|The Journal for MultiMediaHistory Volume 1 Number 1 ~ Fall 1998
Editor's Note: This is the electronic text of the annual Phi
alpha Theta lecture delivered by Professor Kathy L. Peiss at the
University at Albany, State University of New York, on March 26,
1998. Click on bold numbers in the text to follow links to
footnotes. Use the "back" button on your browser to return to
the main text. A bibliographic note can be found at the end of
the text. Click here to return to Real Audio sound files of the
lecture.In 1929, home economist and marketing expert Christine
Frederick published Selling Mrs. Consumer, a popular book that
schooled manufacturers and advertisers in the art of pitching
products to American women. Seventy years later, consumer
culture is part of the air we breathe, and women’s role as
consumer seems almost a natural onea role captured in the
phrase, "born to shop." Even in this age of market segmentation,
when men are addressed as style-conscious buyers, the
association of femininity and consumpt