Pornography or feminist triumph? How Cardi B’s WAP video started a culture war

It’s the third decade of the 21st century and we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, so you could be forgiven for thinking that sex no longer had the power to cause outrage. If so, the deranged mixture of delight and venom that sprang from the release of WAP earlier this month, a gleefully explicit music video from rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, is proving you wrong.

WAP is catchy, visually-deranged and absolutely filthy. In a CGI-soaked mansion of colour, wild animals and female nudes, Cardi and Megan celebrate female pleasure in general and the vagina in particular – it’s probably better if you just google what WAP stands for – twerking their way between outfit changes that make Love Island contestants look prudish.

It features cameos from a handful of other female stars, including singers Normani and Rosalía, and the whole thing is set against a (cleverly inverted) background sample of Frank Ski’s 1993 club track, Whores in This House. It also reportedly cost $100,000 just to get everyone involved tested for Covid-19.

Since breaking YouTube’s record for the most views in 24 hours for an all-female collaboration, WAP has been derided by sections of both the political Right and Left, spawned countless opinion pieces celebrating its raunchy progressivism (many by men), and generated everything from ill-judged celebratory opinions to political slogans – and, of course, endless memes.

Here’s a guide to all the noise.

‘This is what happens when children are raised without God’: conservative outrage & liberal slogans

In one of the more awkward talk-show segments of recent history, Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro (last heard of in this country telling Andrew Neil, “I’m popular and no one has ever heard of you”) decided to recite a censored version of some of WAP’s lyrics live on his show, apparently to highlight their crassness. The lyrics are utterly crass, but it was hard to concentrate on them while Shapiro was repeating “the p-word” with furious detachment.

Fans of WAP have been having some fun with the clip:

Shapiro went on to clarify that “my only real concern is that the women involved – who apparently require a ‘bucket and a mop’ — get the medical care they require. My doctor wife’s differential diagnosis: bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, or trichomonis [sic].” Any implications his words might have for the state of the Shapiros’ sex life is neither here nor there.

A swathe of Republican politicians also seized the opportunity to showcase their socially conservative credentials for the benefit of November’s ballot paper. As one Congressional hopeful from California, James P Bradley, tweeted: “Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion are what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure. Their new ‘song’ The #WAP (which i heard accidentally) made me want to pour holy water in my ears and I feel sorry for future girls if this is their role model! [sic]”

Others, such as fellow Congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine, accused WAP of anti-feminism:

On the Left, meanwhile, Democratic congresswoman Alexander Ocasio-Cortez replied to Cardi B’s desire that she run for President with the jokey slogan “Women Against Patriarchy (WAP) 2020”.

‘Not Kylie’: a Twitter uproar over Kylie Jenner’s cameo

In the first of several cameos by female artists, Kardashian clan member and Instagram star Kylie Jenner struts towards the camera, chestnut locks flowing, while a leopard growls appreciatively stage left. But not everyone was happy to see her.

Many WAP fans expressed their frustration that such a prominent section of a video which principally showcases and celebrates the work of women of colour should have been given over to Jenner, who is white and not a musician. (Jenner has previously been accused of appropriating black culture.)

A change.org petition to officially remove her from the video currently has more than 60,000 signatures.

But Cardi B has implicitly defended her decision to include Jenner: “I wanna say thank you to every woman that was apart of my video! The fact that you made time in your schedules means alot to me! [sic]

“It was so important to me to include different women that are different races and come from different backgrounds but are so powerful and influential.”

‘Girl, you killed your goddamn husband’: tigers, Tiger King and urinating snakes

One of the more surreal elements of WAP is its use of wild animals: leopards and snakes stalk the hallways of Cardi and Megan’s sumptuous CGI mansion. This posed something of a problem during filming. According to Cardi, real tigers, leopards and snakes were brought on-set but the logistical challenges of incorporating, um, wild predators into the shoot meant splicing and green screens were ultimately used for most of the animal scenes.

Carole Baskin, one controversial star of Tiger King, Netflix’s exposé of big cat breeding, accused WAP of  “glamoris[ing] the idea of rich people having tigers as pets.”

Cardi B’s response? “Like, that’s just ridiculous you know? Oh, Lord. Like, girl you killed your goddamn husband.” (There has never been any evidence for this popular internet assertion.)

Tigers weren’t the only wildlife-related challenges of shooting WAP. “One of the scariest parts was the snake scene,” Cardi told i-D. “I was naked, and one of them peed all over me.”

‘It’s still ultimately capitalist commodification’: the best and worst of celebrity reactions

As with any controversial cultural phenomenon, a handful of celebrities could not resist broadcasting their two cents on WAP.

Russell Brand, actor and three-time winner of The Sun’s alleged “shagger of the year” award, decided to create an entire Youtube video entitled “WAP: Feminist Masterpiece or Porn?”, in which he muses on the nuances of contemporary feminism. “Is it equality if the template has already been established by the former dominator? The answer is no,” Brand tells women.

“It’s still ultimately a sort of capitalist objectification and commodification of, in this case, the female,” he concluded. (This is the same Russell Brand who, according to Variety magazine, recently bought a $3million mansion in the Hollywood Hills and already owns a ￡3.3million, seven-bedroom Oxfordshire home, complete with home cinema and pool.) He was quickly accused of “mansplaining” and widely derided for his comments.

The rapper Cee-Lo Green, meanwhile, criticised Cardi and Megan for “salacious gesturing to kinda get into position.... it comes at what cost?” he said. He later issued a long, “wholehearted” apology.

Other celebrities, by contrast, are big fans of WAP. Writer and star of Girls, Lena Dunham, posted a video of herself bopping along the track; country star Margo Price even sang an acoustic version of it on The Daily Show.

In a segment for The Late Late Show with James Corden, the comedian and host asked his parents for a WAP reaction video (i.e. footage of them watching it for the first time). They obliged. After cheerfully declaring that they’ve never heard of either Cardi or Megan, Malcolm and Margaret Corden descend into fits of laughter as the video plays.

“I don’t know what the church is going to think about this – us watching this!” says Margaret, as her husband head-bops along.

“Oh, I love it,” he declares. “I’m sure you do!” counters his wife. “The music!” he insists, unperturbed.