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All Journal Sintaksis: Publikasi Para Ahli Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Fara Dhiba
Universitas Bina Sarana Informatika
Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

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Defying Beauty Pressure into Self-Confidence: A Feminist Reading of Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” Fara Dhiba; Paramita Kusumawardhani; Fitriyeni Fitriyeni
Sintaksis : Publikasi Para ahli Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris Vol. 4 No. 6 (2026): November : Sintaksis : Publikasi Para ahli Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris
Publisher : Asosiasi Periset Bahasa Sastra Indonesia

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.61132/sintaksis.v4i6.3035

Abstract

This research examines Maya Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman" (1978), analyzing the self-confidence it represents, the role of defying beauty pressure as the mechanism constructing that confidence, and the feminist framework explaining both. Using a qualitative descriptive method with a feminist literary criticism approach, the study draws on Bell Hooks' “Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” (1984) as the grand theory, Naomi Wolf's “The Beauty Myth” (1991) as the first supporting theory, and Albert Bandura's “Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control” (1997) as the second. Data consist of words, phrases, lines, and stanzas directly relevant to the research focus. The findings reveal three interconnected results. First, self-confidence is not innate but a dynamic achievement, built stanza by stanza through repeated self-affirmation, especially the recurring refrain "I'm a woman / Phenomenally... That's me." Second, beauty pressure appears through the speaker's acknowledgment of narrow societal standards, social skepticism toward women who resist them, and the objectifying male gaze all named and refused, replaced by a self-authored vocabulary of worth. Third, the feminist approach shows these elements form one trajectory: from marginalization by beauty pressure, through self-definition as resistance, to a stable, self-authored identity. The poem thus enacts the full feminist arc from imposed beauty pressure to its dismantling, showing literary creation and feminist liberation as inseparable.
Co-Authors Fitriyeni Fitriyeni Paramita Kusumawardhani