| dc.description.abstract | The effects of the cult of domesticity, which have been fought against since the first suffragette movements, have permeated the history of the culture of the United States. In what follows, I will examine the ways the cult of true womanhood influences the media's treatment of women in the twenty-first century, and how this oppression of women, particularly oppression of women of color, has been furthered by these outlets. To do this analysis, I will use Pinterest, blogs, and books picked for book clubs.Barbara Welter's famous article from 1966, "The Cult of True Womanhood: 1820-1860" details the rise of the cult of domesticity and gender performativity in the United States. Welter asserted that in order to have worth in American society as a woman, one must adhere to the duties of the Bible, which for many involved marriage and bearing children. Although marriage was not the only option, it was a woman's duty to have a higher purpose to uphold society the way it was constructed; if not as a wife, then a woman would help the less fortunate and the children. This meant women would do the work related to the social construct of the home, so men could continue to run society's business dealings. Much of the literature/media of the day pertaining to women was centered around upholding these gender, spiritual, and familial roles.It should be noted that Welter's explanation of the cult of domesticity and gender performativity specifically pertains to White, mostly middle- to upper-class women who were practicing or claiming to be Protestants, but that does not mean its influence did not affect women of other intersectionalities in America. Welter's article, though discussing a cultural phenomenon which in many ways led to first wave feminism in the United States, was written during the height of second wave feminism. Shari Kendall and Deborah Tannen in their chapter "Discourse and Gender" from The Handbook of Discourse Analysis explore how research has shown that America's use of language/discourse affects gender performativity and maintains normative patriarchal hierarchy in society, from the time of second-wave feminism to fourth wave feminism and postfeminism. This gender performative discourse is learned from childhood, and again, seems to be characteristic of White, middle-class Americans more than Americans of color and/or working classes. This study seeks to examine how the cult of domesticity and gender performativity continues to influence the lives of American women of all intersectionalities through social media, lifestyle blogs, and popular literature studied in book clubs, and how it particularly has a negative impact on women of color and women of lower socioeconomic status.To study this phenomenon, I will first examine the ways in which social media sites such as Pinterest portray the ideal "woman who has it all": a job, a family, and a social life. I will focus on how these sites reinforce the gender performativity of being a healthy woman, a mother, and a wife even with a career and relationships outside the family. Furthermore, I will investigate how Pinterest reinforces the cult of true womanhood to the detriment of women of all races and classes, because the "woman who has it all" stereotype is typically a White, middle-class wife and mother with a career. To do this, I will use a new Pinterest account with no prior search history to search for ideas related to health, motherhood, careers, and womanhood. I will then argue how these search results confirm how Pinterest, despite empowering many women to chase their health, career, hobby, and motherhood goals, often ignores the reality of women of color and lower socioeconomic status, thus promoting a new form of the cult of true womanhood: the woman who is the perfect career woman, wife, and mother.In Chapter Two, I will highlight how many lifestyle blogs written by Americans, while on the surface may appear to be supporting the ideas of postfeminism, often demonstrate there is still a need for feminism within their posts about being a mother, wife, and/or career woman. To find blogs to analyze, I will utilize three blogs I discovered within my Pinterest results for Chapter One that were made by Americans, regardless of gender, and cover different topics. I will then analyze three posts from each blog based on a) whether or not the creator wrote them and b) a theme related to how the blog was found on Pinterest and/or a theme related to the cult of domesticity. These analyses will aid me in emphasizing how the "ideal" woman for American society has shifted from a woman who takes care of her husband, children, and the household to a woman who maintains her own physical and mental health, has a career, and takes care of her husband, household, and children. Finally, I will explore in Chapter Three what impact book clubs have on gender performativity of American women, particularly those who have careers and children. I will utilize previous research on women's book clubs and analyze book clubs which are meeting or have met online within the past five years. I will then assert that these book clubs, while allowing women to express themselves creatively and/or intellectually outside of their career and their family, also reinforce the idea that a) women can "have it all" and b) still uphold the gender roles of the patriarchy. For control purposes, I looked at the book picks of two all-women's clubs, two all-men's clubs, and two book clubs open to everyone and analyzed their results based on the year 2021 unless otherwise necessary. Just like Pinterest and blogs from working mothers, these book clubs are important in empowering women to network among themselves and reclaim the importance of domestic work, but they also tend to leave behind women of color and/or women of lower socioeconomic status due to lack of time and financial resources, as well as lack of shared experience. As a result, those of intersectionalities besides White, middle- to upper-class married women feel as if a sort of "double standard" is placed upon them when it comes to gender performativity in America, thus furthering the need for feminism in the United States and beyond.The research done in this study affirms gender performativity in American media negatively influences women, especially women of color and of lower socioeconomic status. These findings suggest that Americans are attempting to dissolve the binary between men and women through giving women more opportunities to be successful outside of the home. However, these opportunities, rather than dissolving the binary and making women equitable to men in American society, put more pressure on women by mixing the "new" expectations of being a financial provider of the family with the "old" expectations of tending the household. Further research is needed on how gender performativity in media like Pinterest, blogs, and books studied in book clubs affects women of all intersectionalities, particularly women of the LGBTQ community. | en_US |
