Dr. Sara DiazWGST 280: Gender, Sex, & Popular CultureGonzaga University

Last Time• Sarah Baartman• Fetishization of black women’s bottoms

• Obsessive fascination

• “Selling Hot Pussy”• Representations of black women’s bodies connected to slavery

• Nakedness• Violence

• Jay-Z’s lyrics on Beyonce’s album• Glorifying domestic violence and marital rape

• Tina Turner• Robin Givens

Political Economy

•Who produces Beyonce (the brand)? • Columbia Records• Owned by Sony (18.16B)• Beyonce’s net worth (450M)

• Run by men• Sony sells us earbuds, stereos, mp3

players, computers, tvs, speakers etc

Media Effects

•How does Bhatti describe the effects of music like Beyonce and Jay-Z’s on her?

•What is her reading of the texts?

Textual Analysis• Preferred Reading

Counter-hegemonic Reading• Negotiated Reading

• Polysemic Text: “‘open’ to various readings or has multiple meanings.”

• Grammars• Chains of Meaning

• Decoding• Tropes:• “A trope is a common

pattern in a story or a recognizable attribute in a characters that conveys information to the audience.”

AVOID THE TEMPTATION TO ASSUME YOU CAN KNOW BEYONCE’S “INTENT”

VMA performance

Write:• Describe the performance in as much detail as possible.• Note any examples of “Sexual Grotesquerie”• Make sure to describe how these are racialized• Be as specific as possible

• What is the preferred reading?• How might you read the performance oppositionally?• What is Silvers’ (Of course Beyonce is a Feminist) negotiated

reading?• How is the text polysemic?

***Flawless

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm3D3D-xSKE• Describe the performance in as much detail as

possible.• What grammars are at work?• What tropes are present?

• What is the preferred reading?• How might you read the performance

oppositionally?

***Flawless Lyrics

In groups:• How is the text polysemic?• Give SPECIFIC examples

Reclaiming Sexuality

• What do these text tell us about how sexuality is socially constructed?• Shaped by race?

• Is it possible for women to reclaim our sexuality outside the “male gaze”?

• What is gained/lost when women, especially women of color, try to reclaim sexuality? Is it possible to undermine the preferred meanings?

IS BEYONCE’S PERFORMANCE/ALBUM FEMINIST?

↑ IS THAT

THE RIGHT QUESTION?

IF BEYONCE’S ALBUM IS “FEMINIST,” WHAT DOES FEMINISM MEAN AND WHO DOES FEMINISM SERVE?