Abstract
ABSTRACT Multilevel marketing companies (MLMs) traditionally recruited participants using stereotypical gender roles. Today, MLMs use websites and social media to recruit women by offering opportunities for them to become “boss babes” and “momtrepreneurs.” They capitalize on family responsibilities and some women’s desires to be a mother. Moreover, race, ethnicity, and class are essential to women’s MLM participation and require consideration. The author conducted a qualitative case study to examine this topic, analyzing 34 online success stories or personal testimonies of one cosmetic and skincare MLM. Using the interactionist perspective, the author argues that the featured stories construct images of ideal women who love and care for their children, reinforcing their identities as mothers. Textually constructed for recruitment, these online success narratives link women’s ability to mother to this MLM. Unlike previous studies, stories include infertility and adoption and the relevance of race and class in the recruiting process. Finally, the author contends that this MLM leverages postfeminist and white hegemonic ideologies, displaying the deceiving experiences of women and mothers for profit.
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