Floozy or Feminist?

Image source: DDC Works

Roskilde University: Cultural Encounters Spring Project. 2017

Written by Emily Page, Ida Stjerne, Jessica Silverio Rasmussen and Luna Stjerneby

Student numbers: 61689, 49275, 61497, 52263

Characters: 123,291

Supervisor: Zoran Lee Pecic

Abstract

Kvindekroppen, hvordan den bliver brugt, hvordan den bliver fremstillet og hvad den har på, er
en konstant kilde til debat og diskussion i den offentlige debat i vestlige samfund. Begrebet
empowerment bliver brugt bredt i forskellige kontekster og varierende formål. Der er stor
diskussion om hvad empowerment begrebet indebærer, i særdeleshed når det vedrører kvinder
der i kampen om frigørelse bruger visuelle medier til at udtrykke deres seksualitet og kroppe.
Dette projekt tager udgangspunkt i de tre amerikanske berømtheder Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé
og Amy Schumers fremstilling af deres kroppe i tre forskellige billeder, og analyserer hvilke
tematikker der er på spil både i billederne fra kvinderne, og i de reaktioner billederne har skabt
på sociale medier. Projektets teoretiske udgangspunkt er afgrænset til de tre hovedbegreber
empowerment, objektificering og postfeminisme som skaber en ramme for at forstå de
forskellige koncepter, der er i spil i analyseringen af billederne og udtalelserne fra kvinderne og
i kommentarerne. Projektet konkluderer, på baggrund af den teoretiske ramme, at disse tre
cases, i særdeleshed i reaktionerne, potentielt indikerer negative strukturer, der bliver
reproduceret i relation til hvordan kvinder skal agere offentligt i forhold til deres kroppe og
seksualitet. Skønt der er en forståelse af at kvinder, på sin vis, selv-objektificere dem selv
gennem en reproduktion af patriarkalske strukturer, forholder projektet sig kritisk til dette og
finder at der i denne forståelse ligger undertrykkende strukturer, der konstant irettesætter
kvinder og videre bidrager til en begrænsning af kvinders selvudfoldelse og autonomi over
egen krop.

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Table of contents
Abstract 2
Introduction 4
Problem Area 5
Problem formulation 6
Questions 7
Theoretical Framework: Postfeminism, Empowerment and Objectification 7
Postfeminism 7
Empowerment 11
Objectification 14
The Male Gaze 18
Methodological Considerations 20

Analysis 24
Case 1: Amy Schumer 24
Amy Schumer and Empowerment 25
Amy Schumer and Objectification 28
Amy Schumer and Postfeminism 29
Case 2: Kim Kardashian 31
Kim Kardashian and Empowerment 32
Kim Kardashian and Objectification 34
Kim Kardashian and Postfeminism 35
Case 3: Beyoncé 38
Beyoncé and Empowerment 39
Beyoncé and Objectification 40
Beyoncé and Postfeminism 42
Analysis Sum Up 45
Discussion 45
Great (S)expectations 45
Me, Myself, and I 47
‘To Empower or Not to Empower? That is the Question’ 48
So, Women Can’t Win? 50
But Then, What Now? Give up and Go Home? 52
Conclusion 53
Bibliography 56

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Introduction
The sexualised female body continues to be a site of contest in contemporary feminist debate
and in wider public discourse. Due to differences in perspectives on whether the naked female
body is empowering or in fact objectifying, many women and feminists disagree on whether
one can speak of “sexual empowerment” as a collective gain or loss for the feminist fight.
While some state that the appearance of the sexy naked female body in pop culture is good, as
it is liberating and empowering, others consider this a trend of sexualising the female body and
as something that objectifies women, as it regards the female body as an object of lust, leading
to what is often perceived as an objectification and disempowerment of women and their
agency. On the basis of this discussion, this project aims to investigate how particular
representations of the sexual female body, through images on social media and in women’s
magazines, are perceived and discussed in the public debate, and further what these perceptions
may express in a broader social context. The aim is to create an understanding of how the
female body appears to be continuously torn within the feminist debate when it comes to the
entanglement between the subjects of objectification and sexualisation opposed to
empowerment and individualism. The theoretical framework of this project will therefore be
based on three core concepts, each of which will be used to analyse the narratives that are at
play, when it comes to the sexual female body. These concepts are postfeminism,
objectification, and empowerment. To illustrate how each of these concepts come into play and
how they are entangled with one another, we have chosen to use images of three female
American celebrities as case examples for different representations of the female body in
contemporary pop culture, which we found have been heavily debated in the media. Each of
these women have been outspoken about feminist issues, and have to various degrees been
identified as feminist pop culture icons. The chosen cases are pictures of Kim Kardashian,
Beyoncé, and Amy Schumer, which all, in some way or another, are perceived as
contemporary feminist influencers in the media.
In the Analysis chapter we will examine how the chosen images, as individual acts of
empowerment, are interpreted and perceived by the viewer. By applying the theoretical
framework we aim to gain an understanding of how these images, and the reactions to them,
could express sociocultural structures and reproductions. Our analytical findings will be

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critically discussed within the Discussion chapter where we will address the question of
whether women’s sexual expression is a matter of individual choice and empowerment, or if it
is in fact reproducing oppressive structures conditioned within a society that sexualises and
objectifies women.

Problem Area
While the female body has long been a subject of discussion within the feminist debate and
within a larger sociocultural context, the contemporary discussion is largely shaped by the
diverse representations and ideologies of women on social media. When regarding our
contemporary reality it appears that, due to the possibilities of social media platforms, feminist
activism has become easier than ever, enabling people to engage in the public discourse on
feminism.
This can be seen in regards to feminist influencers such as Beyoncé and Amy Schumer, who
advocate for women’s rights and fight against structural sexism in their professional lives, art
and political work (Blair, 2016; Maitlis, 2016). In a postfeminist context, this movement is
similarly described as a shift from earlier representational practices of feminism, as it appears
that femininity today is defined as a bodily property rather than a social, structural or
psychological one (Gill, 2007: 148).
This “embodied femininity”, that is characteristic of postfeminism (ibid), is to a large extent
represented on social media, where the use of visual platforms such as the Instagram and
Twitter enable women to share, express and communicate their individual ideologies and
representations at a global level. In this way, Instagram and other social media platforms create
a wide range of opportunities when it comes to the communication of feminist ideas and
representations. This blooming of present day feminism has, for instance in the Danish public
debate, raised the question of whether or not a “fourth wave” of feminism is arising. This
“fourth wave” term emerged in an interview where Danish politician Nikita Klæstrup joined
forces with Ekaterina Krarup Andersen and Louise “Twerk Queen” Kjølsen, to put into words
and pictures how the latest form of feminism uses “sexuality as a weapon” in the gender fight
(Københavns Biblioteker, 2017). Together these women have become a major subject of
debate in the Danish media, due to their sexual appearances and liberal attitudes towards
feminism, to which journalist Mette Fugl has remarked, "(...) Gangbangs and ass-shaking is
not the way to go for a significant and inclusive women's fight" (ibid). The responses to the

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fourth wave debate have drawn our attention to the relationship between feminism and public
sexuality, regarding whether or not it is truly beneficial to view feminism and nudity as an
element of empowerment, which pushes for gender equality, or if these two things stand in
opposition to one another? However, the term “fourth wave feminism” is still a subject of
debate and is yet to be defined or confirmed by the current and following generation, therefore
we have chosen to use the concept of postfeminism, as we find that the values within the
postfeminist sensibility are in many ways in line with the values that are depicted in the so-
called “fourth wave”. In the following chapter we will further elaborate on the relevance of
‘postfeminism’ in connection to our chosen field of research.
The general discourse regarding women’s bodies in the media appears to be torn between the
opposing arguments of empowerment and objectification. We see that when a woman (e.g.
Beyoncé), claims feminism and simultaneously dresses sexy and shows her body, a dilemma
appears within the feminist debate. We have encountered feminists in our everyday lives who
believe that constantly presenting your body in a sexual manner sabotages the feminist
struggle, but we also encounter feminist who think that sexuality can be empowering and the
individual woman should wear whatever she likes. This disagreement sparked our interest and
made us want to take a closer consider the foundation of the discourse to gain an understanding
of the different values which manifest themselves within the opposing views. Because we as
four rather different women are divided in our opinions on this particular subject, we believe it
would provide a more nuanced approach to the discussion than if we all agreed in advance. The
analysis is executed with the purpose of being as objective as possible, however we
acknowledge that it is not possible for us to be fully objective because we, as humans, analyse
through our own individual interpretations.

Problem formulation
With point of departure in the visual representation of Schumer, Kardashian, and Beyoncé,
how can we understand the role of empowerment as represented through the reactions to these
three particular images? Furthermore, drawing on theory such as empowerment, objectification
and the male gaze, how does the individual act of empowerment, expressed through these
nude/semi-nude pictures, situate itself within a society where women’s bodies are sexualised?

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Questions

● How does sexual empowerment manifest itself within a postfeminist sensibility?

● How do the responses to these images reflect the contemporary discourse on female
sexuality and empowerment?

Theoretical Framework: Postfeminism, Empowerment

and Objectification

Postfeminism

Postfeminism is a term which has many different definitions and interpretations. The term was
coined in the 1980s to describe a backlash against Second Wave feminism and is often used as
a synonym to Third Wave feminism (Gill & Scharff, 2011). Postfeminism is being used in four
different ways according to Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis Rosalind Gill (City,
University of London, 2017) and lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries Sarah
Scharff (King’s College London, 2015). It can be interpreted as a break within feminism where
instead of viewing feminism as mainly revolving around white middle-class women (which
characterises the second wave feminism) it has now matured into intersectional feminism
which deals with the many different factors that play important interrelated roles in
understanding the nuances and layers of gender inequality such as race, class and sexuality
(ibid).
Postfeminism is also used to refer to feminism as something that has passed, hence interpreting
the word “post” rather literally. This interpretation is often seen in the popular media’s feminist
discourse and treats feminism as something which is no longer relevant in the same way as in
earlier generations. Feminists have expressed their concern with this particular interpretation of
Postfeminism as it sabotages the important social struggles feminism fights against and instead

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focus on the exposure and sexualisation of female bodies for men’s entertainment (ibid).
This leads to a third way of interpreting the notion; as a backlash against feminism that treats
feminism as a battle that is already won, hence claiming that gender equality has been
achieved. This is the same view which depicts political correctness as a kind of tyranny in
which the white man is in reality the actual victim and that hegemonic masculinity is in danger
of collapsing.
Furthermore, what also identifies postfeminist culture is the centralisation of individuality and
“an entanglement which facilitates both a doing and undoing of feminism” where it is
acknowledged, but also rejected (ibid, 2011: 4). This double entanglement can be identified in
the particular kinds of individual freedom and empowerment women today are offered instead
of actual political and feminist change.
The femininities which became popular in the third wave of feminism were the ones overtly
criticised by the second wave:
“In third-wave feminism, for example, high heels, low-cut, revealing clothing, and retro-
lingerie – gear widely criticised by second-wavers – are ‘in’. The stay-at-home mum who
prioritises family over career, or the super-sexual woman who wears revealing clothing that
sexualises the female body, is newly fashionable” (ibid, 2011: 120).
These styles were viewed by the second wave as sexualising women’s bodies and therefore
taking part in oppressing them. The rhetoric of postfeminism and third wave feminism offers a
“freedom” to women, a freedom to dress sexy and to embrace that feminine sexual aspect of
their womanhood. Gill and Scharff suggest that femininity has become increasingly about
“bodily property” which is referred to as a shift from objectification to subjectification in the
way women (though not all women) are represented:
“(...) an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and discipline; a focus upon
individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a ‘makeover paradigm’; a
resurgence of ideas of natural sexual difference; the marked ‘resexualisation’ of women’s
bodies; and an emphasis upon consumerism and the commodification of difference” (ibid,
2011: 4).
After rejecting the sexualisation of women in the second wave, sexuality has made a strong
comeback in the third wave and postfeminism, with the message that sexuality can be
empowering and that it is okay for women to like makeup and revealing clothes because it is
their own individual choice.

