ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with how historical echoes from previous eras map onto highly visible bodies of our own contemporary era, specifically analyzing fetishistic spectacles of black "booty" in art and popular culture. It overviews the pop star's career and the ways in which she positioned her voluptuous and light-skinned body for maximum visibility that nuances hypersexuality and respectability. The chapter examines the spectacles of the "bootylicious" body that she helped to popularize, specifically assessing how it came to be associated with edibility and food in both popular culture and art projects. It also examines Beyonce's incorporation of feminist politics and racial justice in her independently produced visual albums and how she advances a counter-aesthetic for black women's bodies and beauty politics. Beyonce's prominence indicates that she is well-versed in the iconography of black women's racial and sexual histories. The women already disrupt respectability politics by donning mutton sleeves, pearls, and booty-hugging bodysuits that emphasize their raunchy sexiness.
