Black Women, Agency, and the New Black Feminism – Routledge Research in Gender and Society

The powerful Beyoncé, formidable Rihanna, and the incalculable Nikki Minaj.Their images lead one to wonder: are they a new incarnation of black feminism and black women’s agency, or are they only pure fantasy in which, instead of having agency, they are in fact the products of the forces of patriarchy and commercialism?More broadly, one can ask whether black women in general are only being led to believe that they have power but are really being drawn back into more complicated systems of exploitation and oppression. Or, are black women subverting patriarchy by challenging notions of their subordinate and exploitable sexuality?In other words, ‘who is playing who’?Black Women, Agency, and the New Black Feminism identifies a generational divide between traditional black feminists and younger black women.While traditional black feminists may see, for example, sexualized images of black women negatively and as an impediment to progress, younger black women tend to embrace these new images