Appraising celebrity feminism

Celebrity feminism is not a gateway nor is it “feminism lite,” as many feminist scholars and critics called it in the early 2010s. Instead, it is a critical vernacular feminism that relies heavily on appeasing the demands of a white, cisgender, heterosexual, patriarchal celebrity culture. In its early configurations and throughout its continuous development, celebrity feminism struggled with the tensions between popularity, capitalist requirements, and an intersectional imperative. The result is a flawed multitude of feminisms, but it would be remiss to overlook its potential. Celebrity feminism is an integral part in debunking postfeminist culture’s contention that feminism is a relic – past its prime and no longer necessary. I argue that the celebrity embrace of feminism and the feminist embrace of celebrity, as demonstrated by their co-constitutive nature throughout this project, acts as a powerful rejoinder to postfeminism.

Each chapter examines the shifts in celebrity feminism’s development as celebrity and feminism converged in the U.S. In its earliest configuration, both celebrity feminists and feminist celebrities did the work of destigmatizing feminism and encouraging their listeners to consider the ways that feminism could enrich their own lives. From that starting point, celebrity feminism augmented its efficacy, turning its attention to modes of accountability within celebrity culture and beyond. I offer feminist infamy as a theorization of celebrification that offers accountability and justice for victim-survivors of sexual violence. Finally, the recuperation of the celebrity trainwreck offers a perspective on how celebrity feminism can prompt cultural retrospection and social change. Each chapter is dedicated to analyzing a set of subjects that shaped how celebrity feminism moved beyond its shortcoming and became a multifaceted moment of reflexivity in popular culture.