The Commodification of the Body in
Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic and
Alberthiene Endah’s Cewek Matre
Jenny Mochtar (jennymd@peter.petra.ac.id)
Petra Christian University
The popularity of chick literature in Britain and U.S. has influenced some Indonesian
female writers to write in this genre. One prolific Indonesian chick lit writer is Alberthiene
Endah, who has published five novels in the period of two years. Her second chick lit, Cewek
Matre (Materialistic Girl), published in 2004 is very much similar to Confessions of a
Shopaholic (2000), which narrates on a single young woman’s obsession for shopping. Both
female characters, Becky in Confessions of a Shopaholic and Lola in Cewek Matre are
obsessed with shopping and lifestyles that they cannot afford. Most of the things they buy are
intended for body adornment, which is very much related to their self-esteem in the social and
professional circles they want to belong to. They believe that all the things they buy are
essential weapons to raise their market value. At the same time they also treat the men as
commodities in how they liken the men as commodities to choose from. In this paper, I would
like to show that the shopping activities done by Becky and Lola, go beyond just consuming
commodities such as cosmetics, fashion or lifestyles because “[e]verything can become a
commodity”, including “all social relations, activities and objects [that] can in principle be
exchanged as commodities” (Slater, 1997, p. 27). Thus, in these two novels, the bodies are
treated as one of the commodities in a consumer culture that can be “bought and sold” with
specific values attached to them by the cultures that share the values.
The body as a commodity in a consumer culture is not just “a neutral frame over which we
drape the clothes”, but “invested with cultural meanings . . . The body we are aware of, as
human subjects, is ‘an imaginary body’ imagined and experienced through the eyes and minds
of our culture, and hence inseparable from the meanings and values with which it is endowed”
(Crisp, 2000, p. 48). This means that the body is not a body in isolation exclusively possessed
by its owner, but the body that is displayed in public spaces to be judged according to the
norms and values shared. In this sense, the body is a bearer of cultural practices which Bordo
(2003, p. 16) depicts as the “ “politics of the body” . . . the material body as a site of political
struggle . . . focusing on the “direct grip” that culture has on our bodies, through the practices
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and bodily habits of everyday life.” This “direct grip” of culture on the bodies causes the body
to immerse in cultural meanings and practices that regulate and limit the body with a series of
do’s and don’ts; therefore, the body can become and be used as the site of struggle of various
ideologies for power. When the body is put in the context of consumer culture, the body also
becomes the site of struggle between the ideology of consumerism and other ideologies that
challenge or negotiate.
In a consumer culture, the body is “proclaimed as a vehicle of pleasure and self
expression. Images of the body beautiful, openly sexual and associated with hedonism, leisure
and display, emphasizes the importance of appearance and the ‘look’. . . . [for] more
marketable self” (Featherstone, 1982, p. 170-1). The market value is based on certain qualities
that “the closer the actual body approximates to the images of youth, health, fitness and beauty
the higher its exchange-value” (p. 177). The body in this sense cannot escape from the images
invested to it by culture and the images are not value free. These images promote or demote
the value of the body based on the presence or absence of certain images that are deemed
worthy. The presence of certain images like youth, health, fitness and beauty in the context of
consumer culture, will automatically raise the exchange value of the body. In line with this is
Bourdieu’s theory of ‘body capital’1, that certain physical assets can function as capital to be
exchanged for profits. Therefore, a lot of efforts are made to improve physical appearance to
conform to the idolized images of the body (1984, p. 201-8). Shilling (1997, p. 88-92) explains
this concept further by giving examples on how the body is a form of physical capital that can
be converted into other forms of capital such as economic, cultural and social capital.
From a postmodern perspective, class is not a determiner of one’s status in a consumer
culture.
Self and the presentation of self become dependent on style and fashion rather than on
fixed symbols of class or hierarchal status. Urban space becomes a competitive arena
for presentational conflicts based on commercialized fashions and lifestyles. There is a
sense in which the self becomes a commodity with an appropriate package, because we
no longer define ourselves exclusively in terms of blood or breeding (Turner, 1984, p.
122)
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The efforts are considered as investments to gain higher profits and are defined in term of class in which the
women of the middle class has more awareness in improving their physical appearance compared to the women
of the working class. The symbolic consumption is a tool for distinction in the struggle for domination of
different classes that impose their taste on others to legitimate their taste. What one consumes is based on one’s
group habitus, whereas a postmodern perspective detaches consumption from class, arguing that in modern
consumption, everybody, regardless of class, can choose to consume whatever they want as long as they have the
means.
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Consumption of commodities should be alienated from class because “anyone can be anyoneas long as they have the means to participate in consumption” and they can choose and
construct their identities based on what they consume (Jagger, 2000, p. 51-2). Slater (1997)
explains that consumption in a consumer culture is an insatiable consumption for commodities
that bespeak of the social position and identity of the consumer in their exercise of power. We
become what we consume because in consuming we also says who we are, our taste, values
and social membership (p. 4). Consumption in this sense becomes more than just consuming
goods for its function or use-value, because attached to the goods is the cultural-value or signvalue. The consumer, then, has the power to construct the identity she wants to assume
utilizing the wide range of commodities that are loaded with this sign-value. So, basically
what is consumed is more of the sign-value of a commodity rather than its use-value. In the act
of consuming, the consumer is not just passive dupe buying whatever is offered in the market,
because there is the process of active choosing of goods that is best suited to the consumers’
taste. The consumer is an active agent as she has the power to choose. The insatiable
consumption for commodities that can radiate the image of beauty, health, fitness and youth,
become a necessary deed to always to ensure a high exchange-value. The concept of the body
referred in this paper is the public body in a consumer culture, which is commodified in the
form of convertible physical capital, free from class boundaries and which welcomes anyone
with means. Using this concept, I will explore the ways the bodies are commodified, focusing
mainly on the main female characters in the two novels as they participate in the game of
consumption.

