The Commodification of Women’s Insecurity: How is Capitalism Exploiting Women?

Abstract

The third wave of feminism emphasizes women’s liberation of agency and individual choice in contemporary society. Exemplified by lifestyle influencers and female entrepreneurs, women are encouraged to live a life of self-fulfilment and expression (Petersson Mclntyre, 2021). However, there has been a shift in feminist discourse through the critique of ‘consumer society’ and neoliberal commodification (Chen, 2013). Theorists like Dimulescu (2015) advocate society has rebranded women's exploitation and concealed their lack of choice through beauty culture and lifestyle influencers, who preserve patriarchal control and gender inequality. Recent feminism criticises neoliberalism and consumer culture to have target insecurities for women to commodify women’s struggles. Although Petersson Mclntyre (2021) argues that beauty standards and self-expression for women in contemporary society are empowering and liberating, we must consider the possibility contemporary society is not empowering women's self-confidence and expression in the way we were led to believe. A new upsurge of feminism –known as the 4/5th wave- advocates the post-modern world appears liberating for women but truly women are another commodity for capitalism (Daniels, 2023).