Why We Need Videos like Dove Cameron's Breakfast

On August 23rd, Dove Cameron released the video for her latest single, Breakfast. On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the constitutional right to abortion. Dove Cameron herself has always been an outspoken advocate for human rights, including the right to choose. She's never been afraid to speak passionately about her convictions and using her platform to raise the voices of the under privileged as well. As a queer woman in the spotlight, she's fighting her own battles against the patriarchy on a far too regular basis.

Her video is causing many to speak their minds, on both sides of the abortion debate. Even as her fans speak out in support, they're met with contempt as well as the support. Even when I discussed my pride in her, I was met by a cis-male calling her video nothing but propaganda. There's nothing misleading about changing the viewpoint to help cis-males understand the perspective of those fighting for the right to choose. Even still, there will sadly always be plugged ears, not ready to listen to a story or voice they're unfamiliar with. It doesn't matter the trauma you're faced with, in many states you are now forced to carry to term a pregnancy. Every one deserves bodily autonomy and no one else should be able to govern what is best for you. Especially not without you.

Dove Cameron took a song about power, and used the video to show the unbalance of power in the world today. In a few minutes, she said enough to get people talking without physically saying much at all. There are moments in the video that demand to be witnessed and it's hard to look away. Dove herself dons the role of chauvinistic man, careless and manipulative, especially in how she interacts with the men in her life, who now take on the traditionally submissive and stereotyped housewife and secretary roles. They are meek against her power, and don't have anywhere to turn to truly speak up and get the help they need. In a poignant moment, one of the men is seen by a doctor after an assault and blamed for what happened, before being handed a pamphlet on good morals. Too many women have been told time and time again that the attacks on them are a result of their own actions, what they wore, what they said, the way that they walked home. For centuries, women have bore the consequences when men were not held accountable for their actions. I myself have been victim to grooming, assault and scrambling for answers and options after. I’ve been told in different ways how each situation was somehow my own fault, something I did. Even in a serious relationship, I was expected to be submissive to my partner, even in the bedroom. When I was forced into intimacy I was not taken seriously by those around me because I was in the relationship and there for my body was no longer mine but his. It made it even harder to escape the abuse because I was just expected to be the punching bag for his frustrations. I watched the video and felt that even just four minutes and thirty seconds, parts of my trauma were seen and heard.

Dove took the pain and disappointment she was feeling in the overturning of Roe Vs Wade and decided to use her video to showcase that disappointment, and hopefully get some out there to look at things from a different perspective. She's using a few minutes of streaming time to empower, to ignite a fire in so many of us that have begun to feel defeated. For decades we have lived in a "boys will be boys" sort of world, and it has only led to more and more oppression and regression. Perhaps the most powerful moment of the entire video is the end, where it simply states that it is NOT the end, meaning the fight WILL continue on. It only ends when we become silent and compliant and until then we need people like Dove Cameron to project the realities of the world, and keep fighting for those of us who have been silenced for so long. Asking for equality isn’t ludicrous, it’s not obscene or something to punish someone for, we all deserve to be treated equally and Dove Cameron is helping fight these battles to win the war.

If you want to be part of the fight, check out the following links-

Headcount.org

Supermajority

Emily's List

National Network of Abortion Funds

You can watch the video here: