Sex, Gender, Becoming - PULP

Shopping for gender 75
to the nature over nurture theory, the prehistoric role of women as
gatherers around the perimeter of the home rather than as
peripatetic hunters endowed them with a biological propensity for
skilful shopping. 93 The nurture-over-nature theory argues, on the
other hand, that patriarchy confined women to the domestic domain
and consequently barred them from the world of commerce, thereby
relegating them to the role of consumers. These gendered positions
are naturally not watertight, and as Lancaster comments, the
‘majority of women shop in a highly rational manner, and most base
their purchases upon a carefully controlled budget’. 94 In this light, it
is interesting that men are apparently more liable to indulge in
impulse shopping, 95 which is customarily associated with shopping as
a form of entertainment. 96
Nevertheless, the overwhelming perception that shopping is fun and
accordingly an appropriate endeavour for women has categorised
females as the prototypical consumers in patriarchal capitalist
society 97 (Figure 1). The belief that ‘women shop’ is founded on the
social constructs of both women and shopping and the intimate
association between the two. 98 The stereotypical equation between
females and shopping either considers that shopping is part of
domestic labour and the hard work associated with it, or reasons that
shopping is a daydream-like activity and ‘to enjoy shopping is to be
passively feminine and incorporated into a system of false needs’. 99
This trance-like state, hinted at in a print advertisement for Eastgate
Mall (Figure 2), seems to typify the ideal mall walker. Zukin
acknowledges that although shopping has been criticised as a vacuous
activity, for many people it is one of the most important ways of
dealing with alienation and of identity formation. 100 Morris endorses
the view that shopping is one of the forms of cultural production that
is almost exclusively carried out by women, putting it on a par with
‘the organisation of leisure, [and] holiday and/or unemployment
activities’. 101 However, Underhill points out that in a post-feminist
world shopping is no longer women’s main entry into public life and
instead of affording them the welcome chance to socialise with other
93 Underhill (n 9 above) 114.
94 Lancaster (n 65 above) 175.
95
Lancaster 202.
96 Josal & Scalabrin (n 90 above) 203.
97 I do not offer a summary of theories of consumption or the critique of mass
consumption and consumerism under commodity capitalism, as this is available in
many sources. For an overview of the most important theories see Miller (n 4
above) 1-8 and R Bocock Consumption (1993). The critique of excessive and
conspicuous consumption in a South African context is naturally pertinent.
98 Bowlby in Fiske (n 8 above) 18.
99 McRobbie (n 16 above) 136.
100
Zukin (n 54 above) 187.
101 Morris (n 8 above) 392.