by Pici

Late-stage capitalism is a term that describes an authoritative and exploitative labor system and is also used to refer to our modern society’s distortion of human life. In our society today, holidays, national identity, and even individual identities revolve around the use of money, goods, and services. Advertisement promises a happiness that is contingent upon the consumer making repeated purchases.

The capitalist society does not prioritize the public good. Rather, the true priority is to keep consumers spending by creating desires and needs that can never truly be met. I observed this phenomenon very clearly during the holidays this year. Instead of celebrating and bonding with loved ones, many have reverted to, it seems, gift giving as a substitute for bonding experiences. This year alone, spending reached an all-time high, with the USA already meeting annual spending expectations by October, which in turn predicted an 8.5%-10.5% increase in holiday sales as compared to 2020.

Holidays are not the only example of how capitalism distorts human experiences. On an individual level, human bodies and self-expression are also dictated by spending expectations. Put simply, men must be strong, smell strong, and demonstrate physical feats of power. Women must look elegant, adorn themselves with paint, jewelry, and other accessories. Gender non-conforming individuals face an expectation of androgyny. Even as the rise of LGBTQIA+ representation in advertising advances, a narrative of sparkles and rainbow- themed everything is pushed onto queer bodies. Not only do these expectations limit personal expression and identity, they also exploit the desire to feel seen and fit in.

Self-expression is different for everyone, but there are certain shared reference points that can be used to express ourselves and our values. For example, a painting communicates its tone through color and symbolism, such as the cool-toned depression displayed in many of Van Gogh’s late works. In everyday fashion, one can express a myriad of personal values ranging from emotion to musical taste to political affiliations. The goth aesthetic, for example, reflects melancholy as well as a rebellion against social norms, as goth is meant to subjugate narratives of gender and traditional understandings of elegance.

Capitalism limits the power of personal expression by treating happiness as a commodity that can be bought and sold. For example, in the case of transgender or intersex bodies, people are often told that gender-affirming products and/or surgeries will be key factors in a trans or intersex person being truly self-realized. In this way, capitalism attempts to control how queer bodies express themselves, as well as how cis-het bodies are meant to react to that expression.

Alok V. Menon, an artist and activist, whose work centers around de-gendering clothing, discusses the expectations that are imposed on queer bodies in an article written by Menon on their website. They explain:

“I received so much scrutiny for my self-presentation: ‘he isn’t trans, he dresses like a man!’ ‘if he’s trans, does that mean he’s a trans man?’ People conflated my vests + bow ties with my gender with my presumed manhood. I was new to this level of visibility, young and still coming into myself. It was traumatizing to have so many people misrecognize + misgender me — like they knew who I was and what I had been through.”

Rather than encouraging people to feel empowered about how they choose to present themselves, many queer and gender non-conforming people are scrutinized for not meeting the aesthetic standards expected of their identity. This affects everyone, regardless of intersectional spectrums. The privileged, as well as the oppressed, are pressured to meet expectations based on their identity; expectations which can be met through conforming to the beauty and gender standards of a capitalist society and its advertising campaigns.

Granted, feeling affirmed by traditional gender norms is by no means a bad thing, but the question must be asked of oneself: “Am I affirmed through buying into normalized expectations as a prerequisite to being respected? Or, do I truly feel as if I am expressing myself in the items that I buy?” There is no simple answer, and each reaction to this reflection will vary person to person as we assess closely our own personal values and tease them apart from capitalist messages about what a person should value. Recognizing what makes room for long term happiness over short term pleasure in one’s life not only encourages autonomy, but it pushes back against a narrative that money, and in turn labor, will buy happiness. Money is a significant factor in surviving a capitalist society, it both limits and provides access to things like food, housing, clothing, and healthcare. When we cultivate our own self-advocacy and self-acceptance as individuals, we are combating ways in which late-stage capitalism distorts human life.