Feminist Criticism Of Lemonade

Her clothes accentuate her cleavage or have a sexual shock factor, such as wearing “sequined pasties…[that] coordinate with the rest of her attire”. The vulgar, sexual nature of her raps makes it impossible for her to not receive attention from the media. Another artist, Eve, dresses sexually to accentuate her body and appears in videos with music video models but raps about social issues like domestic violence. By comparing the nature of these artists and their music, Perry tries to show that young girls have very few role models in hip hop that promote positive feminists values and body images. But, she neglects to discuss other feminist artists she mentions in the essay such as Destiny’s Child and Mary J. Blige and how their lyrics and actions in the media allow young black girls to have positive role models that show a woman can be independent, strong, and beautiful in their own way. Perry’s focus on the more sexualized female artists in hip hop and how their shocking appearance and lyrics allow them to be as successful as their male counterparts took away from the development of her argument about conservative artists and their success. By leading the reader to believe that artists are either overly-sexual or conservative, Perry limits how the reader forms an opinion on why or why not young girls’ body image may be threatened by the media and the hip hop

“If my generation was too naïve, the generations that have followed may be too practical. We knew too little, and now girls know too much.” (Sandberg. Pg. 646) In the past, the call for women’s rights was heated as much as it was alive; many women today believe that they no longer need feminism in their lives. The misconception that feminist ideals are outdated has lead modern women to fall short in their desire to accomplish more. Sheryl Sandberg refuels feminist goals in the article “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid.” She addresses lack of females in the work force, as well as, the way society prompts boys compared to girls. Bell Hook, in contrast, provides a deeper understanding of feminist ideals, along with, an in depth analysis of Sandberg’s work. The articles written by Bell Hook and Sheryl Sandberg express each woman’s perspective on modern feminism; although they both call for action, Sandberg focuses on the inequality between the sexes, while Hook broadens the overall argument to include topics such as race, sexuality and class equality.

bell hook is a famous feminist author who wrote the book “Feminism Is For Everybody” hooks attempt to create a quick, simple start on feminist history, theory, and politics to the masses who receive a misinformation, misunderstood, and maligned version of the feminist movement. Hooks says “To understand feminism it implies one has to necessarily understand sexism”.We define feminism as the advocacy of women 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.Where she simply define and shows that being feminism does not mean women have to become mean or they are better than men,she simply saying that men and women need to be equal like the civil right movements. The book begins with a brief statement of feminist political positions, then discusses some history of the movement.She discusses the change in the movement from personal to groups where women have close relationships with one another and began to feel personally empowered by their participation in the establishment of large, and how some women feel like they are working for the high middle-class women.Every single time it doesn’t matter you a women or men, you will always have someone in the higher level than you.hooks feel like it will very exciting for the women who have the power to work with other so they could build each other up..Hooks views the formation of large women’s organizations as the beginning of a stage where the movement took on the role of

While the issues regarding poverty are addressed in both the books Make Lemonade by Virginia Wolfe and “South of the Slot” by Jack London, each author has a very different view of the life of the lower class. In “South of the Slot” the lives of the lower class are heavily romanticized while Make Lemonade provides a more grounded and unsettling look at the struggles of the lower class. In "South of the Slot” the protagonist Freddie Drummond is a wealthy sociologist who becomes fascinated with the carefree way of life of the impoverished workers he studies. Make Lemonade on the other hand is written from the perspective of Verna Lavaughn, a penurious student who attempts to look after a young mother Jolly who is struggling to raise her children

The women’s liberation movement (or feminism as it is now known) of the 1960s and 1970s touched every home, business, and school (WA, 705). The movement even touched the sports and entertainment industries, in fact, “There are few areas of contemporary life untouched by feminism” (WA, 717). The word feminism in the early 1960’s wasn’t often used and when it was it was used with condescension or hatred. However, in the late sixties that changed thanks to a new group of women. This new diverse group of women included the: young, old, heterosexual, lesbians, working class, and even the privileged. This diverse group came together and collectively created the second wave of feminism.

Through this book, the most important point she puts emphasis on is the acknowledgment of the complex interlocking of classism, racism and sexism. Bell Hooks is not a poor working-class any more,

For nearly twenty years, Beyoncé has lived her life in the public eye yet she has always kept her cool, been submissive, and rather quiet when it came to her personal endeavors however after releasing the film “Lemonade”, we are able to see her in a vulnerable light. In Jeremy Helliger’s article: “Dear Beyhive: Stop Whining. Beyoncé Still Hasn’t Earned Her Album Of The Year Grammy” he addresses the idea that although Beyoncé was able to encourage black women to be proud and free, she also she missed the mark by adding raunchy, over the top content to her vulnerability.