Competing in the Market
It is necessary for whoever wants to gain high exchange value for any commodity
offered to the market, be able to compete with other similar commodities. As it is the body,
which is offered as a commodity, it means that it is the body, which is closer to the qualities
deemed valuable in a social hierarchy that will gain higher exchange value. The farther the
body is from the desired qualities, the lower is its exchange value. So, to be able to be in a
high social hierarchy, one has to possess the valuable qualities. In these two novels, the
qualities that have high value are beauty, youth, taste, the knowledge for and the means to
afford designer fashion and branded stuffs. In both novels, the main female characters are
described as young women with limited means because of their not very promising positions
in their career, but they have the expert taste and knowledge for fashion and branded stuffs.
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Around them are women who share their taste and knowledge and have the means to afford
the lifestyle. The ideology of a consumer culture is that it marginalizes those without means or
enough funds to join in the celebration of consumption and encourages credit under the pretext
of empowering them to be at the center of the culture of consumption.
In Confessions of a Shopaholic, Becky shops with her credit cards and sometimes cannot
even pay the minimum charges, thus she has a mounting debts. Her job as a financial
journalist for Successful Saving magazine becomes an irony; as a person who is taken as an
expert in money saving and investment is in serious debt. Mostly she cannot afford the
designer fashions that mark a person’s stature in her circles and she feels marginalizes by the
power of the other women who have the ability to afford these stuffs. It causes her to be in low
self-esteem and to envy and admire these other women.
They’re all the same, the girls at Brandon C, as they call it. They are well dressed, well
spoken, are married to bankers, and have zero sense of humor. Alicia falls into the
identikit pattern exactly, with her babybaby-blue shoes, which I’ve seen in Russell and Bromley, and they cost an absolute
fortune. (I bet she’s got the bag as well.) She’s also got a suntan, which must mean
she’s just come back from Mauritius or somewhere, and suddenly I feel a bit pale and
weedy in comparison (Shopaholic, p.19).
The feeling that is evoked is very upsetting when facing another woman whose body is
adorned with exactly the things Becky cannot afford. Reminded of her lack, Becky has mixed
feelings toward Alicia. There is admiration for Alicia’s success in her career and marriage, and
is envious that she cannot be like Alicia. To sooth this feeling of inadequacy, Becky sought to
take a belittling attitude toward Alicia and all the other women who are like her. Becky’s
judgment of Alicia is based on the high value commodities on her body and she is the one who
bestows Alicia the power over herself. This means that the play of power as seen in this
incident is done by consent by both who has the means and the one who does not, based on a
certain shared criteria.
Without the presence of one who is considered to be more powerful, the feeling of
inadequacy is absent. Just before she meets Alicia, Becky is perfectly satisfied with herself
and is confident about her appearance.
I don’t look bad, I think. I’m wearing my black skirt from French Connection, and a
plain white T-shirt from Knickerbox, and a little angora Cardigan which I got from
square-toed shoes from Hobbs.
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Even better, although no one can see them, I know that underneath I’m wearing my
gorgeous new matching knickers and bra with embroidered yellow rosebuds. They’re
the best bit of my entire outfit. In fact, I almost wish I could be run over so that the
world would see them (Confessions of a Shopaholic, p. 14).
The brand names of Becky’s outfit are quite expensive, but not as exclusive as Alicia’s
are also placed in a social hierarchy that put high price and exclusivity in the highest position.
The prestige of these commodities will be transferred to whoever can afford them and with
this prestige comes the power. When she has no competitors around, Becky is quite satisfied
with what she wears and even wants the world to see her, including her underwear, if she can.
But when there is a competitor and she is compared to another woman who has more
exclusive stuffs, Becky is suddenly robbed of her self-worth and power. In these expensive
and exclusive stuffs sit power for self-confidence and respect.
The competition with the other woman is not just in the respect of clothing, but also in the
ability to earn more money. Becky’s journalist friend, Elly, used to be in the same shoes like
Becky, using her credit cards to the limit and can afford to pay only the minimum charge,
always out of cash and is as obsessed as Becky in shopping. But after she has a new career as
a fund manager, her life is drastically changed because she is paid much more.
The truth is, I earn ₤21,000. And I thought that was a lot! I remember very well, when
I moved jobs, I jump from 18,000 to 21,000, and I thought I’d made the big time. . . .
But now it sounds like nothing. I should be earning forty grand, like Elly, and buying
all my clothes at Karen Millen. Oh, it’s not fair. My life is a complete disaster. . . . I
feel pretty morose (Shopaholic, p. 129).
The other example is her meeting with Lucy, Tom’s fiancée. Tom is the son of her parents’
neighbor, Janice and Martin, who always insinuate that she is secretly in love with their son.
“This is Lucy,” he says proudly, and pulls forward a slim girl with big blue eyes,
holding about sixty-five carrier bags. I don’t believe it. It’s the girl who was buying all
the stuff in Ally Smith. The girl whose boy friend was paying. . .
“You work for Wetherby’s?” I say agast. Why am I surrounded by City high-flyers?
“Yes,” she says. “I’m one of their political advisers.”
What? What does this mean? Is she really brainy, or something? Oh god, this gets
worse and worse (Shopaholic, p. 149).
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These two quotations reveal that Becky feels herself to be a failure due to her lost in the
competition with other women in term of their success in getting prestigious jobs that pay well
and in having a boyfriend who would pay for her shopping. It also shows that in a consumer
culture, insatiable consumption is the main principle and however much money you have; it
will not be enough to satisfy one’s desire for more and more new commodities. Even though
Becky earns more in her present job, it is still not enough, because the more income she has,
the more commodities she wants, and thus, her earning cannot keep up with her spending.
Juliet Schor (1999) comments on this phenomena as the symptoms of the new consumerism as
“an upscaling of lifestyle norms; the pervasiveness of conspicuous, status goods and of
competition for acquiring them; and the growing disconnect between consumer desires and
incomes.” In this new consumerism, there is a wide gap between consumption and income, as
one’s pattern of consumption is not determined by one’s income but how to get more money
to afford the lifestyle. Lola also has this problem when she is always in debts to her mother,
sister and credit card companies.
