Baudrillard (1998), in the eighth chapter of his book ‘The Consumer Society’ explores the way in which body fetishism, particularly of women, has been used to promote consumerist culture. The author also highlights that while sexual emancipation brought with it more freedoms for women, its cultural representation also mirrors and reinforces their subjugation to men.
The ultimate consumer object: the body
The chapter begins by discussing how an age of puritanism was displaced by a ‘rediscovery’ of the body, in terms of sexual liberation, and a culture of dieting and body care. This ‘new ethics of the relation to the body’, manifested as phryneism in women, and athleticism in men, with the former being the culturally most prominent. Women became cultural icons of beauty and eroticism, with beauty narrowly defined in physical terms. Moral qualities, the author argues, were displaced by one’s face and figure, as can be seen in numerous passages of the Elle magazine, which emphasize how self-care is body-care. Moreover, a cultural obsession with the body was key to unlocking society’s consumerist potential both directly (e.g., female beauty products and clothes) and indirectly (e.g., female models being used to advertise cars and razors). It is in this way, that the body as a cultural object became a driver of economic expansion.
Figure 1: Consumerism is intricately linked with body fetishism
SOURCE: Baudrillard (1998). Illustration by Bonsai Economics
Body ‘emancipation’ as a force of female subjugation
The author highlights how the cultural obsession with women as sexual objects reinforces their continued subjugation to men, while still liberating them partially from previous puritan ethics. This is because sexualisation is intricately linked with their historical oppression: it is the powerful ones that sexualise the weak ones. For example, black people have also often been sexualised in western culture, due to their comparative social weakness. This link has also been supported by numerous other papers, such as Xiao et al (2019), who found social power to increase one’s tendency towards ‘useful targets’, which can be expressed in sexualisation. Consequently, one needs to be careful in their analysis of the cultural ‘emancipation’ of the body: while it does provide more freedoms, it can also mirror, and, as a result, reinforce social repression.
Rediscovering the body and the obsession with slimness
Another key dimension of the ‘rediscovery’ of the body has been a cultural obsession with the slim female body, which is the most evident in the world of fashion. This is a good example of how ‘body-care’ can be meant in terms of increasing one’s social capital, instead of improving one’s health, with slenderness often not being physically beneficial. The cultural goals of beauty and elegance have translated into alibis for daily, obsessive disciplinary exercises on the body for ‘aesthetic’ ends. In fact, as the author argues, the ‘figure’s’ cultural significance is self-violence, as it is the literal manifestation of the sacrifice of one’s body. Moreover, its cultural dominance is alarming, with Baudrillard (1998) citing an American study showing 300 out of 446 adolescent girls to be on some sort of diet.
Can economic growth be sustained without consumerism?
A re-focus on the body and its associated fetishism have been instrumental enablers of the consumerist boom in the US and elsewhere. Body obsession and economic expansion have been intricately linked, reinforcing each other. This raises concerns over the shallow culture, which consumerism promotes that encourages narcissism at the expense of social goals such as economic inclusivity.