Women, Consumption and Paradox

Book excerpt: 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.