Emma E
In the readings for this week, I am particularly curious about the intersections between race, gender, and sexuality. Big Mama Thorton represents these intersections to their fullest. Though there is no evidence that Thorton was queer or had female partners, her refusal to subscribe to gender norms broke the rules of the music industry and the rules of her time. In Mahon’s article, the author includes that “Thornton made a conscious choice to present herself on-stage in ways that many thought signaled that she was a lesbian” (page 5). Thorton knew that she was breaking the rules, knew she was opening a new door, one that would welcome retaliation, but also one that would allow space for herself and others to enter and change the world of rock.
In the interview, Maylei Blackwell describes how in her research, she discovered how feminist movements are apparent in other movements. “Women of Color feminism happens in labor movements, it happens in civil rights, it happens in Black Power” (page 3). I think women like Thorton, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, and so many others make it clear that rock movements were feminist movement as well. Thorton’s persistence and willingness to break the norms, by being a black woman rock artist, by wearing clothes that made her “present lesbian,” and by keeping her personal life personal, shows her activist work in her music and performance. She embodied feminism and black female power by refusing to play by the rules that were imposed on her.
Brittany Howard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nin-fiNz50M
Big Freedia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUwBOMtLk8Q
Tash Sultana (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn8phH0k5HI
Other artists (past and present) who I believe challenge the societally, politically, and economically derived rules of raced and gendered normativism include Mavis Staples, Brittany Howard, Big Freedia, and Tash Sultana. Staples, who has been re-discovered by young folks in her features with artists such as Portugal. the Man and Hozier, was Dr. Martin Luthor King’s “warm-up” act before his speeches. I had the amazing opportunity to hear Staples speak, and she discussed how when people heard her, but didn’t see her, such as on the radio, they assumed she was an adult man. At the time, she was a teenage girl. Her deep, gravelly, and powerful voice did not match the image and restrictions placed around a young black woman’s musical abilities. Staples laughed when she told this story, she could clearly not care less what restrictions the public had for her. I see a similar attitude, and a similar situation in general with Alabama Shakes lead singer Brittany Howard. When I first heard Howards voice, I assumed she was an older man, not a young black woman. And it seems that Howard uses this to her advantage, playing with her vocal range and effects. Big Freedia throws gender norms out the window, as a large, “male-sounding” black person wearing a barbie-blonde wig and twerking on stage. Do they put on a show! And Tash Sultana, who is openly gender-queer, and who has used their platform to make fluidity and nonconformity present and seen. These artists are people who fight against the norms set by their race, their gender, their sexuality, and use their art as a way of rebellion and expression.
p.s. Looked up “aquanet.” Want to add to vocabulary, but maybe not to hair.
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