In order to fully comprehend how postfeminism came about it is relevant to mention the

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feminist sex wars of the 1980s. Lecturer in sociology at Western State Colorado University
Jess Butler (Academia, 2017), explained in For White Girls Only? Postfeminism and the
Politics of Inclusion (2013) that the main focus of the feminist sex wars was on the issue of
pornography which created a division within feminist society, a division which consisted of the
feminists who believed in the need to protect women from sexual objectification while other
feminists believed in the importance of sexual liberation for women (anti-sex vs. pro-sex). A
key argument for the “protection” of women was made by feminist legal scholar Catherine
MacKinnon (1987) (who will function as one of the key theorists in our theoretical framework)
that women are depicted and constructed as objects for the pleasure of men from the very
beginning, which means that a call for sexual freedom makes women’s objectification
invisible, hence naturalising their oppression.
In this way sexual liberation is viewed as an insufficient and dangerous solution to problems
originating from male supremacy. In short, MacKinnon argues that as long as women are
looked upon and defined as sexual objects, the notion of sexual freedom is a joke (Butler,
2013). The idea that women need to be protected against objectification ignited one of the main
critiques the third wave has against the second wave. In the early 1990s, feminists began
criticising the idea that women needed to be protected, and female sexuality rejected, and
argued that in order to successfully complete the sexual revolution women ought to be allowed
to become sexually liberated in the same way men are. These feminists were defined as
“sexpositive” and concerned themselves with the way objectification constrains a woman’s
sexual agency, disabling her from exploring her own sexuality. According to these feminists,
the internalised victimisation which coexists with the sensory rejection of female sexuality will
only further the idea of women as sexual objects, and therefore feminists should focus on
freedom and rights (ibid). Butler further explains the problematic nature of the sex wars and
“mainstream” feminists depicting sex as either being liberating or oppressive, but most
importantly the continuing contribution to the ongoing tendency of ignoring the experiences of
women of colour - something which is also an unfortunate factor of postfeminism as it too
continues to emphasise the experiences of privileged, white, heterosexual, middle-class
women.

It is important to distinguish between postfeminism and third wave feminism for the purpose of
this project. We define postfeminism as a spectrum of contemporary cultural discourses and as
a sort of “sensibility”, as Gill (2007: 2) calls it, consisting of several interrelated themes, and
third wave feminism as a somewhat political movement (ibid). The third wave was created as a

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more welcoming space which was more inclusive, especially regarding class and racial
diversity, compared to the first and second wave. The goal was to involve young women and
allow them to define feminism for themselves.

Postfeminist media culture

In Rosalind Gill’s article Postfeminist media culture: elements of a sensibility (2007), she
writes: “One of the most striking aspects of postfeminist media culture is its obsessional
preoccupation with the body” (Gill, 2007: 6). The extreme focus on body and sexuality is
depicted as the core of femininity by today’s media. Instead of defining motherhood, caring
and nurturing as the key factors of femininity, it has now become the “sexy body” which is
central to conventional femininity. Gill argues that a woman’s body is presented as her source
of power while she simultaneously has to constantly monitor, discipline, surveil and remodel
her body to fit the shifting trends and judgements of female attractiveness. Women’s bodies are
constantly being scrutinised and watched closely and are forever at risk of failing to meet the
many demands that society and media set. This becomes apparent when one looks at society’s
obsession with celebrities, particularly female celebrities, when talking about body
surveillance. Female celebrities’ appearances are constantly being debated, which one can see
in the endless number of magazines and websites that photograph and comment on everything
from women’s visible panty lines to armpit hair, but also, in particular, on women’s weight.
In postfeminist media culture the female body can be viewed as a window to the individual
woman’s interior life:
“(...) when Bridget Jones smokes 40 cigarettes a day or consumes 'excessive' calories we are
invited to read this in psychological terms as indicative of her emotional breakdown. A sleek,
toned, controlled figure is today normatively essential for portraying success” (Gill, 2007: 7).
In this way the female body is depicted as being in direct correlation with how the woman’s
mental health is, however it has also been acknowledged that no matter what a female body
looks like it may have little to do with how the woman is feeling. The successful female body,
in this context, is therefore beautiful and self-confident despite however hurt the woman may
actually feel inside, as seen in the overwhelming focus on Jennifer Aniston after her breakup
with Brad Pitt where the media called her ‘triumphant’ because of her beautiful and polished
exterior the first time she appeared in public after the breakup, however there was not the same
attention on Pitt (ibid).

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Sexualisation of girls and women in media

Rosalind Gill further discusses sexualisation in the sense of the persistently sexual and erotic
media portrayal of girls’ and women’s bodies. Professional women such as news anchors,
politicians and foreign correspondents are frequently commented upon sexually, and rape
stories are often produced as entertainment instead of devastating news. The discourse of
sexualisation is also articulated differently in men’s magazines compared with women’s
magazines:
“In the 'lad mags' sex is discussed through a vocabulary of youthful, unselfconscious pleasure-
seeking, whilst in magazines targeted at teenage girls and young women it is constructed as
something requiring constant attention, discipline, self-surveillance and emotional labour”
(Gill, 2007: 8).
The relationship to sex is taught differently for boys and girls, and girls grow up to realise that
they themselves are responsible for making themselves into heterosexual and desirable subjects
while also pleasing men sexually and protecting themselves against sexually transmitted
diseases and pregnancy. Furthermore, women become the monitors of all emotional and sexual
relationships while also having to take care of their own sexual reputation as well as men’s
self-esteem (ibid). Men, on the other hand, are complimented for their hedonism and that they
simply want casual sex. Gill explains that in magazines produced for straight women, men are
depicted as vulnerable and complex beings, however in the magazines targeted at straight men,
women are portrayed as simple beings who only talk about their sexual fantasies, body parts
and dirty secrets.

Empowerment

The notion of empowerment is central to postfeminism, and it is frequently raised and

problematised in postfeminist debates. Our analysis will draw from the arguments presented by
various scholars (Gavey, 2012, Lamb and Peterson, 2011; Chatman, 2015; Gill, 2012) to
consider how empowerment is produced and represented in the chosen images, and what this
reflects about our postfeminist context.

Professor Nicola Gavey, a researcher in feminist psychology at the University of Auckland,

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(The University of Auckland 2017) argues sexual empowerment is so frequently discussed that
there is “(...) a sense of fatigue with the very concept” and asserts the term is “(...) too
conceptually flabby to be useful in anchoring feminist debates” (2012: 719). Indeed, one of the
key challenges in understanding the concept is establishing a definition. While Gavey argues
“(...) feeling (sexually) empowered is not necessarily the same as being empowered” (ibid),
prominent women, for example celebrity Kim Kardashian, continue to present a counter-
argument (Marcus, 2016), that is, that any act of sexuality that feels empowering is
empowering.

“Empowerment” reflects the individualism inherent in postfeminism, where women are

empowered to make choices about every aspect of their lives, including their bodies. In a
postfeminist context, they may choose to post a sexually explicit photograph of themselves
online, or choose to be a stay-at-home mum, or both. In a postfeminist world, women are
empowered because they can choose how they wish to behave and to represent themselves.
This emphasis on choice reflects the neoliberal discourse that postfeminism is situated within.
In neoliberal ideology, which pervades our present, postfeminist context, people are constituted
to be free and autonomous, empowered to choose a fulfilling career, to start a family and to
spend the money they have earned in whatever way they choose. Sharon Lamb, Professor of
Counseling and School Psychology in the College of Education and Human Development at
the University of Massachusetts Boston, and Zoe Peterson, Associate Professor of
Psychological Sciences and Director of the Sexual Assault Research and Education Program at
the University of Missouri-St. Louis, discuss this in their article Adolescent Girls’ Sexual
Empowerment: Two Feminists Explore the Concept (2011). They note that “(...) typically, for
feminist theorists, it would seem that empowerment is conflated with the idea of choice” (Lamb
& Peterson 2011: 704). In Foucauldian terms, while women are free and empowered with
choices, they are expected to be “self-governing subjects”, who make the “right”, responsible
choices in terms of career progression, sexual relationships, and establishing families. This
process of subjectification both limits and expands choices regarding how women act and how
they understand themselves (Gavey, 2012: 721), and is part of a wider neoliberal discourse
which places increased responsibility on the individual (Gill, 2012: 737).

Gill (2012), Gavey (2012), and Dr Danya Chatman, George Gerbner Postdoctoral Fellow at the
Annenberg School for Communication (Annenberg School for Communication at the
University of Pennsylvania, 2017), raise concerns about the impact of privileging individualism

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over collective action in discussions of empowerment. In focusing on individual acts of
empowerment, “(...) these discourses about women as autonomous empowered citizens ignore
the conditions that continue to systematically oppress women” (Chatman, 2015: 927). In this
neoliberalisation of feminism, women are encouraged to pursue their own freedom,
individuality and equality, while ignoring (deliberately or not), the wider oppressive,
patriarchal structures around them. Gavey notes that individual expressions of empowerment
alone are not enough to make gains in the wider struggle for equality:
“Feminism, as a change oriented theory and practice, cannot be limited to privileging
individual expressions of contentment above the collective interests of women and the political
drive for equality. If it had done so in the past, women may never have got the vote!” (2012:
720)

The commodification of empowerment is another concern often cited by feminists (Gill 2012,
Chatman 2015, Gavey 2012; Lamb and Peterson 2011). Lamb and Peterson note the term
empowerment is frequently used in advertising, where marketers suggest empowerment can be
achieved through buying certain products (2011: 705). Gill argues the term has been “(...)
emptied of its political significance, and used to sell everything from diets to pole dancing
classes” (Gill, 2012: 738). The empowered woman – whose employment contributes to the
economy, who is financially independent, and who makes her own consumer choices – is a
valuable contributor to global capitalist society, because this society depends on “(...)
maintaining an active population of producers (and consumers)” (Chatman, 2015: 927). While
consumption itself may not necessarily be bad, Chatman argues that the notion of
empowerment being tied to material consumption is problematic (ibid: 935, 938), because the
economic means to choose to purchase certain products or a particular lifestyle is not evenly
distributed. While those with adequate capital or buying power are empowered and can make
their preferred consumer choices, others do not have access to this form of empowerment. In
distributing this empowerment to only some women and not others, it is possible to see how
material consumption, as a form of empowerment, does not helpfully contribute towards
achieving equality among women and overall in society. In addition to perpetuating
inequalities among women, and potentially hindering feminist unity, Gill notes it is possible to
see how “(...) empowerment is regarded merely as a cynical rhetoric, wrapping sexual
objectification in a shiny, feisty, postfeminist packaging that obscures the continued underlying
sexism” (2012: 737). Gill argues that possessing “sexual empowerment”, as a normal part of
female sexuality, has become another unhelpful norm that women must live up to (ibid: 737,

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741).
Gill examined the impact of this growing norm of sexual empowerment in her studies with
teenage girls in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. She noted that many of the girls
possessed high media literacy, and were, for example, able to point out contrivances such as
photoshopping of celebrities in magazines (ibid: 738). She found, however, that despite the
girls’ awareness of “fake” aspects of the images, they still did not experience positive feelings
when looking at the images:
“Media representations still got to them, still had an ability to hurt them, still - as they
repeatedly told us – made them ‘feel bad’ or ‘feel sad’ and/ or made them long to look a
particular way or to own a particular product” (ibid: 740).

The results of Gill’s study reveal that an experience of empowerment for one individual may
not empower another, and this act may even produce disempowerment in the other. While the
act of posing for a sexualised image in a magazine or posting such an image on one’s own
Instagram account may produce feelings of empowerment in that subject over their own image
and representation, this experience may not be shared by the woman or girl viewing the image.
Rather, this encounter may serve to leave the viewer with a rising sense of the gap between
them and the idealised subject. Lamb and Peterson summarise:
“Thus while these media images of sexuality may be empowering to some extent, they are also
incredibly restrictive and shape desire and subjectivity into forms that are more mainstream.
And they bring up the issue that what might feel empowering to some may feel so in a context
in which these images disempower others” (2011: 708).

This again returns to the dialectic of individual acts of empowerment versus the wider feminist
movement for social and gender equality, and points to the need to scrutinise empowerment to
determine whether it is a useful aspiration which progresses feminist ideals, or whether it
entrenches oppressive patriarchal structures.

Objectification
Martha C. Nussbaum is an American scholar, with a Ph.D from Harvard University, and
currently a Professor in Law and Ethics at Chicago University (Chicago University, 2017). In
her 1995 essay Objectification, she discusses the concept of objectification from different
angles and attempts to broaden the understandings of this complicated concept, and define
different ways and levels of objectification.

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In our analysis, we will draw on her understanding and definitions of objectification, as a
theoretical framework of understanding the concept, but also in relation to analysing
objectification in the representation of postfeminism in images in contemporary pop culture.

The concept of objectification is, according to Nussbaum, a term often used in feminist theory
in general as a negative term in relation to men’s sexual objectification of women, and as a
negative condition of female reality (Nussbaum, 1995: 250). Inspired by scholars such as Cass
Sunstein (Ibid.), who has questioned whether objectification is only oppressive and negative,
Nussbaum starts her analysis by stating that the nuances of objectification cannot be seen, as
the concept is unclarified. Hence she aims to define and clarify the concept, and argues that in
doing so one will find that it is a multi-faceted and complex concept (ibid: 251).

