Confessions of a (former) shopaholic
Consumerism is a greedy beast...shopping can become an addiction.
Do we all remember that movie with Isla Fisher (based on Sophie Kinsella's novels) where she became so obsessed with shopping that it was beyond a joke? She screwed up financially, threatened her job, and almost missed her chance with the charismatic Hugh Dancy?
In many 'chick-flick' films, a certain image is forced upon us, which is meant to represent glamour and pure happiness: the woman exiting a shop, clad with dozens of coloured bags. She has left the final store and has undergone a transformation. We are often tossed this superficial narrative arc: woman does not have anything to wear for a party, her friends somehow pay for her to get dozens of outfits (though she only wears one), and then she heads to said party and wins the attention of her dream man.
This type of plot is escapist joy, and who am I to complain about escapist joy? But we, especially as women, have to grapple with the fact that we need to be constantly buying, constantly spending, constantly consuming, in order to feel happy. We are taught that we should always be in the pursuit of a new luxury, and never satisfied with what we have.
Yet, this mindset is incredibly toxic. I know I have had my Isla Fisher moment, where I had a period of my life where I thought the constant purchase of new clothes would fulfil me. For some time, it did, to a certain degree. But when it gets to the stage that you are not saving money for things like travel or a house, because you are always chasing that ideal of being the woman armed with many shiny bags, that is when things start to go south.
That is not to say that one can easily break out of this attitude: I, for one, am not at that stage yet. There are steps that can be taken though, to become less of a shopaholic. I like to create wishlists for products, so that I am not just mindlessly buying things that I will not want in a few months. I have a separate bank account for frivolous spending, so that it doesn't get to Rebecca-Bloomwood levels of financial anxiety. My final action might sound silly, but I choose to enter stores less. If you are constantly surrounded by the promise of retail therapy, then of course you will immerse yourself in it!
Consumerism can be harming when it begins to affect your life. It is hard to divorce yourself from an idea that is so heavily embedded into fiction, but hopefully one day we can confess that we are less of shopaholics.