It is indisputable that the music of black women in America has historically been used to remedy the forces that work to divide our nation. Ironically enough, these dividing forces and the relentless oppression of black women provide the context for their music to flourish. In this essay I will work to unmask how the cultural context and current events of the year 1978 paved the perfect path for Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem “I Will Survive” to find the success it did. Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” features an anecdotal account of a woman’s struggle to move past an emotionally taxing relationship. Yet when boiled down to its most simplistic theme, the song promotes resilience after hardship and loss. “I Will Survive'' became famous for its chameleon-like ability to shift appearances in relation to its context. This explains the ability of Gaynor’s track to become an anthem for feminists, the queer community, survivors of domestic abuse, and other marginalized groups at the time. Gaynor herself once said "I love the empowering effect, I love the encouraging effect. It's a timeless lyric that addresses a timeless concern," referring to her chorus’s ability to be interpreted and applied to anyone who has overcome trivial situations (Eames 2019).  

Upon initial reflection, it seems groundbreaking to examine how Gloria Gaynor’s lyrics worked to empower an entire generation of queer folk. However, the reputation of this song has become just that. In a genre created by Black and Latino gay men, is it truly that surprising that one of the most famous disco hits represented the queer community so precisely? It is possible that examining the impact “I Will Survive'' had on the LGBTQ+ rights movement is as cliche as arguing that “Strange Fruit” inspired early civil rights activists. Nevertheless, I do believe it is important to examine the events of 1978 that made the relationship between Gaynor’s tune and the queer community possible. The year of 1978 was packed with both pro and anti-queer news and the battle to normalize LGBTQ+ rights as human rights was gaining significant momentum. In liberal states such as California, the movement saw massive strides. Specifically, the gay pride flag flew for the first time at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in the summer of 1978. In the same year, California voters rejected the “Briggs Initiative,” which attempted to prohibit gay and lesbian identifying individuals, and vocal allies, from teaching in the public school systems (Ring 2018). Homophobic policy making was still extremely prevalent in rural states, as we still experience today. Specifically, the “Save Our Children” campaign, spearheaded by American singer Anita Bryant, worked to rally homophobic citizens around the nation to prohibit the expansion of gay rights for the sake of the nation’s youth. This campaign gained significant traction in 1978, when St. Paul, Minnesota followed Dade County, Florida in repealing an ordinance that prohibited workplace discrimination on the basis of sexuality (Polaski 2017). 

Despite the seemingly apparent connection between queer news in 1978 and the popularity of “I Will Survive” within the queer community, I propose that these small-scale wins and losses the LGBTQ+ community experienced in 1978 had no impact on why the song was embraced so passionately. I deem events such as the first fly of the pride flag, the rejection of the “Briggs Initiative,” and the success of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay rhetoric to be irrelevant to the song’s connection to the queer community. Rather, I suggest that the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s is the key factor that connected Gloria Gaynor’s disco track to the heart of the gay rights movement. In fact, I propose that the song did not earn the reputation of a “queer anthem” until the AIDS crisis provided an unfortunately literal interpretation of the word “survive.” The song became the perfect rallying cry as the infection of tens of thousands of individuals with AIDS was dismissed by public officials as “the gay plague.” Musicologist Nadine Hubbs suggests the song resinated so profoundly with LGBTQ+ folk of the time because its "textual message of defiant and enduring presence was already well tailored to queer identification needs, but this message and the song's titular statement took on even deeper meaning with the dawn of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.” (Eames 2019). Furthermore, the rhetorical questions posed in the song’s hook “Did you think I’d crumble? Did you think I’d lay down and die?” perfectly mirrors the critiques queer individuals had about the mismanagement and negligence of the AIDS crisis. The song colorfully paints a tale of resilience and encourages listeners to find love in the loss, all with a dramatic flare. It is no surprise that lyrics such as “As long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive,” seemed to fit the queer experience in 1978 like a glove.

It is even more crucial to examine “I Will Survive” outside of its conventional association with the queer rights movement. We must acknowledge that at its most pure form, the song was intended to empower women moving on from a breakup. Further examination of the trends, societal forces, and news of 1978 supports the claim that the song found its roots in the expanding feminist movement. If “I Will Survive” did indeed work to empower women on a broader scale, outside of the context of a “heartbreak anthem,” we must consider what events at the time caused its message to be felt so deeply by yet another marginalized community.

