Identities: Feminist theory and blog task

Identities: Feminist theory and blog task

1.) 
Judith Butler's idea of a 'gender performance' highlights that men and women are not biologically determined and are instead influenced by other things. In this case, Beyonce's music video above, the performance here is that even though there is a representation of a woman and her stereotypical duties of cooking and cleaning, there are still clips of her smoking, which would be a social factor and is not a very 'feminine' trait to have.

2.)
Angela McRobbie is known for exploring the empowering of women and teenage girls in the 80's and 90's. As a result, yes Beyonce would be viewed as an empowering woman figure by McRobbie as the video presents her to be comfortable in her own skin and having no 'peer pressured' and set look by society on how a woman should be.

3.)
The traditional 'male gaze' is being demonstrated here in the video, given Beyonce is dressed in a very sexually appealing way, such as in a lingerie, hot pants, etc. As a result, yes this does enforce the view given that woman are seen to be objects for sexual pleasure. In another interpretation however, this also gives off the idea that woman should be comfortable in their own skin as a female regardless of what society ought them to be. An example of this is when Beyonce is smoking - this is a very 'unfeminine' thing to do.