ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explores the subjective operation of gender in material culture by looking at the various ways in which gender identities are produced at an early age through commercial representations of gender in home design catalogues and magazines. It discusses protest through their material cultural behaviour; rather the research shows that the women were looking for ways of enhancing their existing positions. The chapter examines developments in feminist theory, which have deconstructed traditional, rigid accounts of 'top down' power. It explores the uneasy relationship that feminists have traditionally with women adopting male, heterosexual fetishistic fantasies, especially when these constitute a particularly lucrative commercial market. It finds an equally pertinent story about the regulation of working class women's desires. It relates consumer culture to the social and cultural upheaval that some scholars see as the advent of our current post-modern reality.
