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ividual identity narratives (Ahuvia, 2005). Consumption objects also serve the purpose of socializing and categorization (Holt, 1995). Furthermore, recent research has shown that consumption is also deeply interlinked with individual’s self-understanding of their gender identity.

 

Fischer and Arnould (1994) define gender identity as the extent to which people think of themselves as masculine or feminine. Connell (2002) conceives gender as a project, where personal and society’s gender understandings are negotiated. Patterson and Elliott (2002) assume that males are currently reevaluating their gender identity understandings since advertising increasingly promotes the groomed, slim and sexy male, attributes which were formerly regarded as feminine. Nyeck et al. (2002) found that the extent of consuming non-traditional gender aesthetics also depends upon the different gender identity understandings of gays and straights. Males consume these items either to blend into their reference or peer groups, thus adhering to the reference groups’ gender understandings or to rebel against gendered conventions and norms of society. In a similar vein, Rinallo (2007) concludes that peer groups of males set boundaries of legitimate male consumption behaviors. Ourahmoune and Nyeck (2008) found that males participate in clandestine consumption to overcome stigmatizations and social sanction due to their deviation from their peer’s or society’s gender conception. Male’s gender identity understandings are in flux, which is why males have become more involved in their aesthetic appearance. However, males still use non-traditional gender aesthetic items primarily to hide bodily imperfections or to act out their narcissistic needs (Ourahmoune and Nyeck, 2008; Nyeck et al, 2002). These findings run counter empirical observations of overt, public display of traditionally feminine items, such as handbags, which are neither hidden, nor just serve to compensate imperfections or narcissistic needs. It is the aim of our study to address this specific form of non-traditional gender aesthetics consumption and its role in male’s identity narratives.

 

METHOD

Our empirical study followed a two step process. First, male handbag wearers were observed and approached online, or personally approached on the streets in urban areas. Our purposive sample followed the principles of snowball sampling (Patton, 1991). However, snowball sampling turned out problematic as handbag users rarely knew other handbag consumers. Hence, we adapted our methodology accordingly and followed the technique of criterion sampling (Patton, 1991) which focused a male handbag usage and did not address other characteristics such as e.g. sexual orientations. People, who agreed to participate in our study were asked to write a diary over a period of 2.5 to 3 weeks in which they were asked to write freely about their usage of handbags (Alaszewski, 2006). In addition, informants were asked to take pictures of items of which they particularly liked for their design. In total, 14 participants took part in our study. All of them live in urban areas in Central Europe, with a本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。