What is postfeminism?

Postfeminism is a complex concept derived from a multiplicity of ideas and practices that are all intertwined with neoliberalism. Per feminist cultural theorist Rosalind Gill, postfeminism is “best understood as a distinctive sensibility, made up of a number of interrelated themes, [including] the notion that femininity is a bodily property; the shift from objectification to subjectification; an emphasis upon self-surveillance, monitoring and self-discipline; a focus on individualism, choice and empowerment; the dominance of a makeover paradigm; and a resurgence of ideas about natural sexual difference” (Gill “Postfeminist media culture” 147).

Postfeminism “acknowledges the positive effects of feminism and incorporates some of the language of the feminist movement such as ‘empowerment’ and ‘choice’” (Anderson 1). Postfeminism tells women to focus on their private lives and consumer capacities as a means of self-expression and agency, veering them away focusing on the inequitable social structures that infringe on their equality. At its core, postfeminism places emphasis on the individual rather than on structural, societal, and collective inequalities (Goldman et al 333-335). This individual emphasis deviates from longstanding feminist commitments to collective change and the recognition that histories and futures of liberation are intertwined and intersectional.

How does postfeminism inform commodity culture?

Broadly defined, commodity feminism is the channeling of a postfeminist ethos into commodity culture; women are encouraged to express themselves and demonstrate their ‘liberation’ through participation in consumer culture. The term “commodity feminism” is a play on words, referencing Marx’s “commodity fetishism” (Goldman et al 335-337). As defined by Rosalind Gill, “commodity feminism refers to the way feminist ideas and icons are appropriated for commercial purposes, emptied of their political significance and offered back to the public in a commodified form – usually in advertising” (Gill “Culture and Subjectivity in Neoliberal and postfeminist times” 432).

How has the advertising industry embraced postfeminism?

In order to increase sales, advertisers attempt to co-opt and appropriate “the cultural power and energy of feminism while simultaneously neutralizing or domesticating the force of its social/political critique” (Gill 39). This idea of co-optation is central to criticism of post-and consumerist feminism, as they take those elements of feminism that can be sold – for example, body positivity, reclaiming feminine stereotypes, and empowerment – and use them to turn a profit. Advertisers have strategically channelled aspects of feminist discourse “into semiotic markers that can be attached to commodity brandnames” (Goldman et al 333).

How has advertising co-opted feminist activism?

Advertising is, at its core, a capitalist practice. The co-optation of feminist progress (broadly defined) by corporations results in “commodity activism”: a uniquely neoliberal phenomenon in which “realms of culture and society once considered “outside” the official economy are harnessed, reshaped, and made legible in economic terms” (Mukherjee and Banet-Weiser 1). The tactics of commodity activism transform radical social activism into “neoliberal capital” (Mukherjee and Banet-Weiser 2). By reimagining activism as a marketable commodity, corporations profit off of (and mediate conversations regarding) feminist activism.

Click here to read Rosalind Gill’s study of stereotypical portrayals of women in advertising

Bibliography

Anderson, Kristin J. Modern Misogyny: Anti-Feminism in a Post-Feminist Era. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Gill, Rosalind. “Culture and Subjectivity in Neoliberal and postfeminist times.” Subjectivity 25 (2008): 432-445.

Gill, Rosalind. “Postfeminist media culture: Elements of a sensibility.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 10:2 (2007): 147-166.

Goldman, Robert, Deborah Heath, and Sharon L. Smith. “Commodity Feminism.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 8 (1991): 333-351.

Mukherjee, Roopali, and Sarah Banet-Weiser. Commodity Activism : Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times, New York University Press, 2012.