Dear FEMECON-L'ers & PEN-L'ers:
Natasha Desai is a senior at Vassar College who wishes to pursue research
on the topic she describes below. I would be very appreciative if more
knowledgeable folks than I would pass along any suggestions to her on how
she might proceed.
Ms. Desai writes:
"I would like to study how social change is co-opted or articulated through
advertising and the production of goods and services. For example, high
heels, wonderbras, and memberships to fitness clubs are marketed as
empowerment tools for the new woman who is in charge of herself and
confident with her body. While there is a possibility that a woman wearing
a wonderbra may feel extra confident, women's struggle for power and
respect is just used as a tool to sell her something else. Revolutionary
ideas become fetishized or turned into a symbolic item that can be bought
and sold, commodified. It's already different in the case of the feminine
because of the precondition of objectification; she has been consistently
trained to think of herself as an object and has been used historically to
symbolize the wealth of her husband. So, basically I want to look at how
change or deviance is manipulated back on itself to reassert traditional
cultural and economic values paying particular attention to how different
social groups are manipulated."
Please send any recommendations directly to Ms. Desai whose e-mail is:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Thanks is advance for any and all help!
-Sandy Thompson
_________________________
Alexander M. Thompson III
Professor of Economics &
Dean of Studies
Vassar College Box 5
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
tel: (914) 437-5257
fax: (914) 437-7060
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
