Immaculate consumption: negotiating the sex symbol in postfeminist celebrity culture

Dreaming of the Kardashians: Media Content in the Dreams of US College Students

“…Remarking on the recent rise of one of Kim Kardashian's younger half‐sisters, another student said, “Like everyone just thinks she's perfect and beautiful and they want to look like her, and they want to be her, and that's like, the goal … Like she has a skinny waist and huge hips and butt and that's what everyone is drooling over.” Scholarly analyses of the Kardashian phenomenon all emphasize the zeitgeist‐collision of notions of sexual “self‐empowerment,” retro‐styled sexual objectification, and self‐promotional entrepreneurialism—all enhanced with a hefty dose of plastic surgery (Leppert ; McClain ; Pramaggiore and Negra ; Sastre ). In a rather transparent sense, the dreams described here—like the images in my students’ Instagram feeds—echo what many feminist scholars of media studies have identified as an intensifying linkage between postfeminism, neoliberal constructions of self, and the aggressive targeting of young women as consumers (Gill ; Evans and Riley ; Harris ; McRobbie ; Sales ; Willett ). As Gill () has noted, it is a postfeminism that is laced with contradiction, and as such, it might present a greater‐than‐average glitch to oneiric consciousness—one to be chewed on and worked over by the dreaming mind.…”

“…"Instagram culture," Karen concluded, had a deleterious impact on her psyche: (Leppert 2015;McClain 2014;Pramaggiore and Negra 2014;Sastre 2014). In a rather transparent sense, the dreams described here-like the images in my students' Instagram feeds-echo what many feminist scholars of media studies have identified as an intensifying linkage between postfeminism, neoliberal constructions of self, and the aggressive targeting of young women as consumers (Gill 2007;Evans and Riley 2013;Harris 2004;McRobbie 2009;Sales 2016;Willett 2008). As Gill (2007) has noted, it is a postfeminism that is laced with contradiction, and as such, it might present a greater-than-average glitch to oneiric consciousness-one to be chewed on and worked over by the dreaming mind.…”

Tween girls' dressing: Shifts, implications, and future directions in Singapore

“…In consideration of these statements, the Bailey Review (Bailey, ) from the United Kingdom highlighted that another source of sexualization stems from the commercial market. While there are studies that point out that female celebrities in Western popular culture encourage young girls to fashion themselves like adults (Durham, ; Evans & Riley, ; Jackson, Goddard, & Cossens, ), the Bailey Review (Bailey, ) points out that it is ultimately the marketers like Abercrombie & Fitch who materialize this and produce thong underwear with suggestive slogans such as “Wink, Wink” and “Eye Candy” for 7 to 10‐year‐old girls (Huff, ). Schor (, p. 55) underscores that one of the popular marketing tactics today is known as “age compression”: pushing products originally designed for adults or teens to tweens.…”

Individualized femininity and feminist politics of choice

“…Feminist analyses debate the consequences of women's experience of choice across diverse areas which include the performance of beauty practices (Fahs, 2009;Stuart and Donaghue, 2011); genital cosmetic surgery (Braun, 2009;Moran and Lee, 2013); abortion politics and reproductive rights (Smyth, 2002); classed educational and occupational opportunities (Baker, 2010(Baker, , 2008Walkerdine, 2003); religious practices and veiling (Ashfar, 2008), work/life balance (Everingham et. al., 2007;Rottenberg, 2014); sexuality, consumption and body work practices (Evans and Riley, 2013;Gill, 2007); and prostitution and commercialised reproductive technologies (Widdows, 2013).…”