Task 5-Essay Plan

Introduction- a history on feminism and post feminism & introduce my texts Rihanna & Neyo

1st paragraph - talk about the typical representations in the R&B genre
men as promiscuous and women as passive link it & compare to
-the historical context Aretha Franklin-respect

2nd paragraph- Neyos Miss Independent
- gammon and marshment (female gaze)

-New right theory on traditional breadwinner and housewive role ( its challanged)
links to masculinity crisis

-Quotes from 'David Gauntlett: Media, Gender and Identity' Men were more likely to be assertive (or aggressive), whilst women were more likely to be passive. Men were much more likely to adventurous, active, and victorious, whereas women were more frequently shown as weak, ineffectual, victimised, supportive, or laughable or merely ‘token females’

'It is our view of gender (which everyone agrees to be culturally constructed) which leads to this view of sex - Judith Butler

Gaye Tucheman- Symbolic anhilation

Representing women- myths of femininity in the popular media : by Myra Macdonald – Tessa Perkins (1979) stereotypes survive by undergoing change and by convincing us that that are not entirely false (pg13)

Pg87- feminist were criticized for ignoring the existing facts of life, i.e that the majority of women still see themselves as housewives and that a high proportion of products are aimed at women in their traditional role rather than in their business role.’ (ASA Spokesperson in the Guardian, 26 June, 1978)

3rd paragraph briefly mention his other song 'because of you' a more reinforcing videos of gender roles women being sex objects etc..

4th- Introduce Rihanna her background & her culture.. how it affects her music.
Madonna’s erotica album blurred gender confusions, fluidity of sexuality, and transgression of masculine and feminine stereotypes SIMILARLY artists from a later stage may of been inspired by her.

Goffman -superiority, domination shown through body language. In Rihanna 'Hard' shes holding the gun and in other shots theres high angles of her wearing a top with bullets around the neck juxtaposed with her childlike mickey mouse hat to show her innocent side.

Richard Dyer's structure of binaries presents black women as 'loose, violent' with a lack of control and they are focused on the exotic dangerous nature. They are more dominant than males and usually in the videos they have some object/ action which shows they have the men right where they want them. E.g in Rihannas ' So hard' shes stomping around with explosion in the background and her makeup and costume anchor her daredevil nature as its black and prominent.

Introducing Feminism- Cathia Jenainati- Judy groves (2007)
Nancy Friday -Made a career out of compiling and examining women’s sexual fantasies. She aimed to deconstruct the angel/whore dichotomy by celebrating women’s erotic pleasure in its various representations.

Representing women-myths of femininity in the popular media:by Myra Macdonald (2003)
Pg28- Laura Mulvey ‘it is always possible that the female spectator may find herself so out of key with pleasure on offer with its ‘masculinization’ that the spell is broken’

Pg 105- women are ‘either idealised as Goddesses or dreaded as man devouring monsters’

(Fay Weldon, The life and lovers as a She devil, 1983) ‘Nothing is impossible, not for she devils. Peel away the wife, the mother, find the woman, and there the she devil is’

Marina Warner pg 110- the female form tends to be perceived as generic and universal with symbolic overtones; the male as individual even when it is being used to express a generalized idea’

Refashioning the body pg 215- Barthes ‘ there is social prohibition against the feminization of men, there is almost none against the masculinization of women’
‘A woman attired as a man may be seen as ‘power dressing’ or as adapting the mannerism of lesbianism’

5th - mention Rihanna Te Amo to back it all up..gives women the message we dont need men
hypodermic needle, voyerism self objectification & densensitization to the raunchy lesbian video = POST FEM
Gulsen Huseyin (A message for the media, young women talk- Jane Waghorn) – women can also interpret laddism as a sign that men would prefer them to go back to being more traditionally ‘feminine’ since men feel they are being more ‘masculine’


four key themes in racial representations: Alvarado Et Al
- exotic
- humorous
-dangerous
-pitied

Uses and Gratifications- escapism /personal identification /entertainment.
psychographics- mainstreamers, reformers & aspirers

6th-how they have become such a strong figure in the R&B industry through this new representation.

pg127- just as black female prostitutes in the 1940's and 1950's actively sought clients in the street to make money to survive thereby publicly linking prostitution with black female sexuality, contemporary black female sexuality is fictively constructed in popular rap and R&B songs soley as commodity-sexual service from mone and pwer, pleasure is secondary.(8:Selling hot pussy:representations of black female sexuality in the cultural marketplace:Bell Hooks)

pg 123- ' the fascination with black 'butts' continues. In the sexual iconography of the traditional black pornographic imagination the protuding butt is seen as an indication of heightened sexuality...links to Hard rihanna and the flag

pg124- many black women singers, irrespective of the quality of their voices, have cultivated an image which suggests they are sexually available and licentious.

Conclusion-the future of women in r&b? give examples
hegemony allows the ruling class to create new gender expectations