Nussbaum defines objectification as “(…) treating one thing as another: One is treating as an
object what is really not an object, what is, in fact, a human being,” and further states that
“objectification entails making into a thing, treating as a thing, something that is really not a
thing” (ibid: 256-257).

She points to seven notions which she has found to be involved in objectification:

1. Instrumentality (treating the other as a tool or instrument)

2. Denial of autonomy (treating the other as lacking self-determination and autonomy)
3. Inertness (treating the other as lacking agency and activity)
4. Fungibility (treating the other as interchangeable)
5. Violability (treating the other as something to be allowed to break/harm/smash)
6. Ownership (treating the other as something owned by someone)
7. Denial of subjectivity (treating the other as without having feelings that count/are to
be considered) (ibid: 257).

All of the notions are involved in objectification, but they do not necessarily need to all be
present at the same time – the presence of one of the notions is enough for it to be a case of
objectification.

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Starting outside the sexual realm, Nussbaum points out three cases of objectification, where
different kinds of the seven notions are at play: in children, workers and slaves. Different
notions come to play and different levels of moral contempt. For instance, children are often
treated as without having autonomy, and with some form of ownership, but almost everywhere
it is viewed as morally wrong to treat a child with instrumentality, violability, inertness, and
fungibility (ibid: 262).
Nussbaum points to the fact that not all kinds of objectification are morally questionable, but
rather that it depends on the context. The notion of instrumentality, for instance, can be seen in
context as she points out that using a lover’s stomach as a pillow, is a form of instrumentality,
but treating someone as primarily or only as an instrument is problematic (ibid: 265).

One of Nussbaum’s primary conclusions throughout the essay is that, “(...) in the matter of
objectification, context is everything” (ibid: 271). Nussbaum highlights the importance of
context as an essential aspect when analysing the nature of objectification, and this is illustrated
in various examples in her analysis. She analyses six cases of objectification, five quotes from
literature and a series of images in Playboy magazine with the caption “Why We Love Tennis”
(ibid: 252-254). Though all are examples of objectification, they all illustrate different
scenarios where the seven notions come into play, but especially illustrate that the concept of
context is essential analysing whether the objectification is a positive part of human sexuality
or a means of negative dominance or oppression. The context and mutual respect in the
relationship of the person objectified and the person objectifying is key.

Nussbaum writes:
“Denial of autonomy and denial of subjectivity are objectionable if they persist throughout an
adult relationship, but phases in relationship characterized by mutual regard they can be all
right, or even quite wonderful (…)” (ibid: 290).
Nussbaum thus concludes that although objectification, and the seven notions that frame it, can
be negative and directly suppressive, it is a complex concept. An analysis of objectification
needs to take into account other factors such as context, and the overall nature of a relationship.

On the more radical side of the academic feminist spectrum is Catharine A. MacKinnon,
Professor of Law at Michigan Law (The University of Michigan University Law School 2017).

16
In her book, Feminism Unmodified (1987), MacKinnon writes about how female sexuality is
perceived and performed in society. With point of departure in female representation in
pornography, movies as well as the magazine Playboy, MacKinnon analyses how the female
sexuality and body is projected as an object of male desire (MacKinnon, 1987). For
MacKinnon, sexual objectification of women is an unavoidable and always present condition
of female lives. It is a central problem of living, indeed so central that it affects how both
women and men perceive female sexuality (Nussbaum 1995: 250). MacKinnon writes of
objectification of women:
“Women’s intimate experience of sexual objectification … is definitive of and synonymous
with women’s lives as gender female (…) All women live in sexual objectification the way fish
live in water” (MacKinnon in Nussbaum 1995: 250).

MacKinnon uses pornography as an example of how female sexuality is perceived and

performed. According to MacKinnon, women learn to fake or lie about sexual arousal and
pleasure, as a mechanism to get by as women and for the pleasure of men (MacKinnon, 1987:
129). This is due to a perception that female sexuality exists for men to take and use.
Magazines such as Playboy illustrate a male view of sex, with men’s desire in the centre of
sexual relationships, as it revolves around women being able to engage in sex when the man
initiates it or the woman initiating it when the man wants her to (ibid: 144). Thus, according to
Mackinnon, the pornography industry both mirrors the sexual power relations between the two
genders, and influences it at the same time. MacKinnon argues:
“Male power makes authoritative a way of seeing and treating women, so that when a man
looks at a pornographic picture – pornographic meaning that the woman is defined as to be
acted upon, a sexual object, a sexual thing – the viewing is an act, an act of male supremacy”
(ibid: 130)

Thus, pornography and magazines like Playboy promote not just sexual objectification of
women but also violence and rape, rooted in an institutionalised male supremacy and
dominance (ibid: 146), and pornography “institutionalises the sexuality of male supremacy,
which fuses the eroticisation of dominance and submission with the social construction of male
and female” (ibid: 148).
This institutionalised male supremacy and dominance does not only affect men’s treatment of
women, but also the female experience of desire and of their own sexuality. Women learn to
eroticise being objectified and under male domination, which leads to a self-objectification

17
(MacKinnon in Nussbaum 1995: 268). This means that women, due to structures of oppression,
self-objectify themselves as a part of their sexuality, and thus sex “ (...) entails a forfeiture of
humanity, being turned into something rather than someone” (Nussbaum 1995: 268).
MacKinnon thus argues that what can be perceived as being initiated by, and for, the pleasure
of women, what is perceived even as love and mutual respect, is actually rooted in structures
and patterns of oppression and male supremacy: “What looks like love and romance in the
liberal view look a lot like hatred and torture in the feminist view” (MacKinnon 1987: 149).

The Male Gaze

One of the key considerations in discussions of objectification of women’s bodies is the role of
the “male gaze”. Importantly, gaze theory “(...) provides a framework for analysing how
people learn about, create and maintain power differences within a culture based on visual
cues” (Moe, 2015: 2).

Laura Mulvey initially developed the theory of the male gaze in her 1975 essay Visual
Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Mulvey used a psychoanalytical approach to argue that
women are portrayed in cinema primarily to fulfill an aesthetic purpose, that is, for the pleasure
of the film’s male characters, director, and cinema audience (Moe, 2015: 3). She argues men
are portrayed as active and looking subjects, and women as passive objects which are to be
looked at (Mulvey, 1975: 10).

Mulvey argued women are presented in a sexualised way to appeal to male heterosexual desire,
through, for example, close up shots of their legs (ibid: 11):
“The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female form which is styled
accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and
displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be
said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (ibid: 10).
Those viewing the film “must accept this portrayal, regardless of who they are or to whom
they are sexually attracted” (Moe, 2015: 3). This entrenched patriarchal lens objectifies
women as it encourages viewers to identify with the male protagonist, and “through
participation in his power, the spectator can indirectly possess her (the female character) too”
(Mulvey, 1975: 11).
The heterosexual male perspective is thus presented as the dominant perspective, and as

18
Angela M. Moe argues, other perspectives become secondary or not relevant (Moe, 2015: 3).
This is problematic, because “Consequently, women’s perspectives and worth, both in the
entertainment industry and larger society, also appear secondary or irrelevant” (2015: 3). As
a result, women learn their social value lies in how their physical appearance is perceived,
rather than in their knowledge, abilities or intellect (ibid). As women thus expect to be gazed
upon as objects for pleasure, in order to adapt to this value system they may begin “to look at
themselves through the eyes of (heterosexual) men. The gaze is internalized” (ibid).

Further, women learn that in a capitalist context, “beauty, as defined by Western, heterosexual,
white male standards, is a commodity,” (ibid), that can be utilised as a means of power, and
exchanged for opportunities and advantages. This self-objectification further entrenches the
hegemony of the male gaze and its system of determining women’s value based on their
adherence to narrow beauty standards.

Feminist scholars have discussed possibilities for avoiding, re-orientating and challenging the
gaze, through re-contextualising traditionally sexually objectifying activities such as pole
dancing (Whitehead & Kurz, 2009) and belly dancing (Moe, 2015).
While pole dancing and belly dancing are conventionally highly sexualised practices which
draw attention to women’s bodies for the purpose of satisfying the objectifying male gaze,
Whitehead & Kurz and Moe argue that women-only recreational pole dancing and belly
dancing classes provide a space for challenging this objectification. The classes are places
where women can practice these activities for their own enjoyment and fitness, away from the
male gaze.
In her study of women’s experiences of belly dancing classes, Moe notes the potential for
empowerment and increased well-being, when the male gaze is removed. Moe refers to one
participant who explained that she had not previously participated in such performative
activities because she perceived her larger body type was not valued in these settings, because
it does not fit the criteria for sexual desirability in the hegemonic male gaze. Participating in
the women-only class, however, provided a refuge from the gaze and from the judgement of
not conforming to conventional sexuality and beauty standards. The woman described how she
learnt to value her own skill and expression of her body shape (Moe, 2015: 7).
Moe also discusses how women who publicly perform belly dancing employ particular
strategies to actively challenge the gaze. She notes groups of older dancers, larger dancers and
those with stretch marks who perform with an active awareness that they are challenging

19
dominant perceptions of beauty (ibid: 15).
While the male gaze is widely naturalised, socially embedded and unquestioned (ibid: 3), it is
also possible to observe strategies of resistance, through, for example re-contextualising and
subverting sexualised activities.

Methodological Considerations
In this part of the study, the research strategy is described in order to outline the
methodological considerations and applied choice of methods. In this extent the collection and
analysis of the data is explained to rationalise the choice and application of methods, while also
contributing to the study’s overall validity and reliability. We have chosen to do a visual
analysis, as a mean of looking into how empowerment can be expressed through visual
representation of the female body. We have chosen this approach because we find that visual
representation plays a big part in contemporary popular culture, and further we see this in line
with a values ascribed by postfeminist view on society. We find that visual analysis is coherent
with our line of inquiry, and theoretical framework, as we are looking at postfeminist view on
society, that are highly influenced on a focus on visual representation and expressions of body
and sexuality.

When investigating the methods that would support the research of this investigation, it was
important to map out the overall fields of inquiry. As the topics of interest suggest, the primary
fields of inquiry in this investigation are Women's studies and Media studies, both
interdisciplinary fields offering a range of methodological disciplines and approaches related to
the topic of feminism and nudity. Furthermore, when regarding the intersection between
particular topics and discussions it was clear that the focus would concentrate on the crossing
and relation between feminism and nudity, i.e. the relation between feminist attitudes towards
female empowerment and feminist attitudes towards nudity on social media. In relation the
methods used in this study, namely visual analysis and text analysis have been chosen to
support the analysis and interpretation of social media data, that is the combination of images
and text.

When examining images, photographs and other types of visual data, the visual analysis
approach enables the interpretation of social tendencies, dealing with major fields of inquiry
such as sociology, media studies, culture studies, gender studies, social psychology, and other
fields relating to social sciences (Knoblauch, Baer, Laurier, Petschke & Schnettler, 2008). In

20
relation, this investigation uses visual analysis as a way of interpreting tendencies and attitudes
in the discourse on feminism, female empowerment and nudity. This is in itself one of the
strengths of the visual analysis approach, as it can be used to address the cultural meaning of
visual data by relating it to ways in which the interpreters themselves interpret the data (ibid).

The use of visual analysis is considered to be a qualitative method, as it creates a subjective

and reflexive form of data production (ibid). In this examination, the use of visual analysis
enables the analysis of photographic self-representations, which constitutes the chosen visual
data. The idea was to collect, interpret and analyse the self-representations of four women, who
are considered to be influencers in the contemporary debate on feminism and female
empowerment. To ensure that the selected self-representations are diverse, the data will be
collected from distinctive social media platforms, such as Instagram and Twitter, as this will
give the data a diverse outcome of expressions, meanings and contexts. It is however important
to note that social media content can be ambiguous as it is multimodal and highly “context-and
user" dependent (Kleim & Schreck, 2013: 1).

When working with social media data, it is therefore essential to interpret the meaning of the
data and to question the processes, negotiations and views that the data produces for the users
of the platform. When it comes to the visual analysis of pictures, German sociologist and
professor Ralf Bohnsack argues, that it is critical to differentiate the understanding ‘of’ pictures
with an understanding ‘through’ pictures, as many researchers tend to treat visual data as self-
referential systems creating a form of one-sidedness (Knoblauch, Baer, Laurier, Petschke &
Schnettler, 2008).

