Inarticulate Longings

This sharp cultural analysis examines how early 20th-century advertising created a new social script for women, one that promised liberation through consumption while reinforcing traditional domestic roles. Jennifer Scanlon masterfully dissects the advertising industry's calculated creation of "inarticulate longings"—those manufactured desires that convinced women their fulfillment lay in purchasing the right products rather than challenging societal structures.

Scanlon's research reveals the brilliant, troubling mechanics of how magazines and ads taught women to want contradictory things: independence through household appliances, identity through brand loyalty, and power through perfect homemaking. Readers interested in media studies, feminist history, and consumer culture will find this exploration of manufactured desire both illuminating and unsettling, offering crucial context for understanding modern advertising's continued influence on women's aspirations.