Culture

“Cheers to Babies!”: A Duoethnography Approach to Women and Consumption in a Yummy Mummies

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Abstract

Reality television embodies trendy, yet conventional entertainment facets as jaunt depictions of real-world events uncover varied views of motherhood and gender roles in society (Murray & Ouellette, 2004). The recurrent consumption of such fetishized motherhood imagery impacts consumers’ outlook on life experiences and expectations (Richins, 1995).This abstract explores the consumption of new motherhood on reality television through the researchers vastly different lived experience on the subject. Therefore duoethnography is utilized as a way to examine third-wave feminism and the rejection of the ideal of a shared, collective, experience of women. We dive into the glamorous and uncomfortable world of reality television by choosing to utilize duoethnography and ask, “can a methodology shift the way we, as researchers, see ourselves?” (Schultz & Paisley, 2016, p.142). This methodology will assist us in exploring Yummy Mummies, the Australian reality TV show about wealth, fashion, and motherhood, and how it influences two feminists. Through duoethnography, a few bottles of champagne, along with video and audio recordings, we encounter luxurious motherhood from a safe distance and aim to reflect on layered meanings within our life journey (Shelton & McDermott, 2012).

Keywords: motherhood, Duoethnography

How to Cite:

Frankel, S. & Cuevas, L. M., (2019) ““Cheers to Babies!”: A Duoethnography Approach to Women and Consumption in a Yummy Mummies”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 76(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.8365