In Cewek Matre, Lola is envious of her colleagues who can afford the designer clothes,
shoes, handbags and trinkets. She mentions Verena, a script writer in her office whose lifestyle
is supported by her fiancée, the son of a private airline owner; Linda, who has a rich husband;
Bianca, who is the daughter of a private bank director; Miranda whose husband is the son of a
high ranking government officer; and Saskia and Lita who choose to have several wealthy
boyfriends to pay for their expensive lifestyles. Because of her inability to compete with the
other girls in her office, she is pitied and it makes her hate herself for her limited means as
seen in this quotation:
Suatu kali saya pernah melihat mata Evieta menancap ketat pada tas tangan
saya [Lola]yang murni saya beli di bursa tas murah di Tajur , Bogor. Tak berapa
lama kemudian dia mecolek Sisil, saling berbisik, sedikit tertawa, dan meneruskan
mencuri lirik pada tas tangan saya yang malang itu. Sejak itu, saya membenci mereka.
Dan membenci diri sendiri kenapa nggak bisa sekeren mereka (Cewek Matre, p. 20).
(Once, I saw Evieta looked at my cheap handbag that I bought at Tajur, Bogor. Then,
she signaled to Sisil, they whispered, laughed a little and continued to steal glances at
my poor handbag. Since that time, I hated them. And I hated myself for my inability to
be as stylish as they are.)
There are two important points that are worth mentioning here. The first one is that the other
women can afford their luxurious lifestyles because a wealthy man financially supports each
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of them. This suggests that a woman like Lola, who does not have any man to support her, has
no chance in the competition. Basically, then, the men without whom they are powerless give
the high social position and power to these women to be able to compete with their group. The
second point is that it causes self-hatred for the sense of powerlessness. The concept that “we
become what we consume” is not as simple as it seems because what Lola consumes is what
she can afford not what she can choose. Her self-hatred comes from her powerlessness to
choose and construct the identity she desires. It might go to say that she is not what she
consumes. Yet, like Becky, she agrees to the idea that she deserves to be humiliated and
willingly gives power to women like Evieta, Sisil and also Linda.
Aside from envy and self-hatred, the power of that with money is also acknowledged and
admired. Lola is envious of Linda, but at the same time she also admires her and
acknowledges Linda’s power over her.
[Linda] bawa birkin bag Hermes ke ruang rapat. Digeletakkan dengan kesan tak
sengaja tapi mereknya dibuat tampak jelas ke mata khalayak. Bukan main. Saya
lihat Linda begitu menguasai ruangan dengan siraman benda mahal yang ada di
sekujur tubuhnya. Jamnya Bvlgari. Kalung rantainya Louis Vuitton. Bajunya
kentara sekali keluaran Prada. Pernah saya lihat di majalah Cosmopolitan. Itu
belum termasuk kilau berlian yang dijamin asli. Saya menelan ludah. Betapa
sulitnya menjadi tabah. Selamat datang di dunia khayal ..... (Cewek Matre, p.
37).
([Linda] brought her Hermes bag to the meeting room. She seemed to carelessly
put it down but she made sure the brand was obvious to all. How wonderful. I saw how
Linda dominated the room with the shower of expensive stuffs on her body. Her watch
was Bvlgari. Her necklace was Louis Vuitton. It was obvious that her clothes were
Prada. I had seen it in Cosmopolitan. On top of that was the sparkle of her genuine
diamond. I swallowed my saliva. How difficult it was to be brave. Welcome to the
fantasy world.)
Linda is aware of the power that is given to her when under the pretense of a careless action;
she shows the brand name of her bag. The expensive stuffs displayed on Linda’s body
automatically reflects Linda’s higher social position compared to those, especially Lola, who
do not or cannot afford to possess the similar things. The position is for her taking as she has
the qualities, which by consensus are deemed desirable and have high exchange value.
Therefore she has the other’s admiration and together with that admiration she is given power
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over the other who are in the lower position of the social hierarchy. It is important that the
other women who willingly take the lower position have the knowledge of the values of the
clothes, bag and trinkets that Linda has for her to be able to occupy a higher position. Other’s
failure to share or acknowledge the value of those commodities will deny her the power. The
competition is played like a game in which every player has to go by the rules of the game for
everybody to be able to play in the same game.
In Cewek Matre, it can be said that the power of a woman like Linda, is given by the men
and by the other women who are in the lower social ladder. It means that anytime the power
can be seized from her by any of the men and the other women who can afford more. This
might mean that she is also powerless, depending on others to give her the power. Principally,
the possession of power is just an illusion that is disguised as a reality by the dominant group,
like the group with money. In its relation to the body, a woman possesses her body, but she
does not own it because it is the other who asserts meaning over her by what she displays on
her body. Yet, she is not totally in an objectified position as she also manipulates the means
she has, money, men, other women and knowledge for commodities for the position of power.
In both Confessions of a Shopaholic and Cewek Matre, the competitions for power are
done among the women. Even though not as obvious as in Cewek Matre, it is also suggested
there is a rich man behind every woman who wins the competition for power and these men
empower the women to gain power over their peer. The body is treated as an extension of the
commodities that adorn the body and as a result, the value of the commodities is transferred to
the body. As a consequence, the commodity and the body become an inseparable entity. The
body will be perused as a commodity to decode its value. It becomes inevitable that the value
of the outer body affects the inner-self, the sense of self worth; because they are conjoined.
Sennet (quoted in Featherstone, p. 189) explains that “[i]ndividuals had now to decode both
the appearance of others and take pains to manage the impressions they might give off, while
moving through the world of strangers. This encouraged greater bodily self-consciousness
and self-scrutiny in public life.” An individual cannot escape from being appraised by the
other person as how she also appraises others and at the same time she also appraises herself
as how others appraise her. Therefore, both Lola and Becky are upset when they compare
themselves with the other women and come to evaluate themselves as how they are evaluated
by others. Their lost in the competition for power is not only because of their limited means,
but also because of their consent that they deserve to lose.