In order to avoid this form of researcher bias, it is essential to break down the visual analysis
process by looking at the significance of particular elements and by then connecting these into
a combined interpretation of the data. Bohnsack argues how approaching visual analysis in this
way can contribute to a deeper understanding of images, by stating “(…) understanding is
achieved by shifting perspective from the question of what is in pictures, to how pictures show,
that means, from iconographic to iconology” (Knoblauch, Baer, Laurier, Petschke &
Schnettler, 2008). According to Bohnsack, it is not only important to examine the objects or
elements that constitute the image, but to analyse the social context and effect of the image.
This approach is similarly shared by Matteo Stocchetti and Karin Kukkonen in their book
Images in use, which looks at the ways in which people perceive images by connecting the
relation between images and their effects in society (Stocchetti & Kukkonen, 2011:1).

21
Stocchetti and Kukkonen explain how the idea of images as powerful objects in themselves is
fruitless, as images do not obtain meaning, but are given meaning by people in society.
Stocchetti and Kekkonen explain this notion by arguing, “(…) images are not considered as
meaningful objects in and of themselves but as part of the process of negotiating social values,
i.e. politics and power” (ibid: 3).

Nevertheless, sociologists Eric Margolis and Luc Pauwel argue that researchers have a wide
variety of interconnected opportunities when using visual data in the study of society and
culture (Margolis & Pauwels, 2011: 4). One of the challenges of working with visual analysis
is however, that there is little integration with the findings and practices of visual methods,
particularly in the fields of social science, humanities and behavioral science (ibid: 3).
However, when using visual analysis it is as mentioned crucial to interpret the social
negotiations and values that self-representations produce for the users of the platform. Using
visual data in this way enables the analysis of ideologies on female empowerment. However,
because social media platforms are multimodal, it is nevertheless crucial to understand the
communication of text as it is to understand the communication of images. Combining visual
analysis and text analysis, therefore gives a more holistic interpretation of the chosen social
media platform’s communication, as both of these methods complement one another.

When analysing images it is crucial to look at the context of the image, in order to interpret the
social, political and ideological negotiations or values that are communicated. However, when
analysing the use of text, it is important to question the authors desired communication in
regards to the platform, as the combination of visual and linguistic elements are both semiotic
choices. According to David Machin and Andrea Mayr, visual communication is often used to
communicate discourses that may be difficult to express through language since, “images do
not tend to have such fixed meanings or at least the producer can always claim that it is more
suggestive and open to various interpretations” (Machin & Mayr, 2012: 31). They explain that
“visual communication, by its nature tends to be more open to interpretation, which gives the
author some degree of manoeuvre not permitted through language use” (ibid).

We have chosen to base our project on three American celebrities who we have found express
empowerment through nudity. The cases are furthermore chosen based on the fact that we
assessed these three women’s use of nudity as actions of empowerment, and have attracted a
large amount of public attention. Amy Schumer and Kim Kardashian’s pictures went viral and
attracted a great amount of attention on social media. We want to look into what the pictures

22
express, how the sender perceived the act, and what reactions they received. We chose
Beyoncé as a case, because she can be considered one of the most influential artists in
contemporary western society (Trier-Bieniek, 2016: 1), and furthermore because she uses both
notions of feminism and empowerment in her work, and has stated that she finds expressions of
female sexuality to be empowering (Beyoncé, 2013). We utilise these three pictures of these
women with an assumption that all three have consented to the way they are depicted in the
pictures. In the cases of Kim Kardashian and Amy Schumer, they have posted the pictures on
their social media accounts, and the picture of Beyoncé is taken from one of her own music
videos.

We have chosen to use celebrities as a point of departure for our analysis, because in our
contemporary postfeminist context there is an obsession with celebrities and the body (Gill,
2007: 6). Celebrities can, within a postfeminist view on society, be seen as modern role
models. We find that by looking at how these women expresses empowerment through their
body and sexuality as well as the public reactions that they created, we are able to gain an
insight in how female acts of empowerment, through nudity, are perceived in contemporary
society.

In the analysis we will take point of departure in a visual analysis, along with analysing text in
the form of the reactions on the pictures and statement of the women in focus. In relation to the
comments and reactions, we acknowledge that, due to the fact that these women are public
figures, people might have preconceived opinions of them and their actions, thus affecting the
comments. We nevertheless focus our analysis merely on the comments and statements on the
particular images. The images and the comments we use are found on social media, and the
social media thus becomes the contextual platform, in which our analysis takes its point of
departure. Due to these women being situated within contemporary American popular culture,
one can argue that the commenters therefore are followers and users of this culture, and
actively engaging with it, hence sharing a mutual, although broad, interest point.

In order to analyse notions of empowerment and female nudity, we have chosen three main
theoretical concepts that we find are beneficial in illuminating different understandings and
structures of the chosen subject. We acknowledge that the different choices, both in relation to
the cases and theoretical framework, highly influence and affect our research and hence our
findings, and that our research and findings might have been different, had we chosen
otherwise.

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Analysis

Analytical strategy
In this part of the project, we will use our methodology to analyse the images of the women we
have chosen as cases. We will conduct a picture analysis, based on the methods presented by
Gillian Rose, and consider the public reactions to the pictures, with the aim of looking into the
narratives in play with point of departure in our theoretical framework of the three main
concepts of empowerment, objectification, and postfeminism. This will enable us to identify
the various expressions of the concepts in the images and the different responses and reactions
on the images. This will depict, to a certain extent, the discourse around female empowerment
and how objectification plays a role in defining this discourse.

We have chosen to divide our analysis into three chapters, analysing the cases separately with
our chosen theory. Each analytical chapter is divided into four main parts. First is a short
description of the case, following a visual analysis of the chosen picture of the person in
question. There are then three separate chapters, each analysing the case and the reactions
connected to it in relation to one of our three main theoretical concepts, in the following order:
Empowerment, Objectification, and Postfeminism.

Case 1: Amy Schumer

Amy Schumer is a 35 year old comedian, writer and actress from New York. Schumer had her
big break when she performed a Live at Gotham episode for Comedy Central. Since then she
has starred in movies and her hit comedy series Inside Amy Schumer, and performed comedy
specials and written for both movies and television series. The recurring theme in her work is
sex and feminist issues such as rape culture, unrealistic beauty standards, ageism and sexism.
She has been nominated for ten Emmy Awards (IMDb, 2017).

Prominent celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz photographed Amy Schumer for the 2016
Pirelli Calendar, which is an annual calendar created by the Pirelli company since 1964. The
style of the calendar differs from others as it is “capturing and interpreting contemporary
culture and often setting new trends” (Pirelli & C. S.p.A 2016). Looking at the black and white
picture one immediately sees an almost naked Amy Schumer sitting hunched over on a stool in
the center of the photo, holding what is presumably a to-go cup of coffee while looking into the

24
camera. The positioning of her right arm covers her bare breasts in a natural manner as it is the
arm she uses to hold the coffee and can therefore give the illusion that she is about to take a sip.
Her hunched over posture creates stomach rolls which makes it feel as if the photographer
walked in on her when she was getting ready. Schumer’s facial expression can be described as
unbothered and confident, as if she is simultaneously aware of the camera and her unflattering
position, but simply does not care. The photo plays with the line between being staged and
unstaged. The backdrop is visible which indicates it is a staged photoshoot, however the
wooden pallet adds to a raw and unpolished setting. She is wearing stilettoes and her long hair
is loose and flows down her back which adds to traditional femininity.

Amy Schumer, photographed by Annie Leibovitz (Source: Manelis, 2016)

Amy Schumer and Empowerment

The picture of Amy Schumer by Annie Leibovitz is the picture which differs most from the
other cases in this project, and arguably also from most professional photo shoots. When one
looks in fashion magazines one typically finds thin models posing in a way that emphasises
their “feminine features” and makes them look as slim as possible. The very posture of

25
Schumer in this image, and the way her stomach naturally creates rolls as she hunches over,
does not constitute as beautiful within conventional beauty standards which is why the picture
received such strong feedback. Schumer was the one who had the idea of being naked, she told
www.news.com.au in their article Don’t call Amy Schumer’s nude photo ‘brave’:
“I got to the shoot, they had all these racks of clothes and Annie suggested, ‘What about a bra
and underwear?’ I was like, ‘What about naked?’ But Annie said, ‘No!’ She really wanted me
to keep my clothes on” (Manelis, 2016).
In this quote she makes clear that she is comfortable being naked and that she embraces her
body, something she has continuously made clear in several comedy specials and interviews.
She embraces that she is different and challenges the dominant beauty standards by pursuing
her own individuality, hence ignoring the patriarchal structures which host the contemporary,
confined beauty ideals (Chatman, 2015). One of Schumer’s fans posted a side-by-side picture
of Schumer and the Greek Goddess Aphrodite to bring attention to the striking similarities
between the two captions. The creator of the post wrote:
“(...) the goddess of beauty is portrayed here with stomach rolls and doesn't have a perfectly
smooth, toned body. I want to remind everyone that they do not have to be a Victoria's Secret
model to be a beautiful goddess with a beautiful body. Your body is not bad, ugly, or wrong.
Embrace your inner goddess” (Hines, 2016).

(Source: Hines, 2016)

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The post gained almost 160,000 likes on Instagram, combining the original post with
Schumer’s repost, and countless women commented and praised the image for being
inspirational and empowering (Blair, 2015). As mentioned by Lamb & Peterson in the
theoretical framework, (...) what might feel empowering to some may feel so in a context in
which these images disempower others", in fact it can make others feel worse about
themselves because they do not live up to beauty ideals (Lamb & Peterson, 2011: 708).
Schumer’s photo is not purely natural as she is wearing full makeup and has styled hair, and
furthermore, she is white, straight, famous and able-bodied which all come with privileges.
Nevertheless, she does communicate through this individual act of empowerment that fat and
stomach rolls are a realistic and a natural bodily aspect. Because she confidently embraces a
body part which is predominantly viewed as a “flaw”, and something one would often attempt
to hide, this act of empowerment arguably challenges the norm and “progresses feminist
ideas” instead of reproducing “oppressive patriarchal structures” (Lamb & Peterson, 2011:
708).
If one looks at the comments on the photo on Twitter, one finds numerous positive comments,
mostly from women and girls. A word that repeats itself throughout the comment section is the
good-spirited “brave”. “Brave” refers to Schumer being physically bigger than the women one
usually sees posing semi-nude or completely nude in the media, hence expressing an
expectation of Schumer being insecure and having to take a scary or uncomfortable step to take
her clothes off in front of a camera and reveal her body.
A woman with username TrumpUntaimed commented the picture on Twitter: “Beautiful, real
and normal! Thank you for being so brave Amy! I support you!” (Appendix 1).
It shows a gratitude for seeing an unretouched woman in the media with a realistic or “normal”
body who is confident and unapologetic about it. Schumer herself took notice of the numerous
“brave” comments and addressed it on several occasions: “When a nude photo of yourself goes
viral, the word you don’t want people to use to describe it is ‘brave’” (Manelis, 2016). She
also mentioned it in her acceptance speech at the Critic’s Choice Awards 2016: “That’s what
you want everyone to say when a naked photo of you goes viral. You want them to say, ‘What a
brave photo.’ You’re like, ‘Thanks, wow, thank you.’” (Blay, 2016). She points out the negative
connotations “brave” has as it underlines that her body type is “flawed” or “unflattering” which
unconsciously promotes the unhealthy idea that a size small or medium is too big. By
addressing these comments, Schumer calls for reflection on the absurdity of the message
society is teaching girls and women if posing semi-nude as a small/medium is considered
brave.

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Leia or “Lackadazy” commented: “Thank you. I'm really tired of hating my body and feeling
like I'm unlovable” (Appendix 1). This tweet, and several other tweets in the same spirit,
express a female vulnerability, state of mind and exhaustion over the constant media claim that
they have to look a certain way to be desired and lovable. The majority of tweets regarding this
photograph are women who express gratitude and relief because they identify with Schumer
and recognise their own body which is now being confidently presented as beautiful instead of
inadequate. Due to the predominantly positive feedback one could argue that for many women
this image empowered numerous women as it challenged the shame of having belly-fat and
normative beauty ideals.

