Alicia Keys has spoken out against harmful gender stereotypes after her four-year-old son Genesis felt self-conscious about his rainbow-coloured manicure. The singer took Genesis to a nail salon, where he initially asked for 'rainbow colors' and was excited as the manicurist painted each nail a different shade.
However, once the manicure was finished, Genesis had second thoughts. He told his mother: 'Mommy, I don’t want this on my nails. People are not gonna like it.' Keys, 38, expressed frustration that her son, at just four years old, already understood the concept of being judged for his choice.
In an Instagram video posted on November 9, Keys said she reassured Genesis that no one would judge him, telling him: 'They're gonna love it! It's so cool! ... Stick with it! You liked it, you do it. Who cares what anybody else says.' She also told him that many men paint their nails, which made him feel better.
Keys, who also has a nine-year-old son Egypt with husband Swizz Beats, shared her philosophy on masculinity and femininity. She said: 'There's masculine and there's feminine energies inside of us all ... it gets concerning to me that we can't just explore these different sides of ourselves.' She added that she often expresses her own masculine energy and wants her boys to be able to explore their feminine energy without judgement.
The video, captioned 'Less Labels, More Expressions', has been viewed over 1.8 million times and received support from celebrities including Tracee Ellis Ross and Donna Karan. Keys has previously spoken out against gender norms, telling Allure in 2017 that she is 'so annoyed at the way we force boys to be fake strong — don’t cry, don’t be soft. Let a boy be able to dance! Let a boy paint his nails.'
