Construction of non-binary gender identities through beauty work practices in celebrity culture
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2025
Department
Markkinoinnin laitos
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Marketing
Language
en
Pages
49+1
Series
Abstract
Although non-binary people have started becoming increasingly visible during the past decade, they have almost always existed. Despite this, there is a clear lack of understanding of non-binary identity work in marketing and consumer research. Appearances and looks are oftentimes key in discovering a gender identity defying the traditional gender binary. It was found that non-binary individuals often discover their identity through gender non-conforming beauty work, and also express themselves through gender-affirming beauty work. Gender is usually affirmed by three main categories of bodily practices - body shaping, body fashioning, and body transformation through surgery and body modifications. Often, these bodily practices are performed in a gender non-confoming way, although non-binary does not necessarily indicate being gender non-conforming. These practices were also found to enable negotiating authenticity, act as a means for more self-congruence, ease body dysmorphia and provide armor through clothing and body fashioning. This paper aims to expand current beauty work related consumer research by challenging the current, binary framing of beauty, and demonstrate the intersectional nature of beauty work. It also aims to deepen our current understanding of consumer identity projects and consumer culture theory by applying beauty work also in the context of non-binary celebrities expressing their gender identities through performative beauty work. As more personal narratives and identities from various backgrounds are increasingly commercialized and individuals often aspire to emulate celebrity lifestyles or values, studying celebrity culture is helpful for studying concepts such as democratization, diversification, and migration in culture. Studying non-binary celebrities’ beauty work illuminates how bodily practices contribute to broader topics regarding identity narratives and cultural ideals.Description
Thesis advisor
Mikkonen, IlonaKeywords
non-binary gender, beauty work, celebrity culture, identity work, bodily practices, practice theory, non-binary celebrities, non-binary identity