Gender Rhetoric for Sale: Ferragni and the Platformization of the Female Body That Crushes Ideologies

Abstract

This article aims to make a contribution to the study of liberal feminism, social media, and influencer culture, especially in the Italian context. The feminism of Chiara Ferragni, Italian fashion influencer with over 29 million followers, is an interesting case study that questions the relations, as well as the interaction, between activism, gender, and influencer culture. Ferragni's body simulacrum, exhibited through numerous social media advertising images, was displayed at Sanremo, a renowned Italian song festival, watched by 12 million people in 2023. At Sanremo, that body carried on the feminist battle through the wearing of manifesto luxury designer dresses together with the reading of a letter addressed to herself, a vector of a rhetorically powerful message that was, however, directed to the single woman rather than to women as a collectivity. This neoliberal discourse is emblematic of the instrumental use of gender issues for self-promotion, which often leads to the dilution of feminist meanings and the trivialization of social movements.