UWS Academic Portal Beyond the dolls house? Barbie entrepreneur dolls and the commodification, fetishisation and consumption of idealised, gendered entrepreneurial identity Smith, Robert; Nadin, Sara; Jones, Sally Published in: Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal DOI: 10.1108/QMR-01-2017-0035 Published: 11/11/2019 Document Version Peer reviewed version Link to publication on the UWS Academic Portal Citation for published version (APA): Smith, R., Nadin, S., & Jones, S. (2019). Beyond the dolls house? Barbie entrepreneur dolls and the commodification, fetishisation and consumption of idealised, gendered entrepreneurial identity. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 22(5), 745-765. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-01-2017-0035 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UWS Academic Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29 Sep 2021 Emerald Open Access Policy: "As soon as we've published an article, the version of the article that has been accepted for publication, the Author Accepted Manuscript (AAM) can be used for a variety of non-commercial scholarly purposes, subject to full attribution." http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/openaccess/oa_policies.htm Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal Qualitative Market Research Beyond the Dolls House? Barbie entrepreneur dolls and the commodification, fetishisation and consumption of idealized, gendered entrepreneurial identity Journal: Qualitative Market Research Manuscript ID QMR-01-2017-0035.R3 Manuscript Type: Research Paper Gendered entrepreneurial Identity, Fetishism, Sexism, Barbie entrepreneur Keywords: dolls Page 1 of 39 Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal 1 2 3 Beyond the Dolls House? Barbie entrepreneur dolls and the 4 5 commodification, fetishisation and consumption of idealised, gendered 6 entrepreneurial identity 7 8 9 10 Abstract 11 Qualitative Market Research 12 Purpose: This article examines the concepts of gendered, entrepreneurial identity and 13 fetishism through an analysis of images of Barbie entrepreneur. It draws on the literatures 14 15 of entrepreneurial identity and fetishism to examine how such identity is socially 16 constructed from childhood and how exposure to such dolls can shape and influence 17 perceptions of entrepreneurial identity. 18 19 Design/Methodology/Approach: Using semiotic analysis we conduct a visual analysis 20 of the Barbie to make observations and inferences on gendered entrepreneurial identity 21 22 and fetishism from the dolls and artefacts. 23 24 Findings: The gendered images of Barbie dolls were influenced by societal perceptions 25 of what an entrepreneur should look like, reflecting the fetishisation of entrepreneurship, 26 especially for women. Mirroring and exaggerating gendered perceptions, the dolls 27 express hyper-femininity reflected in both the physical embodiment of the doll as well as 28 their adornments / accessories. This includes handbags, high-heeled shoes, short skirts, 29 30 haute-couture and designer clothes. Such items and the dolls themselves become 31 fetishised objects, making context and culture of vital importance. 32 33 Research Implications/Limitations: There are positive and negative implications in 34 relation to how we might, as a society, present unrealistic gendered images and role 35 models of entrepreneurship to children. The obvious limitation is that the methodology 36 limits what can be said or understood, albeit the imagery mirrors socially constructed 37 38 reality for the context examined. 39 40 Originality/Value: This is original research in that no previous published studies have 41 tackled gendered entrepreneurial identity in relation to fetishism. The value of the work 42 lies in discussing the concepts and embeds them in the expanding conversation 43 44 surrounding gendered entrepreneurial identities. 45 46 47 48 Introduction 49 50 In her seminal book, Angela Holdsworth (1998) made a call for women to come ‘out of 51 52 the doll’s house’. We read this as a call for women to escape from the trappings of 53 54 55 patriarchal domestication and sexism. We consider that Holdsworth’s call is still 56 57 58 1 59 60 Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal Page 2 of 39 1 2 3 significant, because despite the passing of time it could be argued that little has changed 4 5 6 since then in relation to how women, and particularly women entrepreneurs, are depicted 7 8 in the media. In this provocative article, using Barbie as a visual metaphor (Koller, 2004) 9 10 for gendered feminine