The first time I saw the cover of We Were Feminists Once, I was standing in a bookstore aisle, coffee in hand, doing that thing where you pretend to browse but you're actually just killing time. In real terms, the title stopped me. Not because it was clever — though it is — but because it felt like someone had finally said the quiet part out loud.
Not obvious, but once you see it — you'll see it everywhere.
Andi Zeisler didn't write a memoir. She wrote an autopsy. And the body on the table? On the flip side, marketplace feminism. Consider this: the version that shows up in Super Bowl ads, on $45 t-shirts, in Instagram captions from brands that still pay garment workers poverty wages. The feminism that's been sanded down, packaged up, and sold back to us as empowerment™ Not complicated — just consistent..
If you've ever rolled your eyes at a corporation changing its logo to pink for October — or wondered why "girlboss" energy feels hollow by Tuesday — this book is the receipt The details matter here..
What Is We Were Feminists Once
Published in 2016, We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement is cultural criticism disguised as a history lesson. Zeisler — co-founder of Bitch Media — traces how feminism went from a radical, collective project to a consumer identity you can buy at Target.
The subtitle tells you everything: the buying and selling of a political movement. That's the thesis in six words.
Zeisler walks through decades of media, advertising, and pop culture to show how feminist language got stripped of its politics. "Empowerment" used to mean structural change — reproductive rights, labor protections, ending violence. Now it means buying the right lipstick. "Choice" used to be about autonomy. Now it's about which lifestyle brand aligns with your aesthetic.
She's not saying individual choices don't matter. She's saying they've been substituted for collective action. And that substitution didn't happen by accident Worth knowing..
The marketplace feminism framework
Zeisler coins a term that sticks: marketplace feminism. It's feminism as brand strategy. It's lean-in feminism. It's feminism that asks nothing of power — just that power include a few more women at the top Surprisingly effective..
The genius of the book is that Zeisler doesn't just point at bad ads. She shows the machinery. How media conglomerates acquired feminist publications and softened their edges. Plus, how "empowerment" became a marketing vertical. How the language of liberation got decoupled from the work of liberation.
You finish the book seeing the pattern everywhere. That said, a fashion label prints "The Future Is Female" on a tee made in a factory where women can't unionize. In practice, a bank runs a "women and money" campaign while funding pipelines through Indigenous land. The contradiction isn't a bug. It's the business model.
Why It Matters / Why People Care
Here's the thing: marketplace feminism works. It validates. On the flip side, it feels good. You buy the mug, you post the quote, you feel like you did something. And in a culture that measures engagement in likes and shares, that feeling gets mistaken for impact.
But the stakes are real.
When feminism becomes a consumer identity, it stops threatening power structures. Still, it becomes compatible with them. In real terms, that's not a neutral shift — it's a strategic capture. The most radical demand feminism ever made was redistribution: of power, of resources, of labor, of safety. Marketplace feminism replaces redistribution with representation. And representation, while nice, doesn't feed kids or stop evictions or pass the ERA.
Zeisler's book matters because it names the trap. And naming it is the only way out.
The co-optation pipeline
The pipeline goes like this: radical idea → subcultural adoption → media coverage → aesthetic extraction → commercial product → depoliticized slogan Practical, not theoretical..
Riot grrrl becomes "girl power." Consciousness-raising becomes "self-care." Reproductive justice becomes "my body my choice" on a water bottle — while clinics close in half the country Most people skip this — try not to. Worth knowing..
Zeisler documents each stage with receipts. She shows how *Ms.So naturally, * Magazine struggled while Cosmo ran "feminist" cover lines. How Bust and Bitch built independent media ecosystems — and what happened when venture capital came calling. How the Spice Girls sold "girl power" to a generation that didn't know it was a Spice Girls marketing term first But it adds up..
Not the most exciting part, but easily the most useful.
It's not nostalgia. It's pattern recognition.
Why now
The book came out in 2016. That timing wasn't accidental. The Hillary Clinton campaign was running on "I'm with her" and glass-ceiling feminism — the exact brand of marketplace feminism Zeisler dissects. The Women's March was months away. #MeToo hadn't broken yet Worth keeping that in mind..
Reading it post-2016, post-Dobbs, post-"girlboss" implosion — the book feels prophetic. Or maybe just honest about cycles that repeat because we keep refusing to learn them.
The backlash against "corporate feminism" isn't new. But the vocabulary for it is sharper now. Terms like "white feminism," "carceral feminism," "neoliberal feminism" — they're in the discourse because people did the reading. Zeisler's book is one of the texts that made that reading possible.
How It Works: The Mechanics of Co-optation
Zeisler doesn't just describe the phenomenon. She takes it apart. Here's how the machinery operates.
1. Depoliticization through individualization
The core move: take a structural problem, frame it as personal failure, sell the solution The details matter here..
Wage gap? Sexual harassment? Don't organize — lean in. So naturally, don't demand shorter hours — buy a planner. Here's the thing — burnout? Don't dismantle patriarchy — empower yourself with this self-defense keychain.
Zeisler traces this to the 80s and 90s, when "empowerment" migrated from community organizing to self-help. Day to day, the politics evaporated. The language stayed. What remained was a feminism that asked women to fix themselves — harder, better, faster — instead of fixing the world.
