2018 Academic Festival Program

20 students (usually about twelve) exhibit their art, and also speak about the art clearly and coherently in front of peers, faculty, and guests at the Academic Festival Artist’s Talk. Both the exhibition and the discussion deepen their understanding of this important facet of being a professional artist. 7. Femininity, Beauty, and the Black Female Body Tisch 307 Faculty Sponsor: Kristie A. Ford, Sociology Presenters: Miracle Freckleton ‘20, DyAnna Washington ‘18 In this session, two students (Miracle Freckleton ‘20 and DyAnna Washington ‘18) from SO317R: Black Female Body will present findings from their semester-long qualitative research projects. Through in-depth interviews, focus groups, auto-ethnography, and content analysis, they respectively explore: (1) sexual identity of Black college women at white-serving institutions, (2) Black women’s relationship to emotional well-being and preferred forms of support, and (3) perceptions of Black femininity and its relationship to beauty routines. Miracle Freckleton ‘20: Sex is often a taboo subject in America. Historically Black women's sexuality has been oversexualized and dehumanized. Images such as the Jezebel that depict Black women as having a wild sexuality still persist today and effect how, we, as Black women view ourselves and how others view us. The purpose of this research is to understand how Black women attending a white serving institution such as Skidmore College shape their sexual identity and the various social forces that have aided in this construction. DyAnna Washington ‘18: Through content analysis of YouTube videos, self-ethnographic video diaries, and a focus group comprised of Black female identified/feminine presenting individuals, this research explores the following questions: What are Black female and feminine presenting individuals’ perceptions of femininity? How do cultural/societal definitions of femininity influence these perceptions? How do these perceptions translate into beauty routines and expressions of femininity? I assert that much of the performance of femininity is engrained in the way individuals care for themselves and their physical bodies; to explore that I concentrate my analysis on beauty routines that include skincare, makeup, and clothing. I further explicate the assertion that femininity is a performance and put these seemingly necessary, often mundane, beauty regimens in conversation with a greater discourse of how individuals do femininity and how that is informed or influenced by their race, specifically Blackness.