“I Like it Clean”: Brazilian Waxing and Postfeminist Subjectivity Among South Asian Beauticians in London

Abstract

Postfeminism is a neoliberal sensibility that locates femininity in the body, thereby imploring women to constantly labor on, monitor and discipline their bodies. This aesthetic labor is presented to women as freely chosen and empowering. Brazilian waxing is exemplary aesthetic labor directed at the self. Academic literature on aesthetic labor in general, and Brazilian waxing in particular, looks at white and middle-class women, as this category of women is considered the putative subject of postfeminism. Little attention is paid to racialized women from the global south who perform aesthetic labor on other women’s bodies in the global north. In this paper, I draw on my ethnographic study of two beauty salons in London run by South Asian women to argue that these South Asian beauticians are postfeminist subjects as well. The aim of challenging the putative subject of postfeminism, using the example of Brazilian waxing, is not merely to include South Asian women in the discourse, but to advance a transnational theorization of postfeminism. Such theorization, I demonstrate, leads to a better understanding of how postfeminism is implicated in global structures of power as well as the affective qualities of postfeminism including intimacy and disgust.

Postfeminism, consumption and activewear: Examining women consumers’ relationship with the postfeminine ideal

“…These frameworks provide a way to think about how popular culture, capitalism, and the media work to commodify feminist ideals through the figure of the woman as the empowered consumer. Consumption becomes a practice of the self where women are ‘required to constantly labour on and transform [themselves] through the consumption of products and services’ (Dutta, 2021: 2). Thus, many scholars analysing the beauty and fitness industries have drawn upon postfeminism and neoliberalism to analyse how companies are using ideas of self-transformation, individuality, and choice to gain profit (Dutta, 2021; Drake and Radford, 2021; Elias et al, 2017; Heywood, 2007; Prins and Wellman, 2021).…”

“…Scholars interested in consumption and popular culture have also questioned the ways in which postfeminism and neoliberalism have perpetuated a singular ideal of femininity resulting in class, age, and racial exclusions (Butler, 2013; Dutta, 2021; Gill, 2007; McRobbie, 2020). Postfeminism and neoliberalism are premised on an ideology that purports gender equality has been achieved as evidenced by the endless choices for women.…”

“…Thus, the postfeminist-neoliberal subject is embedded within systems of privilege excluding those that may face discrimination based on race/ethnicity, sexuality, age, or class. Hence, primarily the postfeminist subject is one that is white, young, cisgender, and embodies heterosexuality (Dutta, 2021; Gill, 2007; McRobbie, 2020).…”