Author Description

Beyoncé is a pop culture phenomenon with power. She is one of a handful of female pop stars who are known by a single name and whose image is instantly recognisable. In recent years however, she has come to be regarded by fans and critics as embodying feminist, post-feminist and anti-feminist issues. In this new book, Kirsty Fairclough-Isaacs explores how feminist theory operates outside and within Beyoncé's carefully crafted and tightly controlled public image. Through detailed new research and analysis, Fairclough-Isaacs examines the cultural discourses - such as race and pregnancy, gender and motherhood- that revolve around the star. This book is the first full length study of the performer to be framed by the contemporary arguments surrounding celebrity, feminism, mass entertainment and social media, whilst also evaluating how Beyoncé has come to represent the anxieties that beset the expression of modern female power.