Amy Schumer and Objectification

When analysing objectification in the context of this picture, one thing stands out - namely the
fact that the photographer is a woman which creates an equal power dynamic. Furthermore,
Schumer, as mentioned earlier, initially wanted to be completely naked, to which Leibovitz
said no. This underlines that the nudity was Schumer’s individual choice and wish for the
photoshoot, hence rejecting notions of instrumentalisation, lack of agency and denial of
subjectivity occurring (Nussbaum, 1995: 257). However, the fact that the photographer is a
woman does not completely eliminate the concept of male gaze. One could argue that
Schumer, by stripping down to her panties, prioritises expressing herself sexually instead of
emphasising her wits and intelligence. Whether or not Schumer is internalising the male gaze
can be discussed. She is wearing heels which is a feminine and sexy touch, her hair is loose,
she is wearing full makeup which all fit into beauty as defined by “Western, heterosexual,
white male standards” (Moe, 2015: 3). However she is also breaking the tendency with her
posture which enhances her “flaws” instead of hiding them. One could argue that Schumer is
employing the strategy of challenging the male gaze, much like the strategy of the larger or
older belly dancers who consciously challenge the dominant perceptions of beauty (Moe, 2015:
15). It cannot be known whether or not Schumer consciously tried to challenge beauty norms,
but based on her remarks on being described as “brave”, one can assume that she is opposed to
the normalised beauty ideals - which are so strongly embedded in society - that cause people to
refer to a woman who is small/medium as brave when showing her body.

Looking through the comments on the photograph reveals that the majority of comments are
written by women and most of them are positive. But as with most social media platforms, if

28
one looks closely enough one will find the body shamers. Andrew Krystal wrote: “please get
dressed Amy. I was eating when I saw the nude pic. Please provide warning images may be
disturbing” (Appendix 1). This insinuates that Schumer is so appalling that she makes the
commenter physically ill. By saying this, the commenter treats his target as without having
feelings, thus denying her subjectivity (Nussbaum, 1995: 257). Another male commenter
wrote: “I would do naughty things to her oh my” (Appendix 1). By using the word “to” one
could argue that he treats Schumer as something to be sexually acted upon, treating her as
something without agency and activity - what Nussbaum (1995) calls “inertness” (ibid: 257).
According to MacKinnon (1987), pornography is when: “ the woman is defined as to be acted
upon, a sexual object, a sexual thing” (ibid: 130). Although Schumer is posing for a glamorous
calendar and not a magazine such as Playboy, which seeks to define and use women as sexual
objects for men’s sexual entertainment, she does not control the context in which the male
viewer sees her. One cannot control if a man views a woman with little clothes on in the same
way as he views a Playboy model: to be sexually acted and commented upon as if her body is
for him. In this way, the viewing and sexual commenting can be perceived as an act of male
supremacy (MacKinnon,1987: 130).

Amy Schumer and Postfeminism

When looking at the photograph of Amy Schumer in a postfeminist context, several things
stand out. Her exposed body performs as focus of the image which sparked the endless
comments (both positive and negative) on her body as “right” or “wrong”. This depicts a
constant discourse on what it means to be a woman, but most notably, the “right” kind of
woman. Schumer’s body functions as a center for the different perceptions on what femininity
and womanhood entail, hence looking to her body as the source of femininity instead of
looking to her actions and character (Gill, 2007).
This photo and its thousands of comments express and feed into a discourse of empowerment
as obtained through exposing your body and embracing your sexuality as a woman. It is in this
context important to acknowledge that Amy Schumer is a white, heterosexual, middle-class
woman who benefits from these structures, whereas if it had been a woman of colour the
feedback would arguably change due to different context and connotations (Butler, 2013).
In postfeminism, the role of individuality plays an immense part. Schumer’s photo is an
individual act of empowerment and one could argue that she operates within a postfeminist

29
mindset where “If it’s right for me, it’s right. Period.”. Her body is for her the source of power
from which she gains confidence. As she operates within the realm of postfeminist obsession
with the female body as central to femininity and womanhood, she does not entirely comply
with it because she does not completely fit into the conventional beauty standards that women
are expected to live by.

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Case 2: Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian is an American reality star who is known for her many selfies, often involving
nudity or semi-nudity. Her career is mostly based on the reality television show, Keeping up
with the Kardashians, and her celebrity status has resulted in various product branding
contracts, which are mostly related to beauty and physical form (IMDb, 2017). On 8 March
2016, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Kim Kardashian posted the following
photo on social media, with the caption “#Liberated”, along with an essay on her webpage
titled “Happy International Women’s Day”. In the essay she commented on the negative
responses that her nude photo from the day before had created, along with a statement about
her personal views on her use of social media. In this statement she proclaimed that in her
opinion, she finds that posting nude or semi-nude photos is a means of empowerment, and that
she views it as a way of encouraging other women to feel empowered.

(Kim Kardashian, 2016. Source: Twitter.com)

In the picture of Kim Kardashian one sees her standing naked, covering up her vagina and
breasts with her arms and hands, slightly crossing her legs. The picture is in black and white,
with a black background and dark lighting that contribute to highlighting of the contours of her
body, such as her collarbone but also her breasts, face and stomach. The light emphasises her

31
skin standing out, appearing shiny and smooth. The black background further enables a focus
on the object of the picture, which is Kim Kardashian and her body, since nothing else is
visible, and this creates a sense of intimacy. Her black hair almost fades in with the
background, framing and highlighting her face. She has a serious expression on her face, with
slightly parted lips, looking behind the camera to the left of the spectator. She is standing up
straight, but her body position is also a little closed due to the crossing of her legs/thighs, the
closed positioning of her arms, and the slight curve in her shoulders. One can see the left part
of her upper pubic area, revealing a smooth surface and absence of pubic hair. Her breasts are
highlighted both by the chosen lighting and also the light pressure of her left arm and hand
which creates a push-up effect.

Kim Kardashian and Empowerment

In the essay she posted on empowerment regarding the picture posted on International
Women’s Day, 8 March 2016, Kim Kardashian states that she is empowered by being proud of
her body and comfortable in her own skin, and through the act of posting the photograph,
sharing her body and confidence with others (Markus, 2016). The understanding of
empowerment through an act of choice is highly reflective of a postfeminist understanding of
empowerment. Nevertheless, as Gavey argues, one’s free choices still need to reflect what
society finds to be the “right” choice (Gavey, 2012: 721). An example of how Kim
Kardashian’s action of posing nude is criticised for not meeting conventional understanding of
“right” choice can be seen in the Twitter comments, where a number of women comment on
her nudity in relation to her status as a mother:

“(...) as a mom you HAVE to ask your self how will I feel in twenty years if my daughter does
this for the world to see” (Appendix 1)

“(...) What will North and Saint think of mommy when they look back and see this? I would be
pissed if my mom did this!” (ibid)

“(...) sexy and sad, have to give it to you, you're HOT but don’t you think you have to respect
baby North and her sibling & start acting like a mum” (ibid).

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These three comments illustrate a view that posing nude is less acceptable when one is a
mother, and that Kim Kardashian is challenging or ignoring this understanding by posting nude
pictures of herself. The condemnation of the act of posing naked when having children
illustrates reactions on women who choose to live and behave outside of what is understood as
the “right” choice.

Furthermore, as Gavey argues, the feeling of empowerment is not enough to constitute

empowerment: “Not only is it not necessarily the same as feeling empowered, but feeling
empowered is not necessarily the same as being empowered” (Gavey, 2012: 719). In fact, in
light of the notions raised by feminist scholars such as Chatman, Gill and Gavey, one can
criticise Kim Kardashian for being ignorant of the negative systems of oppression and
reproducing patriarchal structures in her framing of her actions as being empowering. As
Chatman states “(...) these discourses about women as autonomous empowered citizens ignore
the conditions that continue to systematically oppress women” (Chatman, 2015: 927).
Kardashian argues that the action of posting nude pictures is not just an act of personal
empowerment, but that it is a way of empowering other women, especially young girls:
“(…) I am empowered by showing the world my flaws and not being afraid of what anyone is
going to say about me. And I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can
encourage the same empowerment for girls and women all over the world” (Markus, 2016).

Gill points out that not only is sexual empowerment in itself an unhelpful norm for young
women that creates yet another standard for women to live up to, but that the representations of
the ideal female body in the media has a negative effect on women’s self-esteem and self-
image, especially young women (Gill, 2012: 737, 741). It can thus be argued that Kim
Kardashian contributes to young women creating unrealistic understandings of how a woman
should look with, for instance, her perfectly smooth skin and voluminous breasts. It can be
argued that Kim Kardashian is furthermore adding to bodily insecurities by stating that she is
showing her “flaws” in the picture.

Nevertheless, some women proclaim that they feel empowered by Kim Kardashian’s nude
pose:
“(...) you look fantastic. You make me feel good about my own curvy self. You do you!”
(Appendix 1)

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“ (...) thank you for helping me noticing I worth 100billions.” (ibid)

“(...) I LOVE quit hating on her .... She represents the curvy women in this damn world.
#TeamKim” (ibid).
The comments are primarily based on a sentiment that Kim Kardashian represents a more
curvy female body type than what is mostly represented in mass media, and furthermore that
by showing off a confidence and pride in her body, this creates a feeling of empowerment to
these women.

As Gill (2012: 738) and Lamb & Peterson (2011: 705) argue, empowerment has been
commodified in popular culture, and empowerment is often used as a sales strategy in
advertising. Gill argues that “(...) the notion (empowerment) has become commodified – used
to sell everything from washing powder to cosmetic surgery” (Gill, 2012: 743). Due to her
career being built around her looks and her status as a reality star, one can argue that Kim
Kardashian earns her living based on selling a variety of products, often related to physical
appearance. One can argue that Kim Kardashian is using “empowerment” as a popular
buzzword to brand herself and hence the products she represents as brands that can help
women become empowered. This hypothesis is highly represented both in the Twitter
comments as well as on other internet forums. On the debate forum Quora, a person writes:
“Kim K. is a business. She post naked photos, because it gets attention, it will be discussed and
that will keep her money income still rolling” (de Rooji, 2016). Another example from Twitter
can be illustrated by a user writing “@KimKardashian oop, she's investing in her career
again... (nudes)” (ibid).

Kim Kardashian and Objectification

According to MacKinnon, sexual objectification is an unavoidable condition of women’s lives
(Nussbaum, 1995: 250). Looking at the comments on Twitter of Kim Kardashian’s picture, one
need not to search for long to find examples of sexual objectification: “how many dicks did u
devour this morning? 36?”; “I gotta admit, Kim. You've got GREAT TITS!”; “hello kim, please
sit on my face”; “i wonder how big your hole is hahaha” (Appendix 1).
MacKinnon argues that women are taught, in many ways, to objectify themselves to be the
object of male desire, to fit into an institutionalised notion of male sexuality and desire as the

34
centre of female sexuality (Nussbaum, 1995: 268; MacKinnon, 1987: 129). From this
understanding, one can thus argue that though Kim Kardashian claims to be sexually
empowered by her actions, she is sexually objectifying herself by reproducing structures of
male supremacy. It is important to state here that this line of argument does not justify the
sexual harassment present in the Twitter comments, but it instead aims to explain some of the
underlying oppressive structures that are reproduced from both sides. Kim Kardashian is
acting, by posting naked pictures in the internet, within a structural setting where a woman’s
sexuality and body is to be an object of male desire, hence reproducing these structures.

To elaborate on these structures, one can look at the concept of the male gaze as a description
of how women learn to pose and objectify themselves, as here argued to be the case with Kim
Kardashian, in order to gain sexual attention from men. Following Angela M. Moe’s discussion
of the male gaze, one can argue that Kim Kardashian’s self-objectification stems from an
underlying understanding in society, and perhaps especially in showbusiness, that a woman’s
worth is measured by her beauty and sexual appeal to the heterosexual white male observer
(Moe, 2015: 3). A woman’s abilities, perspective, and knowledge becomes a secondary factor
to her aesthetic value, and beauty hence becomes a commodity (ibid). Again, one can argue
that Kim Kardashian’s career is based on her looks, and her ability to sell products relating to
her physical appearance, thus she uses and benefits from these structures of sexual
objectification in society and uses the male gaze to her advantage.

Kim Kardashian and Postfeminism

Looking at Kim Kardashian from a postfeminist perspective one can argue that in her posing
naked, she is taking back power over her body. Within the postfeminist view, as discussed by
Gill and Scharff (2011), society has in many ways moved past the formerly argued structures
of oppression, and women are to take back, or “reclaim” their sexuality. Postfeminism is first
of all built on ideals of individualism, empowerment and freedom of choice (ibid: 4). These
ideals can in various ways be said to be in line with how Kim Kardashian perceives her
empowerment, and use of her body and sexuality on social media. For instance, freedom of
choice as a path to empowerment, appears to be the centre of the issue for Kim Kardashian
when she writes in her essay on empowerment:

35
“I never understand why people get so bothered by what other people choose to do with their
lives. I don’t do drugs, I hardly drink, I’ve never committed a crime — and yet I’m a bad role
model for being proud of my body?” (Markus, 2016).
This quote illustrates that for Kardashian the heart of the problem is, firstly that people judge
what other people “choose” to do with their life and body, and secondly; what they are
essentially judging her for is being proud of her body. It can therefore be argued that Kim
Kardashian shares values connected to postfeminism, and that how she perceives her actions
are influenced by notions of femininity, individuality and sexuality, which are the core issues
of postfeminism.
Freedom of choice and reclaiming female sexuality are furthermore visible as core
values/motivation for her as she states:
“I will not live my life dictated by the issues you have with my sexuality. You be you and let me
be me. I am a mother. I am a wife, a sister, a daughter, an entrepreneur and I am allowed to be
sexy” (ibid).

