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Markets, Globalization & Development Review

Abstract

The development of a community and culture around reading on the social media platform has afforded women new avenues for empowerment through their earning and spending power. A tool wielded often in this mobile space, Amazon’s Kindle device has reached a new height of popularity thanks to the women in the bookish community of TikTok. This paper employs Anne Friedberg’s concept of the flâneuse in relation to the limitation of women’s empowerment through the commodification and aestheticization of reading on TikTok. It demonstrates how the Kindle has become the locus for a culture of overconsumption through which these women exercise their freedom with consumerism.

Author Bio

Valeria Baltodano is a graduate student in the Media Studies program at The New School in New York City. She received a B.A. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and English Literature at Williams College. Her research interests include the mediation of gendered experiences in literature, film, and social media, as well as how cultural identities are constructed and negotiated through media.

Date Received

December 28, 2024

Date Revised

December 29, 2024

Date Accepted

December 31, 2024

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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