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"Goodness Without the Guilt": Constructing the Ideal Feminine Through Consumerism That Cares


My paper examines the intersection of neoliberalism and postfeminism in shaping contemporary femininity through an examination of Filipino social enterprise brands, Human Nature and Rags2Riches, and their consumers. The findings reveal a configuration of femininity centered on the "caring consumer," who actively assumes the individual responsibility of keeping the market moral while pursuing traditional markers of ideal femininity by supporting the brands. I highlighted the underlying tension and contradictions of this construct as it mobilizes the ethics of care to position women as consumers responsible for social change by helping the less privileged while keeping up with the expectations for women to be beautiful and fashionable thereby reinforcing existing gender norms, socioeconomic divide, and culture of consumerism. Ultimately, this paper hopes to contribute in understanding how contemporary femininity is coconstituted in neoliberal and postfeminist contexts.



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