Nefeli’s Reviews > Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday > Status Update
Nefeli
is on page 23 of 464
"Fearless, unadorned realism is a distinctive feature of the blues. Their representations of sexual relationships are not constructed in accordance with the sentimentality of the American popular song tradition. Romantic love is seldom romanticized in the blues. No authentic blues woman could, in good faith, sing with conviction about a dashing prince whisking her into the 'happily-ever-after'."
— Aug 24, 2020 02:29AM
Like flag
Nefeli’s Previous Updates
Nefeli
is on page 24 of 464
"These blues women had no qualms about announcing female desire. Their songs express women's intention to 'get their loving'. Such affirmations of sexual autonomy and open expressions of sexual desire give historical voice to possibilities of equality not articulated elsewhere. Women's blues and the cultural politics lived out in the careers of the blues queens put these new possibilities on the historical agenda."
— Aug 24, 2020 02:32AM
