Despite the widespread popularity of United States (US) weddings and the cultural significance assigned to modern brides, scant research has examined US bridal femininity—an important site of analysis for understanding contemporary norms and expectations of femininity, more generally. In response to this gap, drawing on constructivist grounded theory and poststructural feminism, the present study examined 18 heterosexual, predominantly White, middle-class, cisgender US brides’ experiences of their weddings. Analyses revealed that brides navigated expectations of niceness, engaging in both Princess Bride-like and “Bridezilla”-like behaviors and emotions. Implications for idealized femininity within a neoliberal context are considered.
Ahmed, S. (2010). Killing joy: Feminism and the history of happiness. Signs: Journal of women in Culture and Society, 35(3), 571–594.
2.
Calder-DaweO.WetherellM.MartinussenM.TantA. (2021). Looking on the bright side: Positivity discourse, affective practices and new femininities. Feminism & Psychology, 31(4), 550–570. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593535211030756
3.
CharmazK. (2000). Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 509–535). SAGE.
4.
FroschauerU.DurrheimK. (2019). “It’s the bride’s day”: The paradox of women’s emancipation. Feminism & Psychology, 29(1), 58–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353518803975
5.
GaveyN. (1989). Feminist poststructuralism and discourse analysis: Contributions to feminist psychology. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13(4), 459–475. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1989.tb01014.x
6.
GoffmanE. (1978). The presentation of self in everyday life. Harmondsworth.
7.
HumbleA. M.ZvonkovicA. M.WalkerA. J. (2008). “The royal we”: Gender ideology, display and assessment in wedding work. Journal of Family Issues, 29(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X07305900
8.
Ingraham, C. (2007). 27 one is not born a bride. Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies.
9.
IngrahamC. (2008). White weddings: Romancing heterosexuality in popular culture. Routledge.
10.
JackD. C.AliA. (2010). Silencing the self across cultures: Depression and gender in the social world. Oxford University Press.
11.
KayJ. B.KennedyM.WoodH. (Eds.). (2019). The wedding spectacle across contemporary media and culture: Something old, something new (pp. 1–20). Routledge.
12.
LeonardS. (2018). Wife, Inc.: The business of marriage in the twenty-first century (pp. 1–30). New York University Press.
13.
LloydS. A.EmeryB. C.KlattS. (2009). Discovering women’s agency in response to intimate partner violence. In LloydS. A.FewA. L.AllenK. R. (Eds.), Handbook of feminist family studies (pp. 264–280). SAGE.
14.
ManneK. (2017). Down girl: The logic of misogyny. Oxford University Press.
PatemanC. (1988). The sexual contract. Stanford University Press.
19.
RichardsL.MorseJ. M. (2013). Readme first for a user’s guide to qualitative methods. SAGE.
20.
RudmanL. A.GlickP. (1999). Feminized management and backlash toward agentic women: The hidden costs to women of a kinder, gentler image of middle managers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(5), 1004–1010. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.5.1004
21.
SamekA. A. (2012). Domesticating matrimonial monstrosity: Bridezillas and narratives of feminine containment. In RuggerioA. A. (Ed.), Media depictions of brides, wives, and mothers (pp. 11–25). Lexington Books.
22.
SharpE. A. (2018). Betty Crocker vs. Betty Friedan: Meanings of wifehood in a postfeminist era. Journal of Family Issues, 39(4), 843–867. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X1668009
23.
SharpE. A.WeaverS. (2015). Feeling like feminist frauds: Theorizing feminist accountability in feminist family research within a neoliberal, post-feminist context. Journal of Family Theory and Review, 7(3), 299–320. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12080
24.
SniezekT. (2005). Is it our day or the bride’s day? Division of wedding labor and its meaning for couples. Qualitative Sociology, 28(3), 215–234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-005-6368-7
25.
TurnerV. (1974). Dramas, fields, and metaphors: Symbolic action in human society. Cornell University Press.
