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Bell Hooks response to Beyoncé’s visual album, lemonade, contains five main charges on why she is not an ideal role model and does not deserve the title feminist. In this essay, I will be analyzing bell hook’s charge that the album over-sexualizes women and contributes to the unachievable beauty standards thrust upon people and is not an attribute of equality and feminism. I will be arguing this against the charge and how it is an outdated feminist thought that is no longer applicable or needed in our modern-day society, and how the album promotes body positivity and confidence for its audiences.
Bell Hooks are quite critical in her response to Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, and states her views in the fourth paragraph, and how it was using the black female body as a commodity and being used to sell the album. She states this is “not radical or revolutionary” and that this has happened for centuries, black female bodies being bought and sold, and in turn, it leads to the dehumanization of the black female body. She does acknowledge that the black female body is beautiful, but this has already been shown and brought to public light through Carrie Mae Weems and was not needed to do so by Beyoncé again.
Bell Hooks is not a fan of the sexualization, and exploration of the black female body in Lemonade, but that is far from the message of the album. Bell Hooks hold an older view of feminism with her dislike for provocative women and the self-sexualization that is becoming so popular today. This third wave of feminism emphasizes the acceptance of sex, and the female body, no matter the size or color, and is quite different than bell hook's more antiquated view of feminism. Women, for one of the first time, can accept their bodies and proudly show them off. They are not doing this to sell an album but, to sell the idea of body acceptance and positivity.
Beyoncé was a wonderful example of this in her album as she danced and sang with her girls, no man present or needed. There will always be the argument that there are underlying predisposed actions we have to sexualization and these can be created by the media and social outlets that do promote provocative women, but Lemonade chose sexualizing as a form of confidence, and it was the choice of women. It is not women being used by men for the promotion of the sexy lifestyle for a particular product. It is not a beer ad with women posing on motorcycles, or rap artists singing about beating and disrespecting women while having them dance all over them. It is women being confident in their own bodies and expressing themselves however they please too, without the need of a man. This is a more modern take on feminism that needs to be accepted.
Lemonade did not contribute to the unachievable beauty standards placed on women by society but instead helped break down its boundaries. These beautiful black women and Beyoncé in Lemonade were examples not confined to the social norms of beauty. The album promotes natural black beauty with traditional hair such as cornrows and afros, and tribal paint allowing the women to accept their heritage and embrace their natural bodies. This varies dramatically from the typical standard of beauty portrayed in the entertainment and beauty industry, which most commonly includes perfect stick straight hair on a slender white model.
Beyoncé and the women in her album were all wonderful examples of a new era of beauty acceptance, including all races and sizes. Beyoncé even featured Willie Harlow, a Canadian Jamaican supermodel who is redefining beauty in the modeling business. She was the first supermodel to walk Victoria's Secret fashion show with vitiligo, a skin condition that causes the depigmentation of patches of skin. She is a perfect example of confidence in your own skin, and how everyone is beautiful. Beyoncé gave a visual album that everyone can look to for a different take on beauty, and finally find someone like them in media.
Bell Hooks are supportive however of Carrie Mae Weems, and in no way should we disregard the wonderful work she did with expressing the black female body, but the connection to Bell Hooks should be taken into account. Carrie was born and raised in the same era as Bell Hooks and she does have similar ideas as the time frame from their wave of feminism, and likewise had a more conservative image of black female beauty, closer to bell hook's ideologies. Beyoncé’s more radical modern-day take on feminism is quite different than Bell Hooks’ viewpoints but that does not mean they are wrong it means they are different.
Bell Hooks response to Beyoncé’s album Lemonade was, in fact, an outdated feminist thought. Women now preach about body acceptance and being comfortable in their own skin and finally having control of their own bodies. It also helped promote the acceptance of black beauty and gave an outlet for everyone to look for a different nonmainstream beauty ideal.
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