Feminist themes in Beyoncé's music as perceived by university students

Abstract

This study explores the perceptions of fifteen students from the University of Pretoria’s School of the Arts about the feminist themes in Beyoncé’s music. Beyoncé is a self-proclaimed feminist who advocates for women through her music. An extensive literature review reveals how she can be considered a feminist icon within the popular music genre by considering the development of feminism, feminist theories and themes, and popular music as a locus of social change in popular culture. This feminist case study followed a qualitative research approach within an interpretivist framework. The music videos considered for the study were “If I Were a Boy” (2008), “Diva” (2009), “Run the World (Girls)” (2011), “Pretty Hurts” (2013), “Flawless” (2014) and “Grown Woman” (2014). The data was collected from semi-structured interviews and was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The themes revealed that these South African students perceived the feminist themes in Beyoncé’s music as empowering and relatable, but sometimes directed towards the male gaze.