The essay, “Gender and the Commodification of Community” by Leslie
Regan Shade makes me want to go off on a rant of sorts. However, with the information obtained
within the essay, the rant can be focused, or at least drawn into the bumpers
of bowling lane. I am reflective,
as my annotated bibliography and proposal are set on many blogs, websites,
Pinterest Boards, and You Tube videos made for girls/women for
girls/women. The sites I chose to
focus on feature the low arts and DIY projects. Both Women.com and gURL.com are examples of the ways in
which females given an opportunity to speak out are silenced. The silencing happens by way of the
shining and blinking of things they should buy.
While searching on www.theknot.com,
for easy DIY centerpiece projects for a vow renewal I was taken to Wedding Bee
and Pinterest. Beautiful,
supposedly easy and low cost weddings are posted on these sites, as reference
for the way one may want to design their own DIY wedding. These sites, as mentioned by Shade, are
the act of “embracing white middle-class heteronormativity” (Shade 226). Décor topics such as, “Mexican,” or “Moroccan,”
are seen as dress-up themes, similar to movie theme, or vintage theme. Little attention is paid to the
knowledge that the “Mexican,” novelties shown on idea boards are a way of life
and reality for a Mexican bride in Mexico. Drinks, such as Jarritos, are actually purchased in stores
and not ordered by the case online on eBay. The need also, to “spend money in order to achieve domestic
bliss” (Shade 226) is also prominent on these websites.
It became evident to me that DIY doesn’t mean affordable. The wedding I chose to emulate, because
of easy DIY tissue paper pom-poms and catchy dessert table ended up being the
wedding of the daughter of actress Mary Steenburgen and actor, Ten Danson. The act of creation was by choice for
this bride, not necessity. The
beautiful, DIY desserts at the dessert bar ended up being catered desserts by a
well-known Martha’s Vineyard caterer.
These “communities,” on the positive side, are spaces for sharing. However, these spaces are also spaces
for consuming, especially when the DIY budget matches the budget a bride or a
woman renewing her vows (to a male) would have if she wanted to hire someone to
create a theme for her.
I really like the personal example you provide of the DIY wedding, as you highlight the idea that DIY doesn't equate to affordability and your discussion of how DIY culture portrayed on sites like Wedding Bee and Pinterest becomes part of a heternormative white middle-class culture that often embraces the novelty, or marginal position of "other" cultures through their wedding themes.
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