2. Aesthetic extraction
Movements have aesthetics. Riot grrrl had zines, baby doll dresses, combat boots. Black feminism had its own visual language. Indigenous feminism, disability feminism, trans feminism — each with distinct cultural markers That's the whole idea..
Marketplace feminism strips the aesthetics from their contexts. It sells the look without the analysis. The "feminist" graphic tee. Even so, the "smash the patriarchy" enamel pin. The "nasty woman" tote bag.
Zeisler is careful here: she's not saying you can't wear the shirt. That said, she's saying the shirt isn't the work. And when the shirt replaces the work, that's by design That's the whole idea..
3. Celebrity feminism as brand management
This section hits different now. Zeisler breaks down how celebrity feminism functions as PR strategy. Beyoncé's Flawless sample. Taylor Swift's squad. Emma Watson's HeForShe speech.
None of these are bad. But they're not politics. Still, they're brand positioning. And when media treats a celebrity's feminist self-identification as the movement's victory condition, the bar lowers. Way down That's the whole idea..
Zeisler quotes bell hooks: "Feminism is not a lifestyle. Which means it's a political commitment. " The celebrity-industrial complex has every incentive to blur that line.
4. The diversity showcase
Marketplace feminism loves visibility. Plus, it loves "firsts. First woman of color on a magazine cover. " First woman CEO. First trans model for a major campaign That's the whole idea..
Visibility matters. But Zeisler shows how it becomes a substitute for material change. A company adds three women to its board — all from the same class background — and calls it progress That's the whole idea..
This is the bit that actually matters in practice.
4. The diversity showcase (continued)
The “diverse campaign” Zeisler describes is only the glossy front of a much larger, often hidden, operation. Plus, when a brand showcases a multiracial, multigendered, or neurodiverse cast, it is not merely reflecting a broader consumer base—it is performing a political alibi. The visual diversity masks the structural homogeneity that still controls decision‑making, profit allocation, and labor practices.
Consider the supply‑chain reality that the excerpt cuts off: while the advertising celebrates a “first” trans model, the factories that produce the garments may employ undocumented workers in low‑wage countries, subject to hazardous conditions and denied collective bargaining rights. The same company might tout a “women‑led innovation lab” while its boardroom remains dominated by a handful of male investors who set the strategic direction.
Zeisler’s point is that visibility alone does not redistribute power; it merely expands the market’s palette. When a company’s diversity metrics are reduced to a marketing brief, the underlying hierarchies remain untouched. The “first” becomes a one‑off story, not a systemic shift. In this way, marketplace feminism turns radical inclusion into a brand asset, not a social transformation.
Honestly, this part trips people up more than it should.
5. The neoliberal wrap: from protest to purchase
If the earlier sections expose how co‑optation works, this one shows how it is sold. And the language of “choice” and “empowerment” is repurposed to sell products, experiences, and lifestyles. Practically speaking, marketplace feminism reframes activism as consumption. The consumer is invited to “join the movement” by buying a limited‑edition tote, wearing a graphic tee, or streaming a celebrity‑curated playlist.
Zeisler notes that this reframing does not happen by accident. It is the result of a coordinated PR strategy that aligns corporate interests with the aesthetics of protest. On the flip side, the result is a feedback loop: the more visible the brand’s “feminist” messaging, the more it normalizes the idea that purchasing power is the primary mode of political participation. In turn, this diminishes the appetite for collective action, because the market appears to be delivering the change we want—albeit in a sanitized, profit‑driven form.
6. The counter‑logic: re‑politicizing the personal
If marketplace feminism succeeds by depoliticizing structural critique, a reclaimed feminism must re‑embed politics into the personal. Here's the thing — when a woman is told to “lean in” to close the wage gap, the underlying issue—unequal pay structures—remains unaddressed. Zeisler suggests that the first step is to recognize the difference between self‑improvement and systemic change. The same logic applies to “self‑care” mantras that encourage individuals to manage burnout without challenging overwork cultures.
A re‑politicized approach asks: *Who benefits from this solution?Also, * It pushes beyond the individual to ask about the institutions that reproduce inequality. It demands that personal narratives be linked to collective demands—better labor laws, affordable childcare, universal healthcare, and genuine workplace democracy. In doing so, it restores the political dimension that marketplace feminism deliberately strips away Which is the point..
Conclusion: Co‑optation as a Business Model
Zeisler’s Marketplace Feminism offers a clear blueprint of how contemporary feminism is being repurposed to serve commercial interests. The mechanics of co‑optation she outlines—depoliticizing structural problems through individualization, extracting and selling activist aesthetics, leveraging celebrity branding, and showcasing token diversity—function as an integrated system. Each component reinforces the others, creating a self‑sustaining loop that transforms radical critique into market opportunity Small thing, real impact. Took long enough..
Understanding this system is not an exercise in cynicism; it is a prerequisite for building a feminism that can survive the commercial squeeze. By exposing how marketplace feminism turns visibility into a substitute for redistribution, and how personal “empowerment” can mask systemic neglect, Zeisler equips readers with the analytical tools to demand more than a pink‑branded tote bag.
Honestly, this part trips people up more than it should.
The challenge, then, is to reclaim the political commitment that marketplace feminism erodes. It means insisting that feminism remains a movement for structural change, not a lifestyle accessory. When we do, we honor the original promise of feminism: to reshape the world, not just to adorn it.