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
Marketing the Self
To have high market value and to be able to compete, both Lola and Becky are aware that
they have to possess more money to pay for the lifestyles that would put them in the high
social position like the other women they admire and envy. Their sense of lack over who they
are bespeaks of their low self-esteem and Slater (1997, p. 85) explains that one of the
characteristics of identity crisis connected to consumer culture is that there is no authentic self,
but a self that depends on one’s ability for “social survival and success. We have to produce
and sell an identity to various social markets in order to have intimate relations, social
standing, jobs and careers.” Based on this concept, there is no real self; a self is just a social
construction, which is unstable and fragile. The success of a self is more on how an individual
can become a player in a social game for recognition and can sell herself to the market for a
high exchange value. When rules change or that different values are replacing the old ones,
then, the self needs to adapt to these changes to maintain her social position. As Lola and
Becky crave for the respect and admiration that come with the possession of luxurious stuffs
and lifestyles, they need to possess the exact means to promote their worth by selling
themselves to the market.
Becky’s strategy is to get a respectable job. Elly’s and Lucy’s prestigious jobs, inspire her
to apply for the similar high-paid job using the service of a job agent.
[T]en o’clock the next morning sees me walking nervously up to the front door of
William Green, top City head-hunters. As I push the door open I glimpse my own
reflection and feel a little thrill go through my stomach. Am I really doing this?
You bet I am. I’m wearing my smartest black suit, and tights and high heels, with
an FT [Financial Times] under my arm, obviously. And I’m carrying the briefcase with
the combination lock . . . it looks the part. And that’s what counts (Shopaholic, p. 16061).
Becky’s effort is to role-play the part of a smart, successful and self-confident woman, so she
puts on the accessories that render that image regardless that she never reads the FT or cannot
open the briefcase because she has forgotten the combination. Featherstone names this action
to be one’s ‘performing self’ as “[w]ithin consumer culture individuals are asked to become
role players and self-consciously monitor their own performance. Appearance, gesture and
bodily demeanour become taken as expressions of self” (p.189). Becky understands that
appearance sells and image is important to impress, because usually future employers are
easily impressed by image. The FT and serious looking briefcase are part of the accessories for
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a convincing role-play as a smart and respectable financial expert. Her knowledge of the part
leads her to consciously monitor her appearance. Becky’s knowledge of the necessity of roleplaying is based on her job interview with Successful Saving. She went to the interview
“holding copies of the Financial Times and the Investor’s Chronicle–and didn’t get asked
about finance once” (Shopaholic, p. 13). She was instantly hired for the job in Successful
Saving because of her success in role-playing the part of a smart candidate. That she is not
what her appearance implies is not a matter for consideration, because she plays to convince.
In this second interview, she is also instantly hired without testing her about her knowledge
in finance. She is instantly hired because of her impressive curriculum vitae, which she makes
up.
“And your financial knowledge,” she says, pulling my CV towards her. “You
seemed to have covered a lot of different areas during your years in financial
journalism.” . . . “And we’ll be able to negotiate you a very attractive package.”
“Really?” Suddenly, I can’t quite breathe. She’s going to negotiate an attractive
package. For me! . . . God, this is fantastic. This is a bloody dream come true. I’m
going to be a banker! And not just any old baker—a triple-A-rated banker!
(Shopaholic, p.164-5)
The interviewer is taken by the impression that Becky radiates and to believe whatever is
written in the CV to be Becky’s real credentials. The truth is that Becky has lied about her CV
and she loses this prestigious job when she is asked to prove her ability to speak Finnish, a
language she professes she is fluent in.
I start backing away. . .
I turn. And I run. . . . I don’t look right and I don’t look left. I don’t think about the
fact that I’ve just completely shredded the chances I had of becoming a top city banker.
All I can think about is getting to that glass door and getting out before anyone can . . .
(Shopaholic, p. 168-9).
This quotation illustrates the failure of appearances, which are likened to a “lie” versus the
inner self, which is likened to the “truth”. The failure to compensate the inner quality by
appearance suggests that the ideology of consumerism that idolizes appearance is simply a
mask, a cover up for one’s lack. Like in Cewek Matre, what Becky has done is something
unethical based on the ideology of morality, yet there is no shameful feeling over what she has
done like in Lola. Becky is just afraid that somebody would come to publicly embarrass her,
so, in Becky’s case, she has no inner conflict over her lies, believing that it is just a part of the
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game she has to play in order to succeed in her career. Her lying is taken as an act of survival
and strategy to sell herself.
Like in Cewek Matre, the how to get to one’s success is as important. In the case of Becky,
she cannot be successful if she is lying and she will be successful if she is not. She gets her
later success when she decides to help Tom’s parents from being cheated by an insurance
company, but what makes it work is her determination to gain others’ respect, especially from
people who have not taken her seriously like Luke Brandon and Alicia.
Then gradually it comes to me that this is the way I always get treated when I ring
up press offices. No one’s ever in any hurry to answer my questions, are they? People
are always putting me on hold, saying they’ll ring me back and not bothering. . .
But today I do care. Today what I’m doing does seem important, and I do want to
be taken seriously. . . .
I’ll show Alicia, I think fiercely. I’ll show them all, Luke Brandon included. Show
them that I, Rebecca Bloomwood, am not a joke (Shopaholic, p. 264).
Her decisiveness to take herself seriously comes from her realization that she has not taken
herself seriously before. By taking herself seriously, Becky gets a new job in a television show
called Morning Coffee as a financial adviser that allows her to pay her debts. The flows of
events in Becky’s life seem to imply that a more dominant ideology is replacing the ideology
of consumerism that negates the importance of appearance and reinforces the importance of
the true self. There is a suggestion here that role-playing is a failure because there is an
authentic self in Becky that is admirable. Yet, Becky is successful in her other role-play as a
serious journalist for a tabloid, a gossip paper that is never taken seriously like Becky’s FT.
