Zoella’s website is one whose target audience can confidently said to be aimed towards women, but how exactly is it we know this? Judith Butler's explanation is that this is through the website’s various topics and layout which forms an identity of women. The website’s use of female traits seen as 'conventional' are used as topic discussions. This is content such as beauty and style which Butler would argue are ‘expressions’ that contributes to the overall idea of the identity of a woman.
Venturing into the beauty section of Zoella’s website instantly highlights the blogger’s belief of the importance of appearances. One core aspect of Butler’s theory is that there are no gender identity behind the expression of gender. Thoughit can be argued that Zoella’s website directly challenges this. ‘The cream and liquid beauty to keep your summer glow alive’ is one article that is an example of how Zoella’s use of female only influencers do in fact have a ‘gender identity’ attached.
Images from the article:
As we see from the models above, all promote the ideology of how beauty is important for women but also that it is ONLY for women. Regardless of whether people see make-up as a female trait or see it as genderfluid, Zoella’s constant repetition of female models push towards this created gender identity. This links also into Butler’s point of performativity being a repetition rather than a singular act. The constant images of only women using or holding these ‘self-care’ items reinforce the more female natured idea of beauty.
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