In my day, I have witnessed many arguments about the gender of God. Luckily, theology expert Ariana Grande has spoken out and put the debate to rest. I know that she knows the truth because she told us about it (I have the proof linked here): “God is a Woman”. Please, allow me to elaborate on her assertion!

Through “God is a Woman” (GIAW), Grande has referenced multiple ancient texts in the music video as well as some performances. These texts include the Gospel of Mark and Genesis. Religious language (specifically Catholic language) is also heavily embedded in the lyrics. 

Grande is not the only musician to express herself through some of these contexts; my classmate, Anna Fellman, writes about Bruce Springsteen’s use of Genesis in his work. Grande and Springsteen both have used religion as a tool in their art to make commentary on their life experiences. Religion, Christianity in their case, can be a powerful tool at times for people who have been greatly impacted by it. Both stars were brought up as Catholics.

Gospel of Ariana: The Last Supper

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus’ last supper was with his disciples. This was his last meal before he was persecuted for being a threat to the powers that were in place at the time. Famously, Jesus says, “Take; this is my body. . .This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,”(Mark 14.22-24). Can you spot the difference between these two photos? I don’t know if you could tell, but one of them is actually Ariana Grande performing at the VMAs. Grande chose not to portray herself as Jesus, and instead gave her female, black backup dancer the role.

Genesis: The Creation of Grande

The closing scene for the GIAW music video is Grande and other women recreating the Creation of Adam. Adam and Eve are supposed to be the mother and father of humankind. Adam is often seen as the more important figure and Eve is seen as having been created for Adam and for procreation. In her music video, Grande flips the narrative and portrays everyone in the Creation of Adam as a woman, giving women the control in the story.

Being a Christian vs. Being an Arianator

The religious imagery is key to Grande’s messages. Taking important male religious figures and portraying them as female twists the significance of these original texts. The fact that these people are traditionally viewed as men makes this afterlife of the Bible into a feminist statement: women have control, are important, and can be the center of the divine narrative. These retellings being religious also has a powerful implication about Western religion and female sexuality. Religion has been used as a tool to suppress female sexuality and assert male superiority. Using religious narratives, Grande is challenging these traditional views.

Some consider these actions to be blasphemous, but she is not the first person to engage with this school of thought. This Christian Broadcasting Network article features tweets with people claiming disrespect and blasphemy, specifically surrounding God’s gender. Personally, I see the content of their tweets as much more blasphemous than speculating on God’s gender. From my understanding, every person takes away a different interpretation from the Bible (especially on God’s gender). There’s no need to invalidate an interpretation different from yours with claims of blasphemy.

A Possible Cure to Slut-Shaming

This song is largely about sex. In a tweet, Grande says that it is meant to represent “sexual female empowerment & how women are literally everything & the universe is inside of us.” I think that this sexual empowerment, especially through religious contexts, is a big deal. Some women can even suffer negative health effects because of their religious guilt about sex. 

There is a lot of discourse about what is the most feminist: covering yourself up and dominating the workplace as a #girlboss, or showing off your body as much as possible and owning the words “slut” and “whore”. I would argue that women having the agency to do either, both, or neither is the answer. However, the opposition to sexual empowerment is what Grande is tackling, and I think it’s important for her to do so. Taking religion, what is normally the weapon of choice for sexual repression, and using it to empower women (and her own body) sexually, makes this an effective artistic decision.

I believe that Grande has successfully harnessed a harmful patriarchal, religious narrative and channeled it into a message of female empowerment. How she knows that God is a woman, I’m not sure, but I can definitely accept her conclusion!

GRETCHEN MUELLER is a freshman at Colgate University. She is from Columbus, OH and has not yet declared a major.