entrepreneurial identity, we consider how the iconic ‘Barbie’ Doll 11 Qualitative Market Research 12 has moved beyond the Doll’s House as a commodified, but arguably fetishised and 13 14 15 consumed gendered, entrepreneurial identity to become a creditable role model for young 16 17 girls aspiring to entrepreneurial careers. Koller (2004) highlighted the abundance of 18 19 masculinised metaphor which skew the business media discourse. Although, Barbie is 20 21 22 seemingly ‘just’ a toy, there is potential to influence, and thus shape, societal perceptions 23 24 of such identities and perpetuate potentially damaging stereotypical representations. To 25 26 illustrate this, we examine (through a scholarly gaze) the contentious ideological and 27 28 29 philosophical relationships between ‘Barbie’ as a plasticised example of feminism, and 30 31 fetishism through the rubric of a consumed entrepreneurial identity, as marketed by 32 33 Mattel. We explore the concept of ‘emphasised femininity’ (Connell, 2005) as a foil for 34 35 the concept of ‘hegemonic masculinity’ (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) which shapes 36 37 1 38 masculine notions and pervades entrepreneurial identity. In an anthropological sense, the 39 40 dolls visually represent ideal typical, secular reified formulaic images of revered 41 42 entrepreneurial identities arguably imbued with mystical qualities (as man-made objects 43 44 45 with power over others). In this article we apply the theory and literature of fetishism 46 47 sparingly, because the article is not so much about fetishism per se, but about how 48 49 entrepreneurial identity can be fetishised and consumed. 50 51 52 We also build on the broader utilisation of visual research in gender studies and on 53 54 Barbie as a representation of complex female entrepreneurial identity (Pritchard et al, 55 56 57 58 2 59 60 Page 3 of 39 Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal 1 2 3 2016) expressive of “excessive entrepreneurial femininity” (Lewis, 2014:1858). In the 4 5 6 process, we examine fetishism, and sexual objectification (Saguy et al. 2010) facilitated 7 8 via social constructionism and its links to gendered consumer stereotyping (Campenni, 9 10 1999). We adopt a gendered lens (Bem, 1993), focusing attention on gender differences 11 Qualitative Market Research 12 and identity aspects by applying concepts from feminist studies and female 13 14 15 entrepreneurship (Rouse et al, 2013) to study the social construction of fetishism 16 17 associated with Barbie (Bignell, 1999) and the gendered consumer stereotyping this 18 19 reflects and perpetuates. We also address issues of ‘realness’ (Holter, 2003) associated 20 21 22 with hegemonic concepts, which draw their power from the direct experience of women 23 24 rather than from the structural basis of their subordination. In the process, we make a 25 26 clear contribution by synthesising the relevant literatures of gendered entrepreneurial 27 28 29 identity, feminism and fetishism to build on the salient ideological arguments of both. 30 31 Prior to this paper we are not aware of any other(s) which combine arguments from the 32 33 fields of entrepreneurship, marketing and fetishism. In the separate literatures the 34 35 arguments remain unconnected. We join theories concepts and arguments across the 36 37 38 disparate literatures and conduct an analysis of images associated with Barbie 39 40 entrepreneur dolls to provide empirical evidence. 41 42 43 44 The ontogenesis of this work began during a conference presentation in 2012, when 45 46 the lead author was presenting a paper on female entrepreneurial identity (See Smith, 47 48 2012/2014), including slides of Barbie entrepreneur dolls and a fetishised image of a pair 49 50 of red high-heeled shoes, from the cover of a textbook on women in business. Both 51 52 53 images caused controversy and patently split the mainly female audience in terms of their 54 55 reaction. Half of the female attendees approved but others disapproved volubly, and it 56 57 58 3 59 60 Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal Page 4 of 39 1 2 3 was apparent that this presentation had struck a nerve. This engendered debate on aspects 4 5 6 of the fetishism of female entrepreneurial identity and ‘emphasised femininity’ (Connell, 7 8 2005), which was duly tweeted. After the lecture the lead author was approached by two 9 10 female scholars who had not been at the presentation but were nevertheless disparaging 11 Qualitative Market Research 12 in their comments. One remarked “Did you really present an image of Barbie?”, before