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HOW DOES THE VISUAL ALBUM ATTEND TO NOTIONS OF THE BLACK FEMALE BODY AS RISKY?
FEMINIST POP ICON
LATEST VISUAL ALBUM AS “FEMINIST MANIFESTO”
FEMINIST V.S. ANTI-FEMINIST• SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION
OR SEX-POSITIVE (3rd WAVE) FEMINISM
• SISTERHOOD (“WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS”) OR OPPRESING OTHER WOMEN (“BOW DOWN BITCHES”)
• INCONSISTENT OR COMPLEX IDENTITIES - A WOMAN’S EXPERIENCE
• TOO “BLACK” OR TOO “WHITE”
• RELATABLE OR UNATTAINABLE
THE MANY FACES OF BEYONCE ARE ULTIMATELY PRETTY WHICH
ALLOWS HER TO ACHIEVE THIS :
“SEXUAL BEING”- “BLOW”, “PARTITION” & “DRUNK IN LOVE”
“FIERCE” – “FLAWLESS”, “YONCE”, “NO ANGEL”
VULNERABLE - “PRETTY HURTS”, “JEALOUS”
MOTHER, WIFE- “BLUE”, “MINE”
“HOMEGIRL GOING HOME: HIP HOP FEMINISM AND THE REPRESENTATIONAL POLITICS OF LOCATION” - AISHA S. DURHAM
• In/visibility of women by focusing on the situational and complex physicality of black female bodies
• Performing hip hop sensibilities
• “Hip hop dualism between the queen and ho” will inform risk perception of Beyonce and desirable black femininities
• Music videos are mediums for the rearticulation of the spectacular black female body
“HO” or QUEEN?
RISK & BEYONCE• How is the visual album a risk? - Explicit Content-> Remoralising female embodiment - Commercial Viability/Artistic Autonomy • “Ho” or Queen? Risky or Risqué? - Lupton: woman’s sexuality as threatening - Patriarchal Bargain & Risk avoidance - Douglas & polluted body (Purity) - Liminal Subject (Ethnicity, Class etc)
• Hysteria & the Disorderly Female Body (Lupton, Foucault)
- Desirable bodies of femininity - Self-control, Self-regulation
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