Introduction Chapter 1: Feminism

Сontent

Introduction...................................................................................3

Chapter 1: Feminism.....................................................................6

1.1 Feminism..................................................................................6
1.2Gender........................................................................................6
1.3Self-Help Genre..........................................................................8

Chapter 2: Consumerism..............................................................11

2.1Marketization of Feminism......................................................11
2.2 Self-Help Books as a Billion Dollar Industry..........................12

Chapter 3: Synthesis................ .....................................................13

3.1Spiritualism in Eat, Pray, Love..................................................14

3.2 A Synthesis of Post-Feminism and Consumerism in Eat, Pray,
Love.................................................................................................18

Conclusionn....................................................................................23
References......................................................................................24

Introduction
Economically independent, professionally successful, and desperately in need of a man, this ‘contemporary woman’ is what might be called the tragic heroine of feminism.
(Schrager 176)

The ‘contemporary woman’ of the epigraph is the primary addressee of the billion dollar self-help industry. Given that self-help books are mostly directed towards the female subject, they seem to function as an attempt to “produce a female subject better suited to inhabiting a gender-asymmetrical society than to challenging its political and social basis” (Schrager 176). Fortunately, plenty of literature – mostly written by women – does challenge the political and social basis of this gender-asymmetrical society. In order to investigate how self-help books in fact attempt to produce female subjects well-suited to a gender-asymmetrical society, terms such as gender, feminism and post-feminism need to be subjected to further examination.

These terms are the vital topics that have led to the formation of this thesis. The important debates on gender issues and feminism, as a threat to the patriarchal system in which we live, affect all of us. Literature is key because it can heavily influence people’s perceptions of matters such as gender and gendered roles, and this influence can have a variety of negative outcomes. The self-help genre has led to the emergence of an enormous industry, because this type of literature offers “recovery through reading,” whilst simultaneously upholding conventional gender roles (Schrager 177). Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiographical Eat, Pray, Love (2006), attempts to do the same, and this thesis aspires to re-evaluate the definitions of post-feminism and gender binaries, with the purpose of describing the problematic aspects of Eat, Pray, Love in light of female consumerism. Worth mentioning is that Gilbert’s journey was funded by her publisher, as she sold the rights to the book before the actual journey started.
This study’s main focus will be on Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, and how Gilbert employs ideas of post-feminism and gender. Simultaneously, this study will provide an examination of how Gilbert uses the concept of female empowerment, in order to stimulate female consumerism. In light of this observation, it will be necessary to consider the effects of the EPL brand, and how it functions as a marketing machine, demonstrating the different ways in which Eat, Pray, Love has commercialized female empowerment. The three primary themes of this study will be ‘feminism’, ‘consumerism’, and ultimately a synthesis of the two in ‘female consumerism’. This thesis will therefore foreground the dangerous alliance between post-feminism and spiritual consumerism in Eat, Pray, Love. By providing a detailed description of these terms, and by performing a close-reading of several passages in the text, this thesis will also aim to validate the claim that this alliance indeed exists and commodifies a particular version of feminism, with the goal of achieving financial success. This thesis will likewise provide examination of Eat, Pray, Love from within a theoretical framework, by referring to several critical sources.

Chapter one will contain a study of feminism and gender, and Joan W. Scott’s definition of gender as provided in “Gender - A Useful Category of Historical Analysis” will serve as the groundwork from which this thesis will be elaborated. Furthermore, the development of feminism will be explored, and a concise history of self-help books will be provided. This is necessary in order to illustrate how self-help books impact readers’ perceptions of gender and whether, in fact, these books do encourage women to resist traditional gender expectations.

The final chapter of this thesis will focus on passages from Eat, Pray, Love, in order to investigate how Gilbert addresses female empowerment, how she illustrates her own empowerment, and how this ties in with the idea that self-help books promote the opposite of what they claim to promote, namely, the dependence of women. Alongside some background information on the EPL brand, and how it evidently demonstrates that the book Eat, Pray, Love has developed into an enormous merchandizing empire, advocating ‘spiritual enlightenment’ and female empowerment through the consumption of the many different products that this brand offers women.
Ruth Williams’ “Eat, Pray, Love: Producing the Female Neoliberal Spiritual Subject,” among other texts, will provide an illustration of how the EPL brand has commercialized female empowerment. Williams states:
I will investigate the ways in which Eat, Pray, Love explicitly targets women. By building on examples from Williams’ work, I will explain how EPL reiterates traditional gender performances in connection with consumerism. How did Eat, Pray, Love and its brand EPL manage to garner such immense popularity? According to Williams, “in the case of EPL, it is Elizabeth Gilbert’s life that is presented as both transformed and seemingly saved,” and it is precisely this transformation that has triggered many women across the globe to buy her book and follow in her footsteps – if their finances allow it – and for the women who cannot finance this, the brand EPL offers many products “sharing in Gilbert’s journey of self-discovery not with critical reflection on the self and society, but with ‘spiritual’ consumption” (614). In other words: “one need not travel the globe to achieve Gilbert’s enlightenment,” the brand allows readers to “buy a piece of Gilbert’s spiritual journey” (615).
In what possible way, after these elaborate claims, could Eat, Pray, Love still be considered a spiritual journey? In what ways are consumerism and independence connected? And how does the idea of traveling abroad, preferably to ‘spiritual’ countries such as India, help women to challenge conventional gender roles? This section will be linked to passages from Eat, Pray, Love in order to connect it to Gilbert’s notions of female empowerment. As the EPL brand clearly illustrates, Gilbert’s spiritual journey is nothing more than a “consumption-based shortcut” to so called empowerment. Hence, the final chapter of this thesis will synthesize the terms post-feminism and consumerism, thereby transcending the ideas provided in the initial two chapters.