The State of Femininity in Pop Before Madonna

Before Madonna, women in pop were largely subject to a restrictive set of expectations. Female performers were expected to be palatable, pretty but not too sexy, assertive but not too threatening. Most worked under the creative control of male producers and were encouraged to maintain a marketable, passive femininity. The rise of MTV in the early 1980s created new opportunities, but also intensified pressures on women to present themselves visually in ways that catered to the male gaze.

In Madonna: How Her Message Changed the Social and Cultural History of the 1980s, the author argues that Madonna "shattered the norm" by rejecting passivity and openly confronting "the sociopolitical values of a conservative, Reagan-era America." Her calculated self-stylization challenged this cultural landscape. Videos like Material Girl and Borderline didn't just sell songs, they sold ideas about women owning their image, manipulating desire, and seeking control.


Madonna entered a field that objectified women, and flipped the script. 

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References

Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity . Routledge. Hooks, B. (1992). Black Looks: Race and Representation . Routledge. Individuals and Societies: History. (n.d.). Madonna: How her message changed the social and cultural history of the 1980s . https://edspace.american.edu/cc5572a/wp-content/uploads/sites/1257/2018/10/Extended-Essay-FInal-Carni.pdf Paglia, C. (1992). Sex, art, and American culture : essays . Vintage Books. Vieira de Jesus, D. S. (2021). The Rebel Madame: Madonna’s Postmodern Revolution. Journal of Literature and Art Studies , 11 (1). https://doi.org/10.17265/2159-5836/2021.01.004
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