"Now That I'm a Whore, Nobody Is Holding Me Back!": Women in Favela Funk and Embodied Politics. Issue 2 (3rd April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moreira, Raquel
• Is Part Of: Women's studies in communication. Volume 40:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 172
• Page End: 189
• Publication Date: 2017-04-03
• Subjects: Embodiment -- favela funk -- femininity -- third-wave feminism -- transgression; Communication -- Sex differences -- Periodicals; Women in mass media -- Periodicals; Sex differences in mass media -- Periodicals; 302.2082
• DOI: 10.1080/07491409.2017.1295121
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0749-1409

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Rio de Janeiro's favela funk is one of Brazil's most important contemporary cultural and musical expressions. Women in favela funk play with contradictory and excessive performances of femininity that tend to complicate binary understandings of gender. By examining the funkeiras ' staged performances of femininity through the lenses of female unruliness and transgression, I attend to how funkeiras transgress heterofemininity. I conclude that funkeiras ' performances foster solidarity with and echo the stories of other women. Through these performances, these women navigate, resist, and fight oppressive structures. Ultimately, this article highlights the importance of embodied politics for marginalized women as a point of entry to instigate structural changes.