A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Commodified State Feminism : The Entanglements of Feminist Commodity Activism and Feminist Politics in a Nordic Welfare State
Authors: Ylöstalo Hanna, Lamberg Emma
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication year: 2024
Journal: International Political Sociology
Journal name in source: International Political Sociology
Article number: olae005
Volume: 18
Issue: 2
ISSN: 1749-5679
eISSN: 1749-5687
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae005
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olae005
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/387423471
This article analyzes the entanglements of feminist commodity activism and state feminism. Feminist commodity activism refers to consumption and commodified communication as modes of feminist political participation. Earlier research on these topics has focused on the business sector and on media and popular culture, largely sidelining the state as a site of feminism. This article addresses the increasingly close relations between consumerism and state politics and asks how feminist commodity activism interacts with state feminism. It draws on two empirical cases in the Nordic welfare state of Finland. The first is Uhana Design, a small-scale fashion business, and its Girl Gang campaign that leans on state feminism. The second is Finland's former leading female politicians’ engagements with feminist fashion. By analyzing these cases via three theoretical lenses, business, popular, and state feminism, this article develops the notion of commodified state feminism, paying attention to economic, cultural, and political dimensions of feminist commodity activism and state feminism. It also argues that commodified state feminism is emblematic of the current political context, in which the boundaries between market and politics have become blurred.
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