The Beyoncé Effect - Scholarly

In a peer review journal called “The Beyonce Effect: Essays on Sexuality, Race and Feminism”, it talks a lot about the different positive AND negative views on Beyonce. Her music lyrics relate to the topics of feminine independence and the right and wrongs regarding sexual relationships. Some people view her has a woman of empowerment and inspiration, while others view her as a “detrimental feminist” and creates a negative influence on women of color. It mentions that “women of color in particular have had a long contentious history with being excluded from feminist movements” (pg. 13). Following this, it mentioned that when people think of a feminist the picture they portray in their head is a woman who’s white, not of color. “Given these representational politics, we often overlook the historical fact that black women were foundational to—not marginal within—the mod-ern women’s movement” (pg. 14). With this, the article states that because of the history enduring white privilege, society is “white washing” the idea of feminism. Beyonce is a feminist singer, a woman of color, and people are racializing this image of a feminism. The article goes into more examples regarding the opinions of Beyonce’s music and herself in regards to being a black feminist woman.

When reading some of these essays it was interesting to read some of the opinions that people had on Beyonce and the topics of sexuality, race and feminism, which are all big topics in society from the past to even now. Everyone has their own opinions regarding these subjects though. When I read about how people only think of feminists as white women, I was shocked. Why wouldn’t it make sense for women of all races to support the advocacy of women’s rights? It is already the start to a whole new decade, 2020. Society has been battling the argument on these topics for decades and when I see people giving negative feedback to Beyonce because of her race it blows my mind. If you listen to her lyrics, Beyonce talks a lot about what it’s like being a woman, being a woman of color, empowerment, what women deserve in a relationship, and more. I think her messages are inspirational, even though others think differently. I’m going to leave the link at the end of the post if anyone is interested on reading some of the peer review journals regarding Beyonce and these topics. If you have any opinions or questions, please don’t hesitate to reply. -Kelly

LINK TO JOURNAL: Trier-Bieniek, Adrienne M. The Beyonce Effect : Essays on Sexuality, Race and Feminism. McFarland, 2016. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,shib&db=nlebk&AN=1281855&site=eds-live&scope=site.