Feminism Goes Mainstream? Feminist Themes in Mainstream Popular Music in Sweden and Denmark

In recent years, feminist scholars have turned their attention to the seeming resurgence of feminism in mainstream culture. This resurgence coincides with a rise in feminist activism, as testified by the many campaigns that have mobilized millions of people around the issues of violence against women, sexual harassment, reproductive injustice, and abortion rights. This article draws on the literature on the cultural consequences of social movements to explore if and how the new wave of grassroot feminist activism influenced feminist themes in top-charting mainstream popular music. We conducted a thematic analysis of the lyrics of all female-performed songs in the Swedish Top-60 and Danish Top-40 between 2017 and 2018. Our results show that neoliberal feminist themes count for the majority of the feminist themes detected. However, performers also employed themes ascribable to radical and liberal feminist traditions. We conclude with some reflections on the commercialization of feminist messages, pointing to openings for further research.

近年来，女性主义学者将研究目光投向主流文化中看似复现的女性主义复兴现象。这一复兴恰逢女性主义行动主义的崛起，诸多围绕针对女性暴力、性骚扰、生育不公与堕胎权利议题开展的运动已为其提供佐证，此类运动累计动员了数百万民众参与。本文援引社会运动文化后果领域的研究文献，旨在探究新一代草根女性主义行动主义浪潮是否以及如何影响了主流畅销榜单前列流行音乐中的女性主义主题。我们对2017至2018年间入选瑞典单曲榜TOP60与丹麦单曲榜TOP40的全部女性演唱歌曲的歌词开展了主题分析。研究结果显示，在被识别出的女性主义主题中，新自由主义女性主义主题占绝大多数。不过，演唱者也采用了可归因于激进女性主义与自由女性主义传统的相关主题。本文结尾就女性主义讯息的商业化问题展开反思，并指明了后续研究的可行方向。