Both in a subtle and a direct way, Roxane Gay criticizes second-wave feminists in her article Bad Feminist through the use of irony and the juxtaposition of contrasting adjectives. In the article, Gay describes the stereotypes placed on feminists that have led people to shun the cause and refuse to be a part of it. Like many other females, Gay does not fit into the label of an essential feminist. She likes the color pink, listens to thuggish rap, wants babies, fakes orgasms, loves diamonds, and many other things that clash with being a feminist. Subsequently, Gay is in a personal struggle, which she says “keeps her up at night” (8) because she does not fit into the socially constructed definition of what a good or essential feminist is and does but she does believe in the cause and wants to fight for it.

bell hooks, renowned black feminist and cultural critic criticizes the lack of racial awareness in her essay, Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination (1992). ‘bell hooks’ is written in lower case to convey that the substance of her work reigns more important than the writer. From a marginalized perspective, hooks argues that sites of dominance, not otherness is problematic and critiques the lack of attention that white scholars pay to the representation of whiteness in the black imagination. Critical feminist scholars Peggy McIntosh and Ruth Frankenberg identify their own whiteness as a dominant discourse, but share a critical departure from hooks with the notion of whiteness as terror. hooks aim is not to reverse racism, but discuss her position to authentically inform readers about how she experiences racism. Furthermore, systems of oppression are manufactured by human thought and thus the site of the Other is always produced as a site of difference. Gender, race, sex, class, disability, and geography are situated differently in social structure, but dominant groups assume they share the same reality though they cannot experience it. In consequence, the Other cannot hold a singularized identity of their own and the binary structure succeeds in containing racialized bodies in place. What happens to those bodies when they cross boundaries of the binary? hooks recounts being routinely disciplined back into place when crossing the border; however, dominant white

In her essay she relates the rise of feminist consciousness in the 1960s to numerous changes in American society, especially the rise of other protest movements. Echols said, “On September 7, 1968, the sixties came to that most apple-pie of American institutions, the Miss America Pageant” (Echols, 308). The reason she said this was because one hundred women’s liberation activists descended upon Atlantic City to protest the pageant’s promotion of physical attractiveness as the primary measure of women’s worth. From there, the protestors set up a “Freedom Trash Can” and filled it with high-heeled shoes, bras, girdles, hair curlers, false eyelashes, typing books, and representative copies of Cosmopolitan, Playboy, and Ladies Home Journal. They wanted to burn the contents but couldn’t because of the laws for bonfires on the boardwalk. Also, word had been leaked to the press that there would be a symbolic bra-burning. However, there were no bras burnt that day. But the image of the bra-burning, militant feminists remains part of our popular mythology about the women’s liberation movement. The Miss America demonstration represents an important moment in the history of the sixties as well as the women’s movement (Echols, 309-310).

Do you get to choose who you are in your life or is you identity shaped by other factors? Do external and internal factors influence who you are and what you do? In Make Lemonade, by Virginia Euwer Wolff, the main characters, LaVaughn and Jolly, go through life with their identities being shaped by a multitude of factors. The novel, Make Lemonade, suggest that people’s identities can be shape by different factors, like LaVaughn’s being shaped by the relationship with her mom or Jolly being influenced by her shame, yet their identities could also be shaped by similar factors, like LaVaughn and Jolly both losing family members. First, LaVaughn’s identity is influenced by many factors throughout Make Lemonade, some of which are the external

In Feminism is for Everybody, hooks introduces a popular theory of feminism rooted in common sense and the wisdom of her own personal experience. In my opinion, hooks’ book is perfectly poised to become THE OFFICIAL “handbook” or “cliff notes” to feminism. Although it’s short, Feminism is for Everybody is powerful. It addresses all of the most prevalent issues facing the contemporary feminist movement, everything from where feminism stands, reproductive choice, beauty, violence, race, class, work, all the way to where feminism will go in the future. She uses simple, direct language to express complex issues. However, that is not to say that she “dumbs-down” such topics. Rather, she makes them more comprehensible to those not as familiar with feminism as a discipline. This book offers everyone (man or woman) a chance to explore feminism. It serves as an eye-opener to all those “would be” feminists who are afraid to label themselves as such for fear of being called a man hater or worse, a lesbian! She dispels these myths and others, forcing her audience

Throughout the course of American history, women have been forced to manipulate their own societal roles in order to cling to autonomy, due to the dominance of white Anglo-Saxon males in the economic, political, and social sectors. The capitalistic achievements of Hetty Green, a late 19th century entrepreneur named “The World’s Richest Woman,” or more appropriately, “The Witch of Wall Street,” exemplified such a notion (Wallach). Green’s legacy as a stringent and savvy investor, boasting a net worth of 200 million dollars at her death that belittled the 80 million dollar estate of J.P. Morgan (Columbia), has been expunged from historical records, instead leaving behind an monotonous transcript of male exceptionalism and supposed “industrial statesmen[ship]” during the Gilded Age (“Robber Barons”).Women’s perceived identities throughout time have been vastly malleable, with opponents of gender equality resorting to the belittlement of females intellect in order to regain power; women have been forced to utilize these generalizations in order to advance themselves, displayed specifically through the philosophy of “republican motherhood”,” the job opportunities available during the Revolutionary War, and the rise of feminine conservatism, ultimately revealing the hidden path to power, which, cladden with thorns and underbrush, has dictated the outcome of Hetty Green’s legacy and continues to warp the identities of females into the twenty first century.

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” This clarification forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism; a notable example occurs within the Suffrage movement, where votes for white women were prioritized over women of color in order to push such legislation through. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, often only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions:

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” In reality, this forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism, most notably during the Suffrage movement. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions: who’s experiences are valued, how do black women take their voice back, and how can they center feminist thinking on their own unique standpoint?