Problematizing the Postfeminist Gaze: A Critical Exploration of Young Women’s Readings of Gendered Power Relations in Advertising
Résumé
This article explores young women’s engagements with gendered power relations embedded in
advertising. Drawing on four case studies, we demonstrate how their readings of gendered ads are
informed by postfeminist discourse, which, for all its contradictions, presents gender inequality as
a thing of the past. Specifically, we illustrate and theorize the problematic workings of a
postfeminist gaze directed at both models in ads and young women as readers of ads, with
judgements shaped by postfeminist ideals and blind spots concerning intersections of gender, class,
and race. We contribute to macromarketing scholarship by (1) illustrating how, in the context of
gendered ads and young American women, gendered power relations and a postfeminist sensibility
are both produced by and productive of gendered readers; and (2) highlighting the insidious nature
and limitations of this sensibility informing young women’s lived experiences, engagements with
media culture, and position in society.