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The Gendered Rhetoric of Product Design: Why Are You Over Paying for Your Gender?

This thesis identifies the price inconstancies between male and female consumer personal care products, such as razors and deodorants. Economic research suggests consumers purchase products based on their willingness to pay, which depends upon satisfaction granted from the product. If this is true, the question must be asked: what grants these consumers high satisfaction from product purchasing? To answer this question, this thesis investigates the rhetorical effect that stems from product design. Using a rhetorical criticism technique, I analyze how product design allows consumers to project their gender identity. I assert that consumers are interpellated to choose products based on their gender. Once this interpellation takes place, a constitutive rhetoric formed by the product’s design already assumes the consumer’s wants by embedding masculine or feminine ideologies. The analysis shows product design perpetuates clear gender dichotomy and fortifies the belief of gender binaries. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_41379
ContributorsMcGinley, Shannon Rose (author), Mulvaney, Becky (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, School of Communication and Multimedia Studies
PublisherFlorida Atlantic University
Source SetsFlorida Atlantic University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text
Format134 p., application/pdf
RightsCopyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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