Sex, Gender, Becoming - PULP

Shopping for gender 89
now of the grandeur of manufactured commodities, the second
“nature” of capitalist economy’. 152 This ‘second nature’ is naturalised
by resorting to organic imagery that evokes an ideal state ‘prior
to the rise of human artifice’ 153 and nostalgia for civil society and
public space of the past. Miller et al note, for instance, that glass
ceilings in malls serve to incorporate nature and symbolise ‘letting
nature in to ameliorate the concern of shoppers that the act of
shopping might represent an un- or anti-natural activity’. 154
The representation of space in malls thus seems to focus on the
creation of interior spaces that are ostensibly ‘natural’ and friendly
and convey a ‘park-like, holiday atmosphere’. 155 In a similar manner,
the nineteenth century department store acted as a metaphor for a
miniature utopian world of plenitude and choice. 156 The mall as an
autonomous oasis of timelessness, perfect weather and statis, free
from the constraints of history, reinforces the impression that its
space is gendered as female. The alliance between the feminine and
Edenic in malls is generally affirmed by means of the following: the
use of circuitous, labyrinthine or garden maze layouts that disrupt the
rational, modernist use of space 157 (eg, Menlyn Park); the addition of
natural daylight and exotic plants to evoke cleanliness, freshness and
a ‘tropical vacation setting’ 158 (eg, Canal Walk); fountains, benches,
and statuary signify nostalgic longing for lost urban space and the
community of the piazza and forum 159 (eg, Hyde Park); and the use of
innocuous and beguiling motifs like animals, water and tropical
colours present, according to Zukin, ‘the friendly face of power’ in
landscapes of economic power 160 (eg, Brooklyn Mall).
It is also significant that food courts generally assume an important
position in malls, adding to the connotations of feminine nurturing
and abundance. Women have a more tactile approach to shopping and
the tactility of the mall experience differentiates it from places such
as museums. 161 The entrances to malls often deliberately suggest an
oasis or sanctuary by means of plants and festive canopies, yet the
self-enclosed, fortress-like walls of the exterior are controlled by the
‘gaze of a paternalistic security force’, 162 again inscribing the notion
of male control of feminised space (eg, Sandton City).
152 Simon (n 151 above) 231, 234, 241.
153 Miller (n 4 above) 128-129.
154
Miller 115, 132; Goss (n 5 above) 36 also points out that plants in malls create a
garden setting that ‘naturalises consumption, and mitigates the alienation
inherent in commodity production and consumption’.
155
Josal & Scalabrin (n 90 above) 202.
156 Crawford (n 71 above) 19.
157 Shields (n 117 above) 207; Backes (n 86 above) 11.
158
Goss (n 5 above) 24.
159 Goss 40.
160 Zukin (n 13 above) 228-229.
161
Sampson (n 89 above) 76; Shields (n 117) 220.
162 Gottdiener (n 2 above) 90.