Furthermore, it can be argued that Kim Kardashian’s use of media reflects a reproduction of
postfeminist thought, due to its focus on the body and sexuality. According to Rosalind Gill,
“One of the most striking aspects of postfeminist media culture is its obsessional preoccupation
with the body” (Gill, 2007: 6), and thus the female body and sexualitity is seen and presented
as the core aspect of femininity in modern society. A woman’s body therefore becomes a key
aspect in her access to power. Kim Kardashian can hence be argued to act directly within a
postfeminist view on women and media. She uses her body and sexuality to directly gain
influence and power, both through the publicity and the branding deals that come with it.
Women’s mental health and well-being is in the media depicted as directly visible and
understood through the state of her physical appearance (Gill, 2007: 7). One can hereby argue
that Kim Kardashian is attempting, within a postfeminist understanding of media culture, to
depict an overall well-being and contentment with her life by posting these pictures as well as
taking back some of the control and power over representations of her.

In this chapter, we found that Kim Kardashian first of all reproduces many of the ideals and
understandings that lie within a postfeminist notion of society. Though some women, as well as
Kardashian herself, find her actions empowering, our theoretical framework has provided us
with an understanding of her actions that in various ways reproduce structures of oppression
and objectification of the female body. Her possible financial gain from media attention, that

36
the nude images attract, as well as the staging of her beauty as a mean of selling beauty
products can be said to be a possible motivation, perhaps more than an actual attempt of
empowering herself and other women.

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Case 3: Beyoncé

Entertainer Beyonce Knowles-Carter, known professionally as Beyoncé, continues to draw

both praise and criticism in feminist discussions, particularly around her statements on
sexuality and empowerment, and her sexual performances (Trier-Bieniek 2016: 11). While
there are early expressions of female power in songs such as Independent Woman Part II,
Survivor, and Run the World (Girls), Beyoncé as feminist rose to prominence with the release
of songs such as ***Flawless in 2013, which declared women are flawless as they are, and
features Nigerian feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie reading an excerpt from her
speech We Should All Be Feminists (Trier-Bieniek, 2016: 2-4). Pretty Hurts, also from her
2013 self-titled album, laments the impact of the pressure of beauty standards on women
(Furler, Coleman, Knowles, 2013). In 2014, while performing ***Flawless at the MTV
awards, the word “FEMINIST” was illuminated behind her in enormous pink letters. In
magazine interviews she has also spoken publicly about how she identifies as a feminist
(Gottesman, 2016; Trier-Bieniek, 2016).

In her video clip for Partition (2013), Beyoncé is depicted at a breakfast table in a glamorous
mansion, fantasising about her partner sitting opposite her. In the fantasy, Beyoncé and her
husband Jay Z fondle each other in the back of a car as they are driven to a nightclub. At the
nightclub, Beyoncé emerges from behind a partition wearing a jewelled headpiece and stringy,
jewelled lingerie and high heels, dancing in a cabaret style. The clip also features scenes of
Beyoncé dancing in a black corset on a piano in the mansion while her husband watches,
smoking; and with scenes of her and other dancers in stringy lingerie, high heels and hair
down, dancing around poles in another nightclub with a more contemporary aesthetic.

In this image from the cabaret scene, Beyoncé is depicted in a highly sexualised position on her
hands and knees, with her back arched to emphasise the curve of her bottom. The light is warm
and soft, and is directed onto her buttocks and legs to further emphasise her curves. The
lighting also highlights the contrast between the size of her buttocks and her small waist. She is
depicted from the side however her face is also lit, and her face and gaze are turned directly to
the camera. The backdrop is black and she is dancing on a reflective black surface, which
creates a mirror image of her pose.

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 Image of Beyoncé from the Partition video, directed by Jake Nava (Source: Rob, 2014)

Beyoncé and Empowerment

The debate surrounding Beyoncé’s expression of feminism reflects the dialectic between liberal
and radical understandings of feminism.
Fadzai Nova, writing for Culture Crit in 2014 argues, “Partition’ is a form of sexual
empowerment because it was her choice to participate in creating the content of the product”
(Nova, 2014). This assessment of empowerment corresponds with Lamb & Peterson’s and
Gill’s arguments that “choice” is the key indicator in determining whether an act is
empowering or not.

The song features French lyrics, which translate to:

“Do you like sex? Sex, I mean the physical activity, coitus, do you like it? You’re not interested
in sex? Men think that feminists hate sex, but it’s a very stimulating and natural activity that
women love” (Nash et al, 2013).
Nova argues that while elements of the song can be perceived as submissive, Beyoncé’s
articulation that “women love (sex)” projects her own desire and ownership over her sexuality
(Nova, 2014). Nova perceives this is as an act of empowerment, not objectification or
submission, because Beyoncé’s active sexuality depicts a sexual encounter between two active
agents, rather than an active male and passive female.

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Nova is also concerned that the policing of women’s expressions of sexuality is unhelpful and
denies women agency:
“It is unfair to dictate to women how they should live and behave in the world in the name of
liberating them, as if women cannot think for themselves, and repressing the sexuality of
women is another form of controlling and limiting them… Censorship is not the solution…”
(ibid).
Nova expresses a postfeminist understanding of empowerment, where actions are easily
detached from their sociocultural context and consequences (Gavey, 2012: 719). She echoes
the arguments put forth by sexpositive feminists of the 1980s that women can only be liberated
if they are allowed to explore their own sexuality and break the perpetuation of victimising
themselves as objects (Butler, 2013). While empowerment is frequently critiqued as unhelpful
to progressing feminism because of its focus on individual rather than collective action (Gavey,
2012: 720), writer and media critic Jennifer Pozner comments that Beyoncé’s act of
illuminating the word “FEMINIST” on stage, at the end of her performance at the 2014 Video
Music Awards, challenged “(...) millions of mainstream fans… to think about feminism as
something powerful, important, and yes, attractive” (Bennett, 2014). Pozner thus argues this
act made an important contribution to creating visibility for feminism, and empowering the
collective movement (ibid).

Beyoncé and Objectification

Beyoncé’s sexual pose in the image can be perceived as submissive and sexually available, and
her direct gaze into the camera indicates an awareness that she is being looked at. Additionally,
her costume, particularly the jewelled headpiece, and the cabaret setting, can be understood as
a reference the aesthetic of African American cabaret dancer Josephine Baker, who performed
in cabaret clubs in Paris in the 1920s and 30s. Beyoncé’s direct gaze complicates analyses of
whether she is performing for the male gaze, and as feminist bell hooks has said, “(...)
colluding in the construction of herself as a slave” (Gay, 2014), or whether she embodies an
active and empowered sexuality, as critics such as Nova suggest.

Bianca Pencz, writing in the Vancouver Observer in 2012, presents an opposing argument to
Nova, suggesting: “Perhaps the power Beyoncé feels comes not from truly expressing her own
sexuality, but from so effectively embodying what patriarchy has told her from birth she should

40
embody” (Pencz, 2012). Pencz argues Beyoncé has been rewarded with power (in the form of
influence, popularity and finance), because she has consistently subscribed to the demands of
the male gaze, not because she has expressed sexuality on her own terms. Through applying
MacKinnon’s notions of objectification and Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze it is possible to
perceive self-objectification in Partition. MacKinnon has argued that women are always
sexually objectified, even when they claim they are acting out of self-liberation, for their own
pleasure (MacKinnon in Nussbaum 1995: 250).
Beyoncé has explained that her inspiration for the Partition video arose when visiting the Crazy
Horse cabaret club (where the video was later filmed). She says:
“I remember thinking, 'Damn, these girls are fly.' I just thought it was the ultimate sexy show
I've ever seen. And I was like, 'I wish I was up there, I wish I could perform that for my man...'
So that's what I did for the video" (Beyoncé, 2013).
This explanation reflects MacKinnon’s theory that women learn to eroticise male
objectification and thus objectify themselves, because it brings pleasure (MacKinnon in
Nussbaum 1995: 268). While a woman may perceive this as an expression of her own sexuality
and romantic love, MacKinnon argues this act only expresses and reinforces conventional,
patriarchal standards of desirability and value (MacKinnon, 1987: 149).
It is also possible to observe the continuation of the male gaze in the public response to
Partition. One of the most liked comments on the video, posted on BeyonceVEVO on
YouTube, is “Jay is a lucky guy,” posted by TheLady2luv, while other comments include “Jay
Z wins at life” and “Jay-Z is always thereeee” (Appendix 1).
These comments, including more than 1,400 people who liked the comment “Jay Z is a lucky
guy”, express an identification with the experience of the male viewer of the dance – in this
case, Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z. This entrenches the male gaze as the dominant and most
important perspective (Moe, 2015: 3), and highlights the purpose of the video as a performance
for male pleasure, rather than as an expression of Beyoncé’s own sexuality. The reaction
represented in the comment also embodies an internalising of the gaze, where women (for
example TheLady2luv, Ros Tibbs and El Chile Zeco, who posted the comments and appear to
be women from their names and YouTube profile photographs) learn to view other women as
objects of pleasure, and assign value to them according to dominant male, heterosexual
standards (Moe, 2015: 3).
However, contrary to MacKinnon, Nussbaum argues that depending on the context,
objectification may not always be negative (1995: 290). In the context of a mutually respectful
relationship, Beyoncé’s comment that the performance is for her husband can be considered an

41
act of shared, enjoyable sexuality, rather than problematic dominance, particularly since
Beyoncé has chosen to do the performance. Gavey also notes that agency and oppression are
not neatly divided between the states of being a subject or object:
(We should) “(…) question our tendency to dichotomise the possibilities for self in terms of
subject or object; and then imagine the ideal female subject only as the agentically active
(pleasure seeking) subject. We are, of course, always both subject and object. As objects for
another we are not necessarily victims of derogation and subjugation. And as subjects we are
not automatically unfettered and free” (Gavey, 2012: 720).
Gavey thus highlights the limitations of understanding subjectification and objectification as a
good/bad power dichotomy, noting objectification in relationships does not necessarily imply a
state of powerlessness or sub-ordinance. In the same way, being a subject does not necessarily
imply power and freedom, since postfeminist subjectification processes increasingly require
subjects such as Beyoncé to make choices regarding sex and relationships within a confined
and invisibilised range of “right” choices (Chatman, 2015: 929).
While Gavey and Nussbaum argue objectification in some contexts may not necessarily be
negative, bell hooks, Pencz and The Guardian journalist Hadley Freeman raise concerns about
the negative impact of such performances on women and young girls. At a panel discussion,
bell hooks said, "I see a part of Beyoncé that is in fact, anti-feminist, that is a terrorist ...
especially in terms of the impact on young girls" (Gay, 2014). In an opinion article about
Beyoncé’s feminism for The Guardian, Hadley Freeman wrote that while women are
humiliated by being paid less than men, “(…) they are similarly humiliated by being fed the
message that it doesn't matter how successful, powerful or smart you are – all that matters is
how sexually available you are willing to make yourself look” (Freeman, 2013). Hadley and
hooks thus argue that Beyoncé conveys a powerful and unhelpful message to women that their
value lies in how they are perceived by the male gaze, and whether they meet its standards; and
that projecting a sexual self-image is the key for women to attain success.

