DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/1T69-2929
Defense Date
2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Media, Art, and Text
First Advisor
David Golumbia
Second Advisor
Jesse Goldstein
Third Advisor
Karen Rader
Fourth Advisor
Myrl Beam
Fifth Advisor
Jennifer Rhee
Abstract
I define girlboss feminism as emergent, mediated formations of neoliberal feminism that equate feminist empowerment with financial success, market competition, individualized work-life balance, and curated digital and physical presences driven by self-monetization. I look toward how the mediation of girlboss feminism utilizes branded and affective engagements with representational politics, discourses of authenticity and rebellion, as well as meritocratic aspiration to promote cultural interest in conceptualizing feminism in ways that are divorced from collective, intersectional struggle. I question the stakes involved in reducing feminist interrogations and commitments to discourses of representation, visibility, and meritocracy. I argue that while girlboss feminism may facilitate individual opportunities for stability and advancement under neoliberal constraints, the proliferation of girlboss feminism as an emergent and mediated thread of neoliberal feminism plays a vital role in perpetuating the severe inequalities required to sustain racial capitalism as an oppressive political-economic and socio-cultural framework. I look to three key spaces: wellness culture, self-help coaching, and multi-level marketing to understand how feminism and racial capitalism grow intertwined via mediated formations of girlboss culture. In charting these formations, I initiate conversations that investigate the nuances and complications of feminist movement work under racial capitalism. I hope that identifying these emergent threads of neoliberal feminism provides insight on how intersectional and liberatory modes of collective struggle might remain more nimble, and generate more political power, than incarnations of feminism that reinforce an oppressive status quo.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-12-2021
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Inequality and Stratification Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Political Economy Commons, Political Theory Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Rhetoric Commons, Social Justice Commons, Social Media Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Visual Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons