Aesthetic labour : rethinking beauty politics in neoliberalism
Ana Sofia Elias (Editor), Rosalind Gill (Editor), Christina Scharff (Editor)
This volume approaches questions about gender and the politics of appearance from a new perspective by developing the notion of aesthetic labour. Bringing together feminist writing regarding the 'beauty myth' with recent scholarship about new forms of work, the book suggests that in this moment of ubiquitous photography, social media, and 360 degree surveillance, women are increasingly required to be 'aesthetic entrepreneurs', maintaining a constant state of vigilance about their appearance. The collection shows that this work is not just on the surface of bodies, but requires a transformation of subjectivity itself, characterised by notions of personal choice, risk-taking, self-management, and individual responsibility. The book includes analyses of online media, beauty service work, female genital cosmetic surgery, academic fashion, self-help literature and the seduction community, from a range of countries. Discussing beauty politics, postfeminism, neoliberalism, labour and subjectivity, the book will be of interest to scholars and students with an interest in Gender, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Social Psychology and Management Studies
1 online resource
9781137477651, 1137477652
971082590
Aesthetic labour : beauty politics in neoliberalism / Ana Elias, Rosalind Gill, and Christina Scharff
"Seriously girly fun!" : recontextualising aesthetic labour as fun and play in cosmetics advertising / Michelle M. Lazar
Rethinking Ruskin's wife's vulva / Virginia Braun
Mapping "gross" bodies : the regulatory politics of disgust / Breanne Fahs
The escalating price of motherhood : aesthetic labour in popular representations of "stay-at-home" mothers / Sara De Benedictis and Shani Orgad
Holistic labour : gender, body and the beauty and wellness industry in China / Jie Yang
The entrepreneurial practices of becoming a doll / Adrienne Evans and Sarah Riley
PhD Barbie gets a makeover! : aesthetic labour in academia / Scarlett Brown
The risky business of postfeminist beauty / Simidele Dosekun
Dream jobs? : the glamourisation of beauty service work in media culture / Laurie Ouellette
Skin : post-feminist bleaching culture and the political vulnerability of blackness / Shirley Anne Tate
"Being a better #freelancer" : gendered and racialised aesthetic labour on online freelance marketplaces / Monika Sengul-Jones
Seriously stylish : academic femininities and the politics of feminism and fashion in academia / Ngaire Donaghue
How to do feminist mothering in urban India? : some reflections on the politics of beauty and body shapes / Shilpa Phadke
"I'm beautiful the way I am" : empowerment, beauty, and aesthetic labour / Sarah Banet-Weiser
"Just be confident girls!" : confidence chic as neoliberal governmentality / Laura Favaro
"The bottom line is that the problem is you" : aesthetic labour, postfeminism and subjectivity in Russian self-help literature / Maria Adamson and Suvi Salmenniemi
Look good, feel good : sexiness and sexual pleasure in neoliberalism / Rachel Wood
The aesthetics of sexual discontent : notes from the London "seduction community" / Rachel O'Neill
Invisible labour? : tensions and ambiguities of modifying the "private" body : the case of female genital cosmetic surgery / Amy Shields Dobson, Karalyn McDonald, Maggie Kirkman, Kay Souter, and Jane Fisher
Beautiful Israeli girls : between being in the present and future unpredictability / Dana Kaplan