Some Function of Commodities X, Y and Z Equals Commodity Me
By Joanne Costello at Jan 02, 2010 |
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In an article written in 1969, Willis argues, "For women, buying and wearing clothes and beauty aids is not so much consumption as work. One of a woman’s jobs in this society is to be an attractive sexual object, and clothes and make up are tools of the trade. Similarly, buying food and household furnishings is a domestic task; it is the wife’s chore to pick out the commodities that will be consumed by the whole family."
In the past 40 years, women have become even more of a coveted market. We ourselves have become commodified; it is through these products that we supposedly make
ourselves marketable.
Being self-consciously occupied is an effective means of social control; our world is kept so narrow that we are marginalized from important political discussions.
This point is touched on in Sarah Haskins hilarious and tragic review of advertisements marketing to women in 2009.
Links:
'Women and the Myth of Consumerism' by Ellen Willis