By the late 1970s, it became apparent that first wave feminism clearly imprinted itself on societal standards in the United States. It was clear that the solutions to all women’s related issues would not be as timely as the ratification of the 19th amendment decades prior. The long-awaited integration of women into the workforce dragged on, and many professions still upheld misogynistic and exclusionary practices.  For example, it was not until 1978 that NASA unveiled its first class of women astronauts (Cofield 2016). Although Sally Ride did not become the first woman in space until 1983, she and her 5 other women classmates began training in the same season Gaynor’s track was released (Cofield 2016). Furthermore, The Women’s Army Corps (WAC), the women’s branch of the US army, was abolished in April of 1978. This year all units of the WAC were integrated with male military units. It is clear how the progression of Seneca Falls' most basic feminist agendas in America had taken root by this time (almost a century later). However, a new, more sophisticated wave of feminism was blossoming simultaneously. 

Throughout the 1970’s, policy makers, law enforcement and medical professionals alike were largely negligent by refusing to prioritize domestic abuse as a pressing women’s issue. At this time, the public lacked an understanding of the horrors and realities of domestic abuse, and it was the duty of the victims to advocate for justice. Existing academic knowledge about spousal violence in the late 70s suggested that women provoked their own abuse, or that abusers were victims of rare mental illnesses (Jacquet 2015). This rhetoric is obviously problematic, sexist and hostile. Any time domestic violence was brought into a mainstream discussion, violence against women was either ignored or acknowledged inappropriately. For example, an ad released earlier in the decade for a Michigan bowling alley included the headline “HAVE SOME FUN. BEAT YOUR WIFE TONIGHT,” (Jacquet 2015). 

Society’s negligence surrounding domestic abuse and sexual assault continued until the feminist activism of the 1970’s shifted the conversation. This wave of feminism, eventually known as “the battered women’s movement” exposed society’s failure to protect victims of domestic assault and rape (Jacquet 2015). The song’s release and simultaneous peak of the “battered women’s movement” provided the perfect context to engage in dialog about intimate domestic partner violence. The song’s dramatic and sulkey introduction alluded to the fear many women experienced when initially leaving an abusive relationship. “At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, And I grew strong. And I learned how to get along,” within these first few moments of the song, it feels as if Gloria Gaynor is extending out her hand to all who have been mistreated by men (or, perhaps by society). In this moment, Gaynor reels you in with her silky-sounding voice as she sings about her transition from fear to strength, a battle that is experienced by survivors of domestic abuse. 

One of the most memorable events of 1978 exists seemingly far outside the context of feminism or queerness. The mass murder-suicide in Jonestown in 1978 sent shockwaves through the nation (History 2019). Led by Jim Jones, 918 members of this San Francisco-based colt drank cyanide poisoning on November 18th, 304 of the victims were minors (History 2019). This year was famous for other crime discoveries that baffled law enforcement. Specifically, two of the most infamous serial killers of all time, Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacey, were both arrested. I believe that the prominence of crime-related news, especially the atrocious murders that targeted women and young children, provided the context for society to take violence against women seriously. When news headlines were dominated by tales of ‘charming’ Ted Bundy’s ability to lure innocent women into his grasp to violently murder them, the public was forced to consider the societal norms that allowed for such an atrocious act to occur in the first place. Furthermore, this discussion prompted further consideration of how often women are targeted in other violent and sexual crimes. I believe that the release of “I Will Survive” in 1978 allowed victims of domestic violence to hear their story in lyrics in a profound way. The song mirrors the stories of domestic abuse victims who had to relearn how to love and trust a partner following their trauma. The upbeat nature and colorful tone of the song provided women an uplifting tune to mask the dark truth they found behind the lyrics. 

The versatile nature of the lyrics undoubtedly allowed it to emerge as one of the most famous disco tracks of all time. I suggest that the ability of “I Will Survive” to camouflage itself into a perfect anthem for multiple prominent civil rights movements at the time proves the timelessness of the tune. It seems as if the year 1978 provided Gloria Gaynor with flawless context for “I Will Survive” to explode the way it did. The steps forward and backwards in both the women’s rights and gay rights movements worked to make Gaynor’s song relatable and empowering to vastly different audiences. Individuals marginalized by various traumas could find unity under the same battle cry, allowing the song’s relevance to survive for decades to come.