Sierra Dague Core Response 5

 I often find myself struggling to explain my feelings regarding artists like Madonna and Taylor Swift. I feel as if any critique I deploy contributes to the patriarchy. It’s women pitting themselves against women, which only reinforces the structures that limit women’s capabilities. Yet, they are clearly far from flawless. This is why I greatly appreciated McNutt’s writing on Taylor Swift’s paratextual feminism. While limited to an analysis of her authority as a songwriter, it was well spoken in granting her the feminist actions she took while still acknowledging their limitations.

The well rounded nature of this article provided some solace in comparison to the other two readings. Don’t get me wrong, I loved their analyses as well, but I felt stuck on the fact that bell hooks would disagree with Bey. In an article I read for another class, Jamie Ann Rogers wrote “Wallace, along with bell hooks, Mako Fitts Ward, and others, conclude that Lemonade problematically reproduces capitalist ideology, commodifies Black struggle, and displays symptoms of colorist racial politics, all while exploiting the sense of intimacy that the album garners among fans, ultimately undermining its feminist liberatory potential.”

If she is to be believed, bell hooks condones Beyoncé and Lemonade’s limitations, while Bey applauds it. How am I to form a solid opinion on major artists such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift when many feminists remain in stark disagreement? Rather than having a strong opinion, right now I concede that both arguments are perhaps true at the same time.

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