Beyoncé and Postfeminism

Chatman argues Beyoncé’s success is due to her constitution as the ideal postfeminist subject
(Chatman 2015: 931). She embodies the aspects that Gill & Scharff have identified as
characteristic of postfeminism, including:
“(...) an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and discipline; a focus upon
individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a ‘makeover paradigm’…the

42
marked ‘resexualization’ of women’s bodies; and an emphasis upon consumerism and the
commodification of difference” (Gill & Scharff, 2011: 4).
Beyoncé’s explanation of her motivation for filming the video reflects these characteristics:
"I was 195 pounds when I gave birth... I worked crazily to get my body back. I wanted to show
my body. I wanted to show that you can have a child and you can work hard and you can get
your body back… You can have your child and you can still have fun and still be sexy and still
have dreams and still live for yourself. I'm not embarrassed about it, and I don't feel like I have
to protect that side of me because I do believe that sexuality is a power we all have” (Beyoncé,
2013).
According to Chatman, Beyoncé “make(s) the right choices with respect to career, marriage,
motherhood, and the disciplining of (her) body” (2015: 937). The discussion around Beyoncé,
which focuses emphatically on representations of her body, also reflect the emphasis on
surveillance of women’s bodies in postfeminist discourse. Beyoncé’s comment that “(…)
sexuality is a power we all have” reflect a postfeminist tendency to focus on individual
empowerment, while failing to see or making invisible the patriarchal structures (such as the
male gaze) which continue to be produced (ibid: 927). Additionally, the comment reflects a
postfeminist perception that a woman can “have it all” (a fulfilling career, family, and
sexuality) through simply working hard enough, which ignores the systemic conditions enable
some women – like Beyoncé – this opportunity, while denying it to others (ibid: 935).

The comments on Partition on BeyonceVEVO further point to the postfeminist notion that
empowerment is an individual experience which is not necessarily transferred to or shared with
the viewer of the image. While many of Beyoncé’s lyrics reference themes of empowerment
and feminist unity, such as ***Flawless, Run the World (Girls), Independent Women and
Survivor (Trier-Bieniek, 2016: 2-4), these sentiments does not appear to be present in the
comments on the Partition video on BeyonceVEVO. One of the top comments, among the
more than 34,500 comments (as at 23 May 2017), is “I can’t even imagine being this
comfortable with my body” (Appendix 1), and this comment was liked by more than 2,500
people. Many other comments reflect admiration and awe at Beyoncé’s perfect image and
otherworldliness, including: “Imagine being that sexy”, “in my opinion she is the most
beautiful and sexiest woman in the industry”, “She is perfect wtf”, “the jewels on her left boob
is my entire College Tuition”, “The only woman that can do this and not look TRASHY”,“Can
someone give me a time where she doesn't look flawless”, “is.this.woman.real...?” and “there
is not a single second where she isn't queen” (Appendix 1). The comments express a sense of

43
distance between Beyoncé and the viewer, in the notions of being unable to “imagine” being
that sexy or comfortable with displaying their own body in a sexualised way. The confidence
Beyoncé possesses in her body is beyond the scope of the viewer’s imagination, and thus
Beyoncé’s appearance, confidence and empowerment is considered an unattainable fantasy.
Many viewers did not identify with Beyoncé’s idealised body and sexual confidence, and thus
did not identify with the feeling of sexual empowerment expressed in the image. In this way,
the sexualised image of Beyoncé can be understood not as empowering to others, but rather as
elevating her individual sexual power, leaving a distance between Beyoncé’s body as fantasy
and the viewer’s reality.

Further, in stating that “sexuality is a power we all have”, Beyoncé infers the sentiment Gill
observed where “(…) sexual ‘empowerment’ has itself become a normatively demanded
feature of young women’s sexual subjectivity” (Gill, 2012: 737). However, rather than
empower women, Gill argues this postfeminist expectation that women must possess sexual
empowerment can serve to only increase pressure on women by adding another norm they
must be measured against and live up to.

An additional element that is frequently raised in discussions of Beyoncé is the expectations

surrounding race. Gavey notes that “tensions and the consequences for breaking the complex
rules of contemporary femininity can be even more punishing for women who are not white,
heterosexual, slim, conventionally attractive, and of the “right” age” (Gavey, 2012: 722).
In an article for Bitch Media in 2013, Tamara Winfrey Harris observes this experience in the
response to Beyoncé’s performances compared with the equally sexual performances by white
American entertainer Madonna. Winfrey Harris writes that Beyoncé’s use of her body in her
performances is critiqued as:
“(...) thoughtless and without value beyond male titillation, providing a modern example of the
age-old racist juxtaposition of animalistic black sexuality vs. controlled, intentional, and
civilized white sexuality” (Winfrey Harris, 2013).
The disparity between what are considered acceptable expressions of sexuality for black and
white women are the types of issues that intersectionality, as an element of postfeminism, seeks
to address. However, acts such as performing to resemble black cabaret dancer Josephine
Baker, lead feminist critics such as bell hooks to argue Beyoncé does not challenge derogatory
stereotypes of untamed black female sexuality (hooks 2016). Further, hooks argues that in
defining feminism as being about “(...) equal rights for men and women” (Gottesman, 2016),

44
Beyoncé ignores the struggles that black women in particular continue to face. Chatman also
critiques Beyoncé’s self-positioning “(...) outside a black feminist political agenda focused on
struggle against racist and sexist oppression” as problematic (Chatman, 2015: 937).
These critiques indicate not only the differing standards Beyoncé’s sexuality is assessed against
because of her race, but also the additional expectations feminists place upon black performers.
hooks and Chatman’s critiques reveal that black women do not just experience additional social
punishment for sexual performances, but are also expected to take responsibility for the wider
political struggles of black women.

Analysis Sum Up
In our analysis we have analysed how our chosen cases can be seen in relation to our
theoretical framework, in terms of empowerment, objectification, and postfeminism. By doing
this we have uncovered how these individual, self-proclaimed acts of empowerment have been
received by their audiences and which factors have proven to be important in order to empower
beyond the limits of the individual celebrity. By focusing on the chosen theory we have shown
a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that come into play when the viewer sees an act of
empowerment and how viewers’ perceptions differ depending on the case. We will further
discuss these findings in order to illuminate some of the broader societal structures that these
cases represent, in terms of the contemporary struggles of empowerment that women face in
western societies today. In the following discussion chapter we will shed light upon these
struggles with point of departure in the analysis of the three cases. What do these cases and the
different reactions express in terms of societal structures? Why are they different, and what do
the differences in the cases and the reactions express in terms of different performances of
female sexuality, in different ways?

Discussion

Great (S)expectations

When analysing the reactions to the different cases, we found a pattern amongst commenters
which expressed perceptions of what it entails to be the “right” kind of woman. As mentioned

45
in the analysis, comments on Schumer were about how her body is a “real” woman’s body,
praising her figure, which is bigger than the typical image of thin women one often encounters
in popular media. These comments are arguably meant to be positive and well-meaning, but by
pointing out that “this is what a real woman looks like”, the comments once again favour a
specific body type over others. One can argue that by constantly emphasising specific body
types as the “right” kind, society may never move beyond constraining structures which always
will strive to dictate women’s lives and bodies. Finding this repeated phrase in numerous
tweets indicates a subconscious reproduction of structures which inevitably elevate certain
body types and exclude others. Schumer breaks some conventional beauty norms and therefore
empowers women who identify with her specific body type, but somebody will always feel
excluded from what empowers others. The person who wrote: “Beautiful, real and normal!”
(Appendix 1) about Schumer’s photo is praising Schumer for expressing a different kind of
beauty than normally portrayed in the media, however she is also reproducing a narrow-minded
perception of what is “normal” and “real”. One can argue that emphasising a particular body
type, big or small, reproduces boxes which women are confined to live in and define
themselves within. Claiming anything to be “normal” ignores other women who have different
body types. The media and fashion industry have forced unhealthy body images upon girls and
women by predominantly showing thin and skinny girls and women, and this emphasis on
thinness has arguably taught girls and women to hate their “inadequate” bodies, but has also
taught them to vilify women who fall within these conventional beauty standards.
We further see how motherhood has its own set of rules through the Twitter comments.
Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian both express an awareness of the societal norms which strive to
separate female sexuality and motherhood, norms that also further the notion that by becoming
a mother you should visibly become humble and modest in order to successfully perform the
role of a mother.
Kardashian and Beyoncé reject these norms and expectations of what they are supposed to do
and choose to prioritise their individual sexuality and their right to express it publicly if they
wish to. The tweet directed at Kim Kardashian, “sexy and sad, have to give it to you, you're
HOT but don’t you think you have to respect baby North and her sibling & start acting like a
mum” (Appendix 1), insinuates that “acting like a mum” and being sexual should be separated.
This demonstrates how people police women’s bodies and choices while judging any act that
falls outside the rules of womanhood and motherhood. By saying: “You can have your child
and you can still have fun and still be sexy” (Beyoncé, 2013), Beyoncé rejects societal
expectations and prioritises her own individual feeling of empowerment.

46
Beyoncé is also criticised for her way of claiming feminism whilst simultaneously catering to
the male gaze and her way of expressing her sexuality, also in relation to her race. We can thus
see a certain set of expectation of how to be a “good” black feminist, that Beyoncé is often
criticised for not living up to. The fact that all three women break expectations tied to
womanhood, in one way or another, and defend these actions, shows a common emphasis on
the importance of their own choice to define what is “right” and empowering for them as
female individuals. How this emphasis on individuality functions within Western society and in
the context of feminist struggle will be elaborated on in the following discussion.

Me, Myself, and I

What has become apparent through analysing the different cases is the consistent focus on
individuality. Beyoncé, Schumer and Kardashian all focus on their own lived experiences and
perceptions as the bottom line for their individual act of empowerment. When Kardashian says:
“I will not live my life dictated by the issues you have with my sexuality. You be you and let me
be me” (Markus, 2016), it places an importance on the individual as an unfettered subject when
it comes to right and wrong. What may feel right for one person is not necessarily what is right
for someone else. This notion thrives within the postfeminist sensibility as it emphasises the
complexity of well-being and how people benefit from different lifestyles and expressions of
sexuality. But what happens when the focus on individuality overshadows the structures that it
seeks to abolish? The focus on empowerment places the individual female subject at the core.
What do you feel? Does this action make you feel good about yourself? Postfeminist sensibility
situates “you” as a bottom line in the justification of actions which may reproduce oppressive
structures.
Feminism has a history of being a collective battle which requires women to stand together and
find strength in plurality. One can argue that previous struggles of former waves, such as
suffrage, the right to vote and access to education, were visible inequalities. In today’s Western
society the inequality can be perceived as more subtle, for example sexist language and
catcalling, which are situated within behavioural reproduction rather than obvious
discrimination. On paper, Western women have access to education and jobs just like men, but
this does not necessarily mean that women and men have equal opportunity. The structural
oppression now lies within the way women are perceived which makes the struggle less

47
tangible and concrete, hence further problematising the act of identifying sexism and inequality
in society. This illustrates a postfeminist internalisation which focuses on the individual
experience and perception of inequality, and may possibly create a further division amongst
women instead of unifying them.
One could also argue that individual empowerment creates a strength and courage to stand up
against gender inequality, and therefore pushing for equality through the empowered individual
woman. However, due to the embedded individuality within the notion of empowerment,
Western society creates a culture where female empowerment and social structures are treated
as isolated notions, when they are in fact entwined with one another. As Gavey (2012: 719)
points out, an individual act of empowerment cannot be isolated from societal structures as it
will always arise in a context of cultural practices and norms which can have a problematic
meaning and effect on girls and women collectively. This brings one to ask: is there any such
thing as an individual act of empowerment if the act inevitably reproduces structures which are
fixed to undermine women? As a public female figure you are constantly being watched, and
what you share with the public will call for reactions, as shown in the analysis. One can argue
that if your individual act of empowerment makes other women feel inadequate because they
do not live up to the performed beauty norms, or it makes women feel pressured to be sexual in
order to be the “right” kind of woman, the act itself loses its individuality as it affects other
women.
This leads us to the matter of how the chosen self-proclaimed acts of empowerment are
received and connote different meanings for the viewers. We will further discuss the meaning
and effect of empowerment as a notion and how it affected the viewers when they encountered
the chosen images.

‘To Empower or Not to Empower? That is the Question’

When researching theory on empowerment we found a breadth of discussion on the concept,

and it quickly became apparent how difficult a concept it is to define, and how many
considerations arise when analysing whether an act is empowering or not. “Is feeling
empowered the same as being empowered?”, “If an act of sexual empowerment has unintended
outcomes, was it ever empowering?”, “Is a sexual image or performance always either

48
empowering or objectifying?”, and “Is empowerment possible in the context of enduring sexist
structures?”, are just a few of the many questions that arise.

