POSTFEMINIST DOUBLE ENTANGLEMENT: CHICK LIT’S UNIDIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE EMANCIPATION

Abstract

Chick lit fiction’s rise to popularity in the 1990s coincides with the emergence of postfeminism in the US and the UK. A subgenre of romantic fiction, these novels take the emancipation of their female protagonists as a point of departure and present a contemporary culture where women have achieved complete equality in their personal, social and professional domains. This article problematizes the idea of an unencumbered female emancipation as presented in the fictional world of chick lit by applying a theoretical framework devised from Angela McRobbie’s explication of postfeminism as an antifeminist cultural phenomenon that is disguised in a superficially feminist garb. McRobbie’s idea of double entanglement as the product of postfeminist attitudes is explored in two chick lit novels, The Devil Wears Prada (2003) by Lauren Weisberger and Heart of the Matter (2010) by Emily Giffin to study how it is linked with the undoing of feminism and the broken trajectory of women’s path to empowerment. The study reveals that women’s double entanglement with liberal and neoliberal values in their personal and professional lives results in a sense of insecurity and stressful attitude of ‘have it all’ among them.