ABSTRACT

Women are the world’s most powerful consumers, yet they are largely marketed to erroneously through misconceptions and patriarchal views that distort the reality of women’s lives, bodies, and work. This book examines the contradictions and mismatches between women’s everyday experiences and market representations. It considers how women themselves exhibit paradoxical behaviour in both resisting and supporting conflicting messages. The volume emphasizes paradox as a form of agency and negotiation through which women develop dialogical meanings. The contributions highlight the ways in which women transform inconsistencies and contradictions in advertising and marketing, global consumption practices, and material consumption into positive practices for living. The rich range of ethnographic accounts, drawn from countries including the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Denmark, Japan, and China, provide readers with a valuable perspective on consumer behaviour.

chapter |24 pages

Introduction

Women, consumption and paradox

part I|142 pages

Gender engagements, consumption interactions and marketplace ambiguities

chapter 1|28 pages

Women and chocolate

Identity narratives of sensory and sensual enjoyment

chapter 2|23 pages

‘Shapewear or nothing to wear’

The ambiguity of shapewear in the plus-size fashion market

chapter 4|26 pages

Financial technology and the gender gap

Designing and delivering services for women

chapter 5|15 pages

Being connected

Mobile phones in the lives of domestic workers in Mexico City

part II|86 pages

Histories of gender imageries and practices in flux

chapter 7|19 pages

Women under control

Advertising and the business of female health, 1890–1950

chapter 9|14 pages

Women’s consumption of cosmetic products in China

Between logistics, conflict and symbolism

chapter 11|14 pages

Little luxuries

Decency, deservingness and delight