Week 9: Madonna

Whereas the androgynous figures of Patti Smith, Annie Lennox and Siouxsie Sioux stray far from the seemingly oppressive, hyper-sexualized images of women, Madonna embraced it—much to the scorn of many feminist scholars. With Madonna’s ties to the soft-core porn industry and her often explicit exploration of sexuality within her videos and performances, it is easy to write her off as continuing a long tradition of demeaning women through pornography. But in contrast to much of the criticism surrounding Madonna, Whiteley points out that Madonna’s overt and overbearing use of a male-defined image of femininity can also be interpreted as a feminist-inspired method of ironically “destabilising traditional representations of sexuality and gender by playing on the inflections of feminised images” (137). With the use of irony and parody with her representation of femininity, Madonna is “miming the miming”—reflecting stereotypical, male-defined notions of femininity back to men as a form of subversion. Madonna’s exploration of sexuality is especially challenging, disrupting traditional normative heterosexuality.

Within her video for Justify my Love, Madonna explores a wide range of sexualities, portraying gay and “lesbianism, androgeneity, and an engagement with sexual fantasy and voyeurism” (149). Her portrayal of these alternative sexualities and often demonized sexual fantasies open up new possibilities in defining gender. However, as Whiteley mentions, “the ‘use’ of pornography cannot be separated from its history of female suppression” (149). Still, “there is little doubt that Madonna’s challenging stance confronted the romantic myths constructed around the feminine” (149).

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A year or two ago, I saw a new music video Madonna had released for one of her most recent album. The now fifty-year-old musician was depicting in the video singing and dancing within a dance studio space, wearing a fairly revealing pink leotard. My reaction at the time was very much in line with what Annie Lennox says of Madonna: "Very, very whorish." It was shocking to see a woman older than my mother check out her butt cheeks in a constricting pink leotard. At fifty-years-old, still topping the North American top 40 charts, is Madonna still as challenging of a figure as she was in the 1980s?

Because I was born during the middle of the 80s, most of my perception of Madonna has been shaped by her position of a contemporary pop star. The music I associated with Madonna was songs such as 'Don't tell me' or 'Hey Mr. DJ,' which aren't nearly as challenging or shocking as 'Justify My Love.' I would hear her music occasionally on the radio, but she was never really an artist I felt I could connect with.

My early sense of feminism was fairly naive - I essentially wanted to challenge traditional notions of femininity through making myself as "unfeminine" as possible. Last year I shaved my head, and began to refuse wearing skirts. Music and popular culture wise, I still enjoyed the occasional girly pop hits and films deemed 'chick flicks' but they were labelled my 'guilty pleasure.' This limiting perspective of feminism and femininity probably played into why I didn't respect Madonna's choice to present herself in a highly-sexualized way.

For me personally, Madonna challenges my perspective on femininity. Is femininity necessarily limiting? Or does reclaiming it, as Madonna has, an act of feminism? Is the image of a sexualized woman demeaning? Learning about Madonna through her music and her representation has challenged my view of femininity and sexuality.