liberated by it, she'd be labeled and called names. That's not to say I wouldn't do it."