investigation into the representation of women on ‘intimate wellness’ websites

Abstract

‘Intimate wellness’ is an offshoot of the wellness industry in which brands promote products to women for the practice of vulval and vaginal self-care. This niche, but growing, consumer category is worthy of feminist research as it is concerned with health, beauty and the contemporary trend of destigmatising female genitalia. This research explores the representation of women in a corpus of intimate wellness websites by examining the agency and associated processes of the participants. It identifies the coexistence of conflicting discourses: essentialist feminism, neoliberal postfeminism and patriarchal tradition. Through new concepts, termed ‘assisted agency’ and ‘assisted processes’, this study illuminates the represented relationship between female consumers and female brand personae. Ultimately, it finds that these websites represent women as (potentially) agentful but not autonomous, constructing the idea that female empowerment is contingent on consumption.