Individual Blog Post--GWSS 241, #1

Matthew Trajano

I think I drew something interesting from both Mahon's Big Mama Thorton's Voice, and Maylei's quotes from the Women Who Rock Interview, in regards to the idea of going against the status quo. We see some of the ways that Big Mama Thorton sought to dress against what was expected, and embody a different representation of black femininity. She was a transgressor of her time, beyond her music. On page 5, Mahon says that she made decisions to appear onstage "in pants and work shirts and sometimes in men’s suits—in the years before gay liberation. These choices are evidence of an unconventional, transgressive, and liberated form of black femininity that rejects prevailing expectations of how women should comport themselves to secure respectability." (Mahon, 5) Mahon is emphasizing Big Mama's Thorton conscious decisions to appear a certain way, not conforming to normal dress of women during her time, let alone black women. When we compare this to Maylei Blackwell, she goes even farther, looking at how makeup should be applied on different skin tones to achieve that punk look, and what that meant for even going against the status quo for punk. Punk in of itself is a counterculture, but Maylei discusses how even the idea of putting makeup on a different skin tone. I was just thinking about that… how a lot of goth or punk kids wore, you know, wore really light skin… but how our skin looked and how our skin looked with maroon lipstick verses other peoples skin. I was thinking about that a lot lately." (page 9) Maylei discussing her inner thoughts around punk makeup going on different complexions creates a discussion around how artists present themselves as it pertains to their designated genre, and what that means when they aren't the expectation for their genre as women in the music industry.

To relate to the idea of black femininity and knowing what you want, I chose Janelle Monae's I Like That and the punk induced Bad Reputation by Joan Jett.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uovntV3ZMDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaoMgaBafFg

suits—in the years before gay liberation.