Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Feminist Theory, 18 (3), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Feminist Theory page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/FTY http://journals.sagepub.com/
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Only the bad gyal could do this
T2 - Rihanna, rape-revenge narratives, and the cultural politics of White Feminism
AU - Ferreday, Debra Jane
N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Feminist Theory, 18 (3), 2017, © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2017 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Feminist Theory page: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/FTY http://journals.sagepub.com/
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - In July 2015, Rihanna released a seven-minute long video for her new single, entitled Bitch Better Have My Money (more widely known as BBHMM), whose violent imagery would divide feminist media commentators for its representation of graphic and sexualised violence against a white couple. The resulting commentary would become the focus of much popular and academic feminist debate over the intersectional gendered and racialised politics of popular culture, in particular coming to define what has been termed ‘White Feminism’, in particular intersecting with debates about rape culture and the extent to which celebrity culture operates to secure consent to social relations of violence and inequality. BBHMM is not the first time Rihanna’s work has been considered in relation to these debates: not only has she herself been very publicly outed as a survivor of male violence, she has previously dealt with themes of rape and revenge in an earlier video, 2010’s Man Down, and in her lyrics. In this article, I read these two videos through the lens of feminist film theory, in particular focussing on the ways in which Rihanna’s output fits in a wider history of the figure of the ‘angry girl’ in rape-revenge cinema. In doing so, I explore how such representations mobilise affective responses of shame, identification and complicity that are played out in feminist responses to her work, and how these reproduce themes of surveillance and victim-blaming that potentially operate to silence women of colour’s experience of violence.
AB - In July 2015, Rihanna released a seven-minute long video for her new single, entitled Bitch Better Have My Money (more widely known as BBHMM), whose violent imagery would divide feminist media commentators for its representation of graphic and sexualised violence against a white couple. The resulting commentary would become the focus of much popular and academic feminist debate over the intersectional gendered and racialised politics of popular culture, in particular coming to define what has been termed ‘White Feminism’, in particular intersecting with debates about rape culture and the extent to which celebrity culture operates to secure consent to social relations of violence and inequality. BBHMM is not the first time Rihanna’s work has been considered in relation to these debates: not only has she herself been very publicly outed as a survivor of male violence, she has previously dealt with themes of rape and revenge in an earlier video, 2010’s Man Down, and in her lyrics. In this article, I read these two videos through the lens of feminist film theory, in particular focussing on the ways in which Rihanna’s output fits in a wider history of the figure of the ‘angry girl’ in rape-revenge cinema. In doing so, I explore how such representations mobilise affective responses of shame, identification and complicity that are played out in feminist responses to her work, and how these reproduce themes of surveillance and victim-blaming that potentially operate to silence women of colour’s experience of violence.
KW - Rihanna
KW - celebrity
KW - rape culture
KW - surveillance
KW - shame
KW - revenge
KW - intersectionality
U2 - 10.1177/1464700117721879
DO - 10.1177/1464700117721879
M3 - Journal article
VL - 18
SP - 263
EP - 280
JO - Feminist Theory
JF - Feminist Theory
SN - 1464-7001
IS - 3
ER -