ABSTRACT
The principle of intersectionality goes back to the third-wave recognition of the different intersecting aspects of identity, i.e. race, class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. It means trying to avoid assuming that straight middle-class white feminists can speak for all women. Too often, this group sets the standards against which others are measured (and found to fall short). The phrase ‘privilege checking’ is commonly used now as a call to build in more reflexive processes that question where our own viewpoint comes from, and to recognise the validity of other types of feminism. In marketing and consumer research, we need to explore intersectionality in relation to multiple femininities and masculinities that include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender identities as well. Often our research is skewed towards middle-class heterosexual women and men (the ubiquitous ‘MBA’ sample) and lacks reflexivity in terms of acknowledging this inbuilt bias. For example, the term ‘ladette’ is used pejoratively to denote a raucous, in-your-face type of feminism that has been featured widely in the media. Yet, such condemnation can also be interpreted through a class lens, whereby this type of femininity is perceived to transgress middle-class notions of respectability. In their creation of commoditised identities, marketers, as well as the media, are often culpable in assisting negative sexual stereotyping of this nature. More critique is required that explores marketing’s creation of gendered subjectivities and the intersecting axes around which they are based.