These incidents indicate that Becky can successfully role-play in the world of popular media
rather than in a serious job like banking. The world of popular media is the world she knows
well; therefore she can manipulates the working of the popular media for her gain. Therefore,
the ideology of consumerism is still as dominant, because her success in her new job, depends
as much on her role-play as an expert financial adviser.
In Cewek Matre, Lola uses the strategy of selling her body for economic gain. Both her
male and female friends describe her as a beautiful girl by the Indonesian standard of beauty.
She has a fascinating figure and the pretty face of Nadya Hutagalung (well-known Indonesian
model) and Ratna Sari Dewi. Lola is aware of her own attractiveness which she describes as
the qualities she inherited from her Solo-Dutch father for her high nose, cleft chin and high
cheek bones and from her mother, who is of Bandung born, a clear skin complexion and sweet
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looking lips. These qualities of beauty, a mixture of eastern-western characteristics, are
considered to be desirable by the Indonesian. Her friends, Silvia and Palupi, encourage Lola to
take advantage of her beauty for her own gain.
“Lu cantik, La. . . . Kemungkinan lu dapat cowok kaya jauh lebih gede dibanding gue
[Silvia] . . . kenapa sih lu ga pake kelebihan lu itu untuk meringankan beban lu? . . .Lu
nggak harus pacaran. Cukup lu buka pergaulan sama manusia berjenis kelamin lakilaki. Dengan perincian sebagi berikut: lumayan cakep, berduit tebal, royal, dan hobi
nraktir. Hidup lu bisa lebih ringan. Baju dibeliin, pulsa dibeliin, makan-minum
dibayaran, nonton ditraktir. Dan sssst .....banyak cowok sekarang yang juga rela
ngasih cash buat cewek-cewek yang mereka suka!” (p. 55-6)
“. . . Ada apa sih dalam hidup lu, sampe muka cakep lu dianggurin begitu!” (p. 105).
(You’re beautiful, La. . . . the possibility for you to have a rich man is greater than
mine [Silvia]. . . why don’t you use your extra qualities to lighten your burden? . . .You
don’t have to go for serious dating. Just widen your social horizon with men who have
these characteristics: quite good looking, have money, generous, and like to treat. Your
life would be easier. Somebody pays for your clothes, telephone bills, foods, going to
the cinemas. And sssst.....now many men also give cash willingly to the girls they like.
What is wrong with you, that you do not take advantage of your beauty!)
What Silvia suggests, using Bourdieu’s concept, is to convert Lola’s physical capital to
economic capital. Lola’s physical traits are considered to have high exchange value compared
to Silvia’s who is described as having a round face and very thick lips or Palupi who is very
thin with a pitiful face. Lola’s body is a commodity with high value and it would depend on
her ability to sell her beauty to gain good social standing, which is equal to luxurious
lifestyles. Lola decides to take this suggestion and dates men for their money. In the game of
consuming, it seems that every effort is justified to win the competition for power that come
with high social standing. On the contrary, in the Indonesian society, a woman who exchanges
her beauty for status is considered to be a woman of low morality and her status would usually
be degraded.
Lola is aware that morally, what she is doing is considered humiliating, yet her suppressed
desire to possess the stuffs she cannot afford and the desired not to be looked down by her
peers, win over her sense of right or wrong as is seen in this quotation.
Saya tahu ini sungguh memalukan. Sangat memalukan. Tapi saya sudah kadung
berada pada nafsu itu. Nafsu dibayarin. Kelak Anda akan tahu betapa sulitnya berada
13
di perbatasan itu. Antara mempertahankan harga diri dan hasrat mendapatkan
keuntungan gratis (p. 153).
(I know this was really shameful. Very shameful. But I was already craving. Craving
for something free. Later you would know how difficult it was to be in that border.
Between your self-respect and the craving for free benefits.)
The social sanction is also something predictable when Lola’s colleagues find out how she
gets the means to pay for her lifestyles and they sneer over her like what Arintha does.
“Iya! Lain dong rasanya, beli barang pake duit sendiri. Lagian , apa enaknya beli
barang hasil morotin cowok. Hidup nggak tenang. Musti ngorbanin harga diri pula!”
suara Arintha makin nyaring . . .
Saya meneguk air putih cepat-cepat. Berusaha meredakan emosi yang terbakar
dalam tempo yang sangat cepat . . . tiba-tiba saya merasa sakit perut (Cewek Matre, p.
315).
(“Of course! It feels different to buy with your own money. Moreover, what is so nice
about buying things from stripping off a man’s money. Your life is not at peace. You
have to sacrifice your self-respect, too!” Arintha’s voice was getting louder.
I drank the water quickly. Trying to control my emotion . . . suddenly I felt pain in
my stomach.)
Basically, Lola’s position remains fix that she is looked down when she does not have the
branded stuffs and she is also looked down when she has them. Here we can find two
contradictory ideologies, the ideology of consumerism and of morality, in which one
encourages a woman to have limitless fund to consume the offered commodities and the latter
one discourages a woman to have the fund by selling her body to be able to enjoy these
commodities. The ideology of consumerism is concerned with the end (the possession of
commodities) rather than the means as seen in the high social status it bestows to women like
Linda and Arintha; whereas the ideology of morality is concerned more on the means rather
than the end as seen in Lola’s shame and humiliation. Lola’s shame over what she does with
her body suggests that she is subjected by the ideology of morality.
