The Meaning of the Feminist T-Shirt: Social Media, Postmodern Aesthetics, and the Potential for Sociopolitical Change

Trine Kvidal-Røvik

doi:10.17645/mac.v6i2.1302

Abstract

This article examines the potential for political or social change as part of postmodern cultural expression in consumer culture. Throughout the article, I discuss the way sociopolitical messages, circulating in contemporary culture, represent an interesting element in terms of their intertextual referencing and postmodern blurring. Postmodern aesthetic features merge commodifying, resistive, and identifying processes, which can enable sociopolitical messages to spread into new arenas of resistance and fly under the radar, so to speak. In particular, I claim that new forms of engagement in social media communication produce an alternative venue for politics—one created by neoliberalism itself. I explain that sociopolitical messages presented via postmodern aesthetics in consumer culture, particularly when circulated using social media, <em>can</em> function counter-hegemonically, even while using hegemonic structures to gain commercial success. With this, the potential for change can come about; power lies in the hands (or social media accounts) of consumers.&lt;

Highlights

As I travelled to Umeå, Sweden, my suitcase decided to make an extra layover stop in Stockholm
The article speaks to an interest in the potential for political or social change as part of postmodern cultural expression in consumer culture, yet it brings in another especially interesting dimension, namely, developments in media— social media—and what these developments might mean in terms of the possibility of social and political change
Understanding this calls for critics who are interested in sociopolitical resistance in contemporary culture to look beyond what is printed on the front of a fashion T-shirt and think about how it circulates in consumer culture

Summary

Introduction

As I travelled to Umeå, Sweden, my suitcase decided to make an extra layover stop in Stockholm. While doing so, I “met” several current and previous colleagues who at some point in time had “liked” the page This slightly elaborate introduction, related to a fashion T-shirt decorated with a sociopolitical message, shows how a shirt’s message can be intertwined in intertextual links and references—its message traveling through traditional and new media, via likes/dislikes and sharing, circulating in ways and with speeds that warrant attention from critics. I engage with the issue of what it means, in terms of the possibility of sociopolitical change, when a product looks like a fashion item but presents a sociopolitical statement, which circulates in consumer culture, lubricated by social media opportunities. Feminist T-shirt messages in the context of department stores, TEDx talks, books, magazines, social media, online shopping, and fashion runways, represent something interesting in terms of their intertextual referencing and postmodern blurring. The article speaks to an interest in the potential for political or social change as part of postmodern cultural expression in consumer culture, yet it brings in another especially interesting dimension, namely, developments in media— social media—and what these developments might mean in terms of the possibility of social and political change

Critical Cultural Perspectives on Consumption and Change

Complicating the Understanding of Consumption

Postmodern Aesthetics

New Media―New Opportunities?

Conclusions