Abstract
This paper asks: in post-postfeminist times constitutes a feminist reading of the popular, and in particular potential futures are implied by the current ‘return’ to canonical feminist practices of reading, and how might these apparently utopian futures work to silence certain critical voices emanating from within the sphere of the popular – particularly queer and feminine voices? In answer to this question, it proposes a re-examining of contemporary ‘abject’ images of femininity in order propose a re-framing of feminist analysis of visual culture. By reading fashion imagery alongside selfie culture and popular feminist narratives of the visual, it argues that the melancholy nature of the popular representation of femininity precisely dramatizes the impossibly divided position of female femininity in a masculinist world.
Highlights
This paper asks: in post-postfeminist times constitutes a feminist reading of the popular, and in particular potential futures are implied by the current „return‟ to canonical feminist practices of reading, and how might these apparently utopian futures work to silence certain critical voices emanating from within the sphere of the popular – queer and feminine voices? In answer to this question, it proposes a re-examining of contemporary „abject‟ images of femininity in order propose a re-framing of feminist analysis of visual culture
On Facebook and Twitter, women began to post „no makeup selfies‟, self-taken photographs showing them with faces bare of cosmetics. These images, some posted by celebrities with large social media followings, spread virally through the chain-letter like practice of tagging or „nominating‟, apparently had something to do with cancer research: either with raising donations – some women posted screen grabs from mobile phones or computers proving that they had made a small donation, usually three pounds - or, more vaguely, „raising awareness‟
It's for a good cause LOL!" ‟Tell me, what is the good cause? Who exactly is this benefitting other than the person in the picture, who will undoubtedly be swathed with social endorsements of her natural beauty? (Buchanan, 2014, paragraph 2)
Summary
This paper asks: in post-postfeminist times constitutes a feminist reading of the popular, and in particular potential futures are implied by the current „return‟ to canonical feminist practices of reading, and how might these apparently utopian futures work to silence certain critical voices emanating from within the sphere of the popular – queer and feminine voices? In answer to this question, it proposes a re-examining of contemporary „abject‟ images of femininity in order propose a re-framing of feminist analysis of visual culture.
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