Living With Martha Stewart Media: Chosen Domesticity in the Experience of Fans

Abstract

In-depth interviews with 10 women who are Martha Stewart fans addressed the roles Stewart and her media products play in their lives and why and how they use her media products. Stewart and her media products appear to play 3 main roles in the lives of these women: They encourage the fantasy of an upper-class lifestyle of elegance and luxury while providing an escape from their daily lives; they validate the women's interest in domesticity by making domestic work respectable and seem important; and they foster creativity and feelings of accomplishment and pride among those who complete projects and recipes. In addition, the women were able to use Stewart's media products flexibly to fit individual schedules, budgets, tastes, and desires. This paper argues that the domestic fantasy of class mobility privileges appearance over substance and substitutes the look of luxury for the unattainable class ascension. However, rather than condemning fans for embracing this fantasy, it is necessary to understand the pleasures provided and desires met by Stewart's media products, as well as the contradictions in the lives of Stewart's fans.

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