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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