The Mystique of Masculine and Feminine Choices: How Aversive Feelings Underlie Preferences

Research suggests that consumers seek masculine or feminine choices to reinforce their gender identities (Debevec and Iyer 1986; Grohmann 2009). But, is the entire allure of a masculine or a feminine choice captured in securing one’s sense of manhood or womanhood? If not, what other purposes might these choices serve? Drawing on the symbolic links between agency with masculinity and communion with feminity (Bakan 1966) and research on symbolic compensatory consumption (Rucker and Galinsky 2013; Wicklund and Gollwitzer 1981), we propose that consumers consider masculine and feminine choices as sources of agency and communion, and thereby use masculine choices to alleviate low-agentic feelings (e.g., feeling incompetent, powerless, or incapable) and feminine choices to allay low-communal feelings (e.g., feeling excluded, disconnected, or isolated). Further, we suggest that these boosts in preferences for masculine and feminine choices are due to the perceptions that acquiring these choices would provide consumers with increased senses of agency and communion