Gavey notes that “(…) while women can choose to act in various “raunchy” ways… they do
not have control over meanings ascribed to those actions by others” (Gavey, 2012: 721).
While there is an element of agency and control in a woman choosing to post a nude or sexual
image of herself, the woman no longer has complete control over the image once it is posted,
because the image is open to public interpretation and criticism. Is the image still empowering,
if it is then understood by the audience as self-objectifying? Who or what counts in
determining whether an image is empowering? What is the role of intentions in assessing if an
image represents empowerment? In the postfeminist sensibility, an image is empowering if the
subject posting it feels empowered, regardless of the reception it receives, given the
postfeminist tendency to disconnect actions from their circumstances and consequences
(Gavey, 2012: 719). In this framework, the power to claim “empowerment” lies with the
woman who posted the image, not with the critics who have ascribed their own meaning to it.
We also found empowerment was utilised in different ways, for example, as a commodity, as a
source of well-being, and as a rhetorical strategy for claiming power within fundamentally
objectifying structures. A frequent criticism that scholars raised in theoretical discussions is the
commodification of empowerment (Gill, 2012: 738: Lamb & Peterson, 2011: 705), and we saw
this clearly reflected in the way Kim Kardashian markets herself (and thus her product) as
empowering. It is easy to understand why the concept is used as a marketing strategy, because,
as both the cases and the viewers expressed, feeling empowered is conflated with well-being –
with feeling good and feeling valued. Observing the commodification of empowerment led us
to wonder about its actual transformative potential. Is it of any value beyond financial gain for
the individual performers who use its appeal to sell beauty products and music? What value, if
any, does empowerment as a commodity have for the viewer? Is the concept still meaningful in
a producer/consumer dynamic?
Another point of interest which arose during the analysis was why some of the images were
perceived by viewers as empowering and others were not. What did viewers find in the images
that was empowering? Amy Schumer’s image was widely praised by women because in
revealing her stomach rolls, women recognised an aspect of their own bodies and saw a figure
they could identify with. Further, this aspect of her body was openly displayed and celebrated
as an integral part of the image, which communicated to women that they did not have to feel
ashamed or inadequate for having stomach fat. By contrast, the responses to Beyoncé’s image

49
in the Partition video reflected adoration and attraction, but not a sense of sharing in her
empowerment, because the viewers did not identify with Beyoncé’s idealised body. Rather,
they perceived a vast distance between Beyoncé’s image as fantasy and their own reality.
From the different responses to these two images, it appears that one of the key elements which
contributes to whether semi-nude images are received as empowering or not is whether the
subject is willing to show their “flaws”. Amy Schumer’s image was considered empowering
because it was both a beautiful and realistic image. It encouraged women to think of their own
bodies as beautiful and valuable – and worthy of display in, for example, a calendar – even if
they do not have flat stomachs or meet conventional standards of attractiveness. Beyoncé’s
portrayal of her toned body, under low lighting and without flaws, did not present a point of
identification for the viewer, or a departure from conventional beauty standards. The image is
thus a fetish rather than realistic role model, which places Beyoncé on a pedestal as the ideal
image of feminine beauty and sexiness, and reminds the viewer that they are not on this same
level.
The way in which both male and female viewers critique women’s bodies against norms
established by Western, white, heterosexual male standards, will be examined more closely in
the following section.

So, Women Can’t Win?

As the analysis suggests, there appears to be some incongruity in the way that women perceive
the image of the sexualised female body. The comments on the presented images indicate that
there is (to some extent) a normalisation amongst women that allows for a shared justification,
a culture, so to say, that permits women to judge and objectify one another on social media.
Often women’s direct and indirect objectifications of one another tend to confirm the
dominance of the patriarchy and the male gaze, such as in the comment by user TheLady2luv
on Beyoncé’s Partition video, where she stated, “Jay is such a lucky guy”, or “Imagine being
that sexy” by user Eirin Johansen (Appendix 1). While, these comments confirm the idealised
values of the patriarchy, they also demonstrate the consciousness that women have towards
these desired ideals. This “patriarchal consciousness” is used to either approve or disapprove of
other women’s physical and/or sexual appearance. Drawing on Pencz’s (2012) critique that
Beyoncé’s experienced empowerment is a result of the affirmation that she has gained by the

50
patriarchy for succeeding to live up to the demands of the male gaze (due to her fortunate good
looks and popularity), one can argue that this affirmation is not only achieved through
recognition from men but also the recognition from women. In this way, women can either
support or disapprove of other women’s choices, leading to what can be perceived as a socially
constructed system of affirmation. The male gaze is therefore not the only objectifying force
when it comes to the objectification of women, as women too tend to objectify each other, as
seen in a comment by user Shantel Love, on Beyoncé’s Partition video who commented that
Beyoncé is“The only woman that can do this and not look TRASHY” (Appendix 1), entailing
that if someone else had done something similar, she would have been suppressed. In this way,
women have encouraged this “system of affirmation” for many years, through the education
and upbringing of young girls and women. Drawing on bell hooks’ criticism, this becomes
apparent in the comment: "(…) I see a part of Beyoncé that is in fact, anti-feminist, that is a
terrorist ... especially in terms of the impact on young girls" (Gay, 2014). What this statement
implies is indeed that bell hooks disagrees on how Beyoncé uses her sexuality, but more so it
emphasises the influence that Beyoncé’s sexual representation has on the education of young
girls, as it reaffirms the values and desires of the male gaze. This relates to Hadley Freeman’s
comment on the humiliation of women, “(…) they are similarly humiliated by being fed the
message that it doesn't matter how successful, powerful or smart you are – all that matters is
how sexually available you are willing to make yourself look” (Freeman, 2013). If this is the
case, then are women truly free to act as they like? Are women free to make the choices that
they want, when contemporary social structures restrict women from doing so? Looking at the
comments that were made on Beyoncé’s Partition video, user Amy Hall wrote: “Okay so, if
women don't have sex they're prudes, if they have "too much" sex they're whores… Looks like
we can't win either way” (Appendix 1). Perhaps this can be seen as one of the pitfalls of the
neoliberal discourse that dominates postfeminism today, namely the idea that women are
autonomous and free to make the choices that they like, however in practice this freedom plays
out in a particular cultural setting that appears to be beyond our control. Furthermore,
according to MacKinnon, women might believe and be under the impression that they are
empowered by expressions of sexuality, that they are acting on their own sexuality, that they
have a free choice, but in reality they are merely reproducing patriarchal structures - structures
that objectify and reduces women to be for men (Nussbaum, 1995: 268).
One hence wonders what possibilities women have for empowerment? If structures in society
make women objectify themselves, even when trying to emancipate themselves, take control
and claim empowerment, can women win? What is the solution?

51
But Then, What Now? Give up and Go Home?

Looking at our findings, one cannot help but reflect upon the question, “What now, then?”. If
women feel empowered through certain individual actions, but these actions are not perceived
as empowering by others, and are rather understood as the opposite or even as reproducing
oppressive structures, should women then just “put their clothes on”? It appears to be a vicious
circle, because if women start covering up their bodies and stop posing willingly in little to no
clothes, are they not then giving in and agreeing with the patriarchal notion that a woman’s
body is inherently sexual? If you cover up, you signify that your female body asks for sexual
attention, but by taking off your clothes your body is still perceived as being for someone else.
In western society we have seen Muslim women being forced to take off clothes (Weaver,
2017), but we have also seen western women being forced to cover up. What is the “right”
amount of clothes? And does it even exist? If women feel empowered by their choice to take
their clothes off and say that they are shamelessly proud of their bodies, why should society
stop them? Women grow up learning that how they dress, speak and look will have
consequences if not done modestly, and so the impulse to simply stop caring is not difficult to
comprehend and sympathise with.
One can argue that the word “empowerment” has become a shield which allows a person to
claim personal benefit from their act of empowerment and therefore nobody should criticise
that action, because choice is beautiful and one’s own. But does this not merely sabotage the
attempts to point out social structures that seek to oppress women? It appears western society
has reached a point where individualism and individual choice have become central in our
value system, so central that any critique of those choices is considered disrespectful. In this
way, individual empowerment can even be perceived as a patriarchal tool which wrap
objectification into a “shiny, feisty, postfeminist packaging” (Gill, 2012: 737). The term has
been used to the point of exhaustion, and milking its meaning for capitalist gain almost violates
the original significance, potential and beauty. As Gill (2012) points out, the term has been
used so excessively in the context of female sexuality, that the term empowerment itself has
become sexualised (ibid).
We argue that individual choice should be respected, and as Gavey writes “sympathised with”
(2012: 723), but the ability to view actions in the bigger cultural context is a necessity, if we as

52
a society want to move closer to gender equality. This does not mean that women should not be
sexual or should not explore their sexuality - quite the opposite. What is meant is that when
“being sexy” becomes a fundamental necessity of being a woman and is constantly
communicated through the media and idols as being empowering, society arguably regresses
instead of progresses.
The ideal reality is a society where this constant debate of women’s bodies is no longer
relevant - a reality where the male gaze is not constantly encountered by women who have no
interest in being sexualised. However, this is not the stage our society is at now. And, perhaps
acting as if it is may not accelerate the speed of gender equality. Women have always been
perceived as decorative and sexual. Feminists have fought for women to be considered as more
than merely looks for decades, and being sexy is not groundbreaking for today’s woman,
rather, it is required. We therefore argue that empowerment becomes more powerful when
women who break gendered beauty norms or succeed in male dominated fields gain media
attention. Schumer broke beauty norms by simply relaxing her stomach while hunched over
and suddenly thousands of women felt represented. This shows a beauty and unity in
something typically perceived as “ugly” or “wrong” and it further shows how women are fed
up with their looks being dictated by beauty standards which exclude the vast majority of
women.

Conclusion
By going in depth with the three chosen acts of individual empowerment, through posing nude
(or semi-nude), and the reception of these particular cases, we have uncovered how the
complicated notion of empowerment is expressed by our three subjects and understood by the
viewers. By exploring these particular examples we have been able to identify patterns within
the reactions which illustrate the gap between the subjects’ experiences of empowerment and
the receiver’s experience. We found that the individual acts of empowerment were perceived as
empowering when the female subject was breaking with conventional beauty norms, as
depicted through the case of Amy Schumer and her confident reveal of her stomach rolls. The
predominantly positive response to this image, which consisted of several women expressing
that they finally felt represented in the media and more importantly, felt beautiful, depicts
empowerment as a feeling which can be shared and which transcends an individual feeling or
experience, instead of merely being confined to the individual. As illustrated through our cases,

53
female empowerment is often expressed through nudity and sexuality in contemporary popular
media, which goes hand in hand with the postfeminist sensibility that a female individual’s
personal feeling of empowerment is a justification for its own existence, even though it may
harm girls and women in the long term. Furthermore, we found that the images of Kardashian
and Beyoncé attracted comments which pointed out their sexual appearance as shameful,
because it expressed a negligence of the “proper” role of a mother. This can be viewed as a
further illustration of the gendered expectations women face and how there are not only strict
rules for women to look “right”, but also to be “right”. It illustrates how women not only police
their own bodies, but also other women’s.
Our theoretical framework helped us place our findings in a sociocultural context, thus
understanding how the acts of empowerment are connected to a broader cultural context,
despite their intention of being isolated actions. The strong postfeminist emphasis on
individuality creates a culture where individual acts of empowerment, through sexuality, are
treated as disconnected from their cultural context, and therefore these acts are also not
considered to be reproducing the objectification of women. It is easy to forget that we are all
implicit in shaping, maintaining and reproducing these structures.
Do famous women such as Schumer, Beyoncé and Kardashian have a responsibility to ignore
their feeling of empowerment and instead tone down their sexuality because it may reproduce
oppressive structures of objectification? Perhaps it is not a matter of being empowered or not.
Perhaps, as Gill argues, the postfeminist obsession with empowerment distracts us from
focusing on more concrete concepts such as “(...) desire, pleasure, ability to negotiate condom
use”, which could be more useful points of focus in the effort towards meaningful societal
progress (Gill, 2012: 743).
As Gavey points out: “Instead we can open up other sorts of conversations which make space
for all of us together to understand the politics of our personal lives, to understand the
constraints on choice and to develop tools for weaving our way through them with our eyes a
bit more wide open” (2012: 722).
Gavey eloquently suggests opening up dialogue which enables girls and women to identify the
cultural structures they are unwillingly situated within and how developing an understanding of
how our lives as women come with certain pressure and expectations, and how we can best
navigate within those conditions. Understanding one’s own life in context to the larger
sociocultural context can hardly hurt anyone. However, the framing of this issue is very
important. There is arguably a fine line between informing girls and women about societal
structures and objectification, and teaching them rape culture. The aim should never be to make

54
women feel that by showing their bodies they are asking to be disrespected, or worse. The
point is that girls and women should simply not feel pressured to be sexual. Beauty norms and
sexuality being constantly pushed through the media upon girls and women as an empowering
aspect of womanhood makes it difficult to feel like the “right” kind of woman if you do not
live up to these ideals and requirements of femininity. Women feel empowered by different
things, but something that became clear is that representation plays a big role in order for an act
of empowerment to become empowering for the receiver. And if women find out that they are
good enough and beautiful as they are, imagine then what they can overcome in the future.

55
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