It is in the name of morality that Lola later on chooses to become a model for the
advertisements of several beauty products and she appears on billboards and women
magazines. Even though basically she is still selling her body, but what she does is in the
corridor of morality that she earns respect instead of humiliation. Her self-respect radiates
when she says that she walks past Linda and Arintha, the two women who previously sneered
14
at her, with pride and confidence because she has earned money by hard work. The same
principle of body selling can produce different results mean that the body is regulated by two
different ideologies. This means that in the case of Lola, her body becomes the site of struggle
between two dominant ideologies, which pops up the question over the ownership of a
woman’s body. Lola has no ownership over her body. Her body is publicly owned therefore it
is always under public scrutiny and is given meanings over which she has no control.
In both Shopaholic and Cewek Matre, the ideology of morality seems to be dominant. All
the women characters aside from Lola and Becky, who are successful and respected in their
celebration of consumption and appearance, are all humiliated at the end. Whereas Lola and
Becky are given a lesson that to be like the other women are wrong and they have to care more
for their inner qualities for success and respect to follow. But under this morality is the
celebration of a consumer culture that encourages people to take care for their appearance.
Lola’s job as a model for beauty products encourages women to pay attention to their
appearance and her successful career means that she can save for “necessary” things like a
house and a car. Becky’s well-paid new job in a television program means that she has to
appear as a successful person to the public to be able to sell the program, accordingly, she is
selling appearance. The extra money she has will give her more freedom to shop. To conclude,
both the ideologies of consumerism and morality go hand in hand in promoting consumerism,
but using different means to reach the goal.

Shopping for Men2
Aside from treating themselves as commodities to be marketed, Becky and Lola treat the
men as commodities to be chosen from. Like the woman’s body, the man’s body is also
treated as an object, a commodity. The view that traditionally treats only the woman’s body as
the object to be looked at is no longer valid in a consumer culture, because women and men
can be both subject and object. The similar principle applied to a woman’s body is also
applicable to a man’s. Becky and Lola choose the men they fall in love with, like choosing the
commodities in their shopping spree. Their taste for exclusive and branded stuffs is also
reflected in their taste for men. Both the commodities and the men should have certain
desirable qualities that bespeak of their high value and social status.
This term is taken from Deborah Phillips’ article entitled ‘Shopping for men: the single woman narrative’ which
discuss works by several chick lit writers such as Jane Green and Freya North. In the article, the term refers to the
consumption of men as objects of romance, and to the deployment of consumer skills in order to create a man
worthy of the heroine’s desire.
2
15
Like shopping, Becky peruses the appearance of the men that are eligible. Their physical
stature as well as taste in fashion and lifestyles should fulfill certain criteria that meet her taste.
Below are two quotations that describe Becky’s opinion on Luke Brandon and Tarquin
I look up, and almost choke on my champagne. It’s Luke Brandon, head honcho of
Brandon communication, staring straight at me as if he knows exactly what I’m
thinking. Staring straight down at me, I should say. He must be well over six feet tall
with dark hair and dark eyes and . . . wow. Isn’t that suit nice? . . . As I run my eyes
over it I find myself wondering if it’s by Oswald Boateng . . . He started Brandon
communication from nothing, and now it’s the biggest financial PR company in
London. A few months ago he was listed in the Mail as one of the cleverest
entrepreneurs of his generation. It’s said his IQ was phenomenally high and he had a
photographic memory(Shopaholic, p. 18).
I’m not that keen on Fenella and Tarquin. . . they’re a bit weird. They’re both very
skinny, but in a pale, bony way and have the same slightly protruding teeth. . . .
Tarquin, frankly, looks just like a stoat. Or a weasel. Some bony little creature,
anyway. They do strange things, too. They ride around on a tandem and wear matching
jumpers knitted by their old nanny . . . (Shopaholic, p. 86).
Becky describes Luke positively unlike her negative description of Tarquin. Becky becomes
the one who looks at the body and is in power to decide which one is desirable and which one
is not. Becky admires Luke’s athletic figure, good-looking face, expensive outfit, intelligence
and the aura of power surrounding Luke. Luke’s overall image is the image of a successful
person with power, good taste and luxurious lifestyle. The qualities that Luke possesses are the
qualities that have a high social status in a consumer culture, because his body is the bearer of
the expensive commodities and more importantly, he has the money to consume. In
Bourdieu’s concept, “[t]aste is a match-maker; it marries colours and also people, who make
‘well-matched couples’ . . .” because there is “sign-reading operations (particularly visible in
first encounters)” (p. 243). Despite their gap in wealth, career and intelligence, Becky and
Luke are similar in all other aspects related to taste and lifestyles. In a consumer culture, this
seems to be the only things that count.
The second quotation describes Tarquin and his sister Fenella. Compared to Luke, Tarquin
does not have the figure or the taste that Becky admires. If Luke takes her to shop at Harrods
and lunch at Harvey Nichols, then Tarquin takes her for a pizza on their first dates. Obviously,
16
the similar taste connects Becky to Luke for they share the same value as seen in their same
appreciation for exclusive fashion and lifestyles. Whereas Tarquin does not share the same
taste or value as Becky, thus his appreciation for riding horses, keeping dogs, listening to
Wagner and giving her a brooch in the shape of a horse are not the things that a city girl like
Becky can appreciate. She is more into EastEnders and Coronation Street person. Tarquin is
the representation of the people who still believe in old British tradition of aristocratic values,
focusing on the inner qualities of a person. He leads a simple life, close to nature, appreciates
classical art and literature and never once displays his wealth. While Becky is the
representation of the contemporary society who feels at home in the popular cultures, admire
appearance and conspicuous consumption. Basically, they come from two different cultural
values. The clash in taste and values make it impossible for them to be well matched.
Despite this incompatibility, Becky dates Tarquin enthusiastically when she knows that
Tarquin is number 15 in the list of Hundred Richest Bachelors compared to Luke who is in
number 31. She sees Tarquin as a suitable husband material because of his wealth, so that she
deceives herself into believing that she can falls in love with him.
Tarquin . . . has . . . twenty-five . . . million . . . pounds? . . .
