Elizabeth Crenshaw
E-Portfolio for English 1102-004
This is probably the biggest dividing factor between people who believe Beyoncé’s a feminist and the skeptics. Is she too sexy to be seen as a feminist icon? Beyoncé promotes women’s empowerment but she looks like a sex object, so it’s confusing to people.
Body
Beyoncé is a feminist
Beyoncé is sexy and very comfortable with her body, why should she have to hide it? Beyoncé “own[s her] sexuality” and believes that everyone has the right to show off their body if they like (Courteau).
A debate held on NPR’s Here and Now (you can listen to the whole thing on my research subpage) brings up an important issue: race. It is brought up that Beyoncé might be practicing a “different African-American version of feminism which a woman might want to use her body as a tool” but only her using it, nobody else (Lewis). They compare her to Madonna because they both use their bodies and sexuality but are also known to be feminists, the only difference being race. The guest on the show, Heidi Lewis, brings up the idea that Beyoncé is reclaiming the, “Controlling Jezebel Image” that was used against black women and using it for her instead of against her. She says that Beyoncé is acting like, “I'm presenting my sex and sexuality to you, but that does not give you complete access to me.” (Lewis). Beyoncé says she has feminism to thank for being able to wear her sexually provocative outfits. She says, “That's exactly why I can [wear those outfits]” But she does not go into how feminism provides her the space to wear her costumes (Ellison).
Beyoncé is not a feminist
When people hear these strong feminist messages, but then see how Beyoncé parades her body around on stage in skimpy outfits, something doesn’t line up. She is seen as a sex object. On a much shorter NPR piece about Beyoncé (this also can be found on my research subpage), filmmaker Tanya Steele was excited to see all of Beyoncé’s surprise album because so many others were tweeting #BlackFeminist and her coworkers were calling it “Beyoncé’s Feminist Manifesto.” (Qureshi). She watched the videos and was almost disgusted and said Beyoncé was in “pornographic poses” and other things of the sort (Qureshi). She does not think it’s feminist in any way, in fact she thinks it’s, “another tired example of a woman performing for men” (Qureshi). Steele was surprised about, “these women coming into the [feminist] conversation who have never read anything about feminism,” and that they will argue her down and say things about Beyoncé being a grown woman and doing what she wants (in reference to her song “Grown Woman”) (Qureshi). She has to, “take a deep breath and walk them through to, perhaps, a different way of thinking about the images” seen in the music videos and how they are not feminist (Qureshi). Steele has one of the best arguments for how Beyoncé and what she’s doing with her body are not in line with her feminist words. People who are just now coming to the feminism debate are going to see Beyoncé in a different light than those who have studied the past history of feminism.