I’m going to be a millionaires. A multimillionaires. . . . Tarquin’s going to fall in
love with me and ask me to marry him . . . I’ll love him, too. By then.
I know I haven’t exactly been attracted to him in the past . . . but it’s all a matter of
willpower, isn’t it? . . . I actually fancy him more already. Well, not exactly fancy . . .
but just the thought of him makes me feel all excited, which must mean something,
mustn’t it? (Shopaholic, p.209)
Her frequent questions show that she is not exactly convinced that she can love Tarquin, but
Tarquin’s money makes his have a high value. Tarquin becomes her object of desire because
of his “price” rather than his appearance. This incident is comparable to the time Becky
bought a bowl with she described as “shapeless and the wood’s a nasty shade of brown,” but
as the seller told her that the bowl was once featured in Elle Decoration, she changed her
opinion and persuaded herself that it was a good buy and a classic.
I can’t believe it. I’m holding a piece of Elle Decoration. How cool is that? Now I feel
incredibly stylish and trendy . . . It just shows I’ve good taste. . . Didn’t I spot its
quality? Already I can see our sitting room redesigned entirely around it . . . Eighty
quid. That’s nothing for a timeless piece of style like this. . . And this bowl is quite
clearly a classic (Shopaholic, p. 50-1).
17
Becky dislikes the appearance of the bowl like she dislikes Tarquin’s appearance, but when
she knows that the value of the bowl and Tarquin, she convinces herself that they are valuable
and she has to possess both the bowl and Tarquin. Despite the unsightly appearance of
Tarquin, he has high value and she would be very foolish if she does not take the opportunity
to marry Tarquin. Becky similar attitude to the bowl and Tarquin shows that she just see
Tarquin as a piece of investment for her gain in wealth and prestige, so in a sense, he is just
another valuable commodity.
In Cewek Matre, Lola chooses men whom she can take advantage of, from her list of
names based on their positions in their jobs such as being a manager, a director, or an owner
assuming that these positions generate much money. They should also have the look and the
personalities suitable to Lola’s tastes, unlike some of the men in Lola’s office, Tohir and
Poltak, whom she described as local men who are unsightly and have no money. She sought to
men like Steven, Philip and Cliff who have the mixture of eastern and western look, graduated
from the universities in the U.S. or U.K. or frequent those countries, share her taste, lead a
metropolitan and luxurious lifestyles, have successful careers and more importantly they are
from rich family or are generous with their money. One man that Lola falls in love with is
Clift, a very gifted photographer whom she describes in great details.
Ia... sangat tampan! Ia mengenakan T-shirt warna hitam dan jins, juga hitam. . .
Atletis, sangat jangkung, berambut cepak ala tentara, dengan wajah yang sempurna
cetakannya. . . . alisnya, kepak elang. . . . Suaranya berat, seksi, dan …ia sangat
ramah. . . . Glift sangat menggoda (Cewek Matre, p. 289-291).
(He was very good-looking! He wore black T-shirt and jeans. Athlethic, very tall, short
hair like the army cut, with a face that was perfectly moulded . . . eyebrows of the
eagle’s wings . . . . his voice is low, sexy and he is very nice. Clift is very tempting.)
Clift shows, using Featherstone’s term, “the images of body beautiful, of youth, health and
fitness” that he becomes something desirable, not only for Lola, but also for Silvia, Palupi and
her other female colleagues. The description of Clift as something desirable is seen from the
female gaze and he is positioned as an object to be desired like how Lola’s physical qualities
are also the object of the male gaze. So, here, we see that Lola is both an object of desire and a
subject who desires.
She likens her searches for men to her shopping spree that the two activities are somewhat
similar as both evoke intense emotions. When Lola sees expensive items on sale, she is so
excited that she becomes very emotional.
18
Sebab di Sogo berderet keranjang berisi baju-baju sale yang modelnya membuat
gemes. Begitu menggoda hingga rasanya sekujur tubuh mengeluarkan getar dan
detak jantung sudah tak bisa diajak damai. . . . Fendi memang perlu untuk
mematok gengsi. . . (Memikirkan ini, napas si perempuan memburu dan sedikit
tersengal. Barang bagus amat mudah memancing emosi) (Cewek Matre, p. 14-5).
(Because Sogo had baskets of sale items that were cute. They were so tempting that my
whole body seemed to release vibrations and my heart beats could not be controlled . .
. Fendi was needed for prestige. . . Thinking of this, the woman’s breaths become
heavy. Excellent stuff easily triggered emotions.)
There is a significant likeliness to this emotion when she decides to shop for men, which she
likens to hunting.
Saya merasakan sesuatu berdesir di peredaran darah saya. Ada gelombang. Ya, ya.
Hunting. (Cewek Matre, p. 116).
(I felt something surged in my blood stream. There were waves. Yes, yes. Hunting.)
Saya menarik napas. Menghembuskannya pelan-pelan. Baru saja saya membuka
gerbang kencan dengan pria muda kaya raya. Saya memejamkan mata. Ini transisi
penting. Otak saya seperti memerintahkan sesuatu pada perasaan saya. Pada sekujur
tubuh saya (p. 167).
(I drawed in my breath. Exhaled slowly. I had just openned the gate to dating a rich
young man. I closed my eyes. This was an important transition. My brain ordered
something to my feelings. To my whole body.)
Lola reacts to the two activities with the same fervor, which means that both activities are
equally important. Shopping for clothes and for men are activities that require the skills to be
able to decide which ones will give most benefits in term of how they can render the most
desired images and status. The act of shopping is not simply shopping for commodities for
their use value, but also for their cultural value. The boundary between the two is not
something fixed; the use value and cultural value of commodities are merged. In a consumer
culture, it is almost impossible to detach the cultural value from the use value of commodities.
Lola’s shopping for men and for products reveal that she is always more attracted to
commodities, which own some foreign elements. They are considered to be more desirable
and have higher status. Men with foreign names like Steven, Philip and Cliff are judged to be
more prestigious compared to the local men with local names of Tohir and Poltak. The first
group is desirable, successful and loaded with money and the latter one is not. This idea can
19
also be detected in Lola’s shopping for branded names. The local products like Tajur bag and
Mangga Dua clothes are suggested be cheap and have low status, whereas the foreign products
such as Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Gucci bags or Prada clothes suggest exclusivity and high status.
From this recurring pattern of consumption it can be observed that the local and the foreign are
put into a rigid binary. This segregation into two extremes implies that the local is undesirable
and the foreign or imported is desirable. The body as a commodity is not free from the aspects
of foreign-local values.
Becky’s and Lola’s shopping for the men worthy of their love is a man with wealth,
extraordinary physical appearance, excellent knowledge and taste, a successful career, and
intelligence. Their successes to have these worthy men love them; show that they have
excellent consumer skills in choosing a man. The fact that these men excel over Becky and
Lola implies that the ideology of patriarchy is at work, but behind this is the power that the
two women have over the men. They choose the men in their own terms from the whole list of
men they can choose from. There is no reason why they should choose somebody who is less
when a wealthy man can give them love, more comfortable life and can ensure their lifestyles.
A woman can “have it all”3, it is a motto that is at work when a woman can excel both in her
professional and love life. She can have a successful career and at the same time she can also
have the love of a worthy man who would protect her and provide her a comfortable lifestyle.
Conclusion
The body is always, in Bordo’s phrase, “in the direct grip of culture.” The commodification
of the body in Confessions of a Shopaholic and Cewek Matre is inseparable from the context
of consumer culture. The body, both female and male, is treated as just another commodity,
which can be marketed for some exchange value. The exchange value will depend on the
presence and absence of certain qualities regarded to be of valuable. Everybody can participate
in this game of consumption as long as the person has the means or capitals that can be
converted. Unlike Bourdieu’s argument that taste is determined by one’s class habitus, in a
consumer culture, everybody can be everybody else, because “[c]onsumerism simultaneously
exploits mass identity crisis by proffering its goods as solutions to the problems of identity,
Having it All is the title of Helen Gurley Brown’s best selling self-help manual suggesting that a woman can
have a successful career, a home and a good man “with the right kind of dedication to self-improvement”
(Whelehan, 2004). This title has become a term referring to the limitless chances a woman can have. A woman
no longer needs to choose between career and home, because she can enjoy and have both. The meaning of the
term has developed from how it is originally meant and it is frequently used as a slogan for the third wave
feminist movement.
3
20
and in the process intensifies it by offering ever more plural values and ways of being” (Slater,
p. 85). The consumer has a choice to construct her or his identity by role-playing, using the
wide range of choice of commodities. Identity becomes something constructed, unstable and
fragile as opposed to the traditional belief in a fixed identity for an authentic self.
The possibilities of the identities to be reconstructed make the body to become a site of
political struggle between ideologies. The ideology of consumerism encourages insatiable
consumption as a way of life. In this ideology is the belief that there is power in commodities
and that power is transferable to those who consume these commodities; and that buying by
credits is empowering. The other ideology that seems to have a contrary value is the ideology
of hard work and saving. This ideology promotes the belief in producing through hard work
and save the money, instead of spending it; and discourages spending on credits. Yet, these
two ideologies have the same end that is consuming commodities. As in the case of Cewek
Matre, a transformed Lola, works hard and save her money to buy a house and a car, but
Becky is never cured from her shopping obsession. The other ideology at work is of morality
that promotes honesty and the sanctity of the body. That a woman has a morality if a man in a
marriage institution, but not outside it supports her or has sex with her. Like in the case of
Lola, she is socially punished when she violates this law of morality. In Shopaholic, this is not
an issue. Becky can have sex with her boyfriends without any social punishment.
This raises the question of ownership on one’s body, especially a woman’s. To some
degree, a body is a social body to be displayed and to be under social scrutiny. The freedom to
choose what to do with one’s body bespeaks of ownership and when that freedom is taken,
this ownership is taken from the woman. She no longer has the rights over her own body. The
social sanction for Lola means that she has no ownership of her body; she has no freedom to
exercise her rights over her body, as it is bound by social rules and regulations. In the case of
Becky it is no longer an issue, because she has the freedom to do what she likes with her body,
such as have sex or become pregnant outside marriage. There is no social sanction over her
deeds.
The main difference between the two characters is that Lola is cured from her
overspending and sought to saving, whereas Becky is never cured from her obsession for
shopping. It can be concluded that Cewek Matre instills the traditional view of hard work and
saving for personal happiness whereas Shopaholic takes the position of working and spending
as two equally important activities. Cewek Matre is very much concerned on female physical
beauty as the basis for respect, whereas Shopaholic is more concerned on intellectuality as the
21
basis. In Cewek Matre, there is a harsh social punishment for those who do not go by the
moral ethics whereas Shopaholic concerns more on individual choice and responsibility. The
woman’s body in Cewek Matre is owned by the public, meaning that she is bound by social
regulations on how to treat her body, whereas in Shopaholic, there is more freedom to exercise
the ownership of her body.
Considering that these two novels are popular novels, the different stance taken by the two
novels might represent the popular outlook of the society as represented in the novels. This
popularity is an important factor to guarantee their market. The moral lesson and social
sanction for Lola might be important elements to guarantee the sales for the Indonesian
readers. The moral judgment and the transformation of Lola are necessary, so that the novel
can pass as an educative and beneficial novel for young women who might choose the
immoral way. The different stance taken in Shopaholic, suggests a more cosmopolitan outlook
by no longer taking a woman’s morality as an issue. It celebrates the freedom of consumption
and of choice without a moral judgment. Instead of these differences, the translated
Shopaholic is very popular in Indonesia. Does this mean that actually the Indonesian readers
are ready to leave behind the issue of morality? Or that the popularity of Shopaholic reinforces
the stereotyping most Indonesians have about the loose morality of a western woman?
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