*3.2.2 The dilemma between specialization and non-specialization: "There is nothing wrong with this table! Everything is right when you sit here! You are the most perfect!"*

One of the exciting findings of the research is that, contrary to expectations, the two beauty phenomena do not have a distinctive teaching style about makeup; at least, teaching or technique does not compose a common theme in the contents. In this sense, in Özaslan and Bilic's videos, there is a tension between "specialization" and "nonspecialization" regarding makeup. The level of tension changes in the videos of both phenomena. While Duygu Özaslan's demeanor manifests traces of more intense knowledge of makeup techniques, in Danla Bilic's videos, themes of self-focused small talk that reproduce her micro-famousness come to the fore. Therefore, it is possible to deduce that Özaslan's contents are in some measure labor-intensive and Bilic's are more "spectacular."

However, both phenomena sometimes exhibit a "makeup guru" attitude. The argument of specialization in video contents is revealed in the example of Duygu Özaslan, who explains in detail which makeup product she applies and why and uses technical terms, such as "corrector," "pigmentation," "cold color," "silicone base," "sweeping powder," and "baking." In the case of Danla Bilic, although makeup applications lag a bit, she creates a "makeup artist" simulation in some of her statements: "*I am a freestyle makeup artist. I say let us do some eye makeup. I am very good at this. I am pretty good.*" Bilic's statement that she is "pretty good" shows how hyperreality has replaced reality. In the video where Ece Seçkin is a guest, Bilic's "wise" answer after Seçkin consults Bilic about what color eye makeup she should wear reinforces the "makeup guru" simulation: "*Undertone, overtone, red, pink….*"

Two videos subjected to content analysis are almost like a "prosumption challenge." In the video titled "The makeup of the girl who became popular in a short time," where Danla Bilic hosted the pop singer Ece Seçkin, the two women are implicitly triggered by their humorous quarrels while wearing makeup. Makeup materials, masterliness, or the quality of makeup products reproduce the competition between women. Similarly, in the video titled "We changed our makeup bags with Danla Bilic," in which Bilic was a guest on Özaslan's channel, two women changed their makeup bags. They used each other's makeup products, manifesting the exchange of their

*Women Entrepreneurs as Vloggers: Turkish Beauty YouTubers in the Context of Simulative Labor DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109501*

identities and simulations. They challenge each other in this video over how they are unfamiliar with or how they can make up with a small number of cosmetics. Here, it is seen that the prosumer woman identity created by simulative labor has a character that reproduces the competition between women.

On the other hand, the two phenomena sometimes suggest that they are experts in the field of makeup by showing their creativity by changing the usage areas of makeup materials or by violating the rules on applying makeup. This allegation is seen in Bilic's "*Take that blush and please use it as an eyeshadow, okay?*" expression. In another video, she figured that she has been using the foundation in a way since she bought it, which various makeup vloggers or cosmetics department employees advised her to "never use like that."

In the case of Bilic, non-specialization almost reaches the level of being proud of self-confidence, ignorance, and lack of technical knowledge, as is seen in her following statement: "*I love things that I have no idea about*." An example of the extra regular application of makeup techniques is ascended in Bilic's expressions challenging the criticisms against her on social media. Narrating that a user on Twitter asked why she enlarged her lips up to her nose with a lip liner on Twitter, the phenomenon says,

"*I do. I enlarge; I love it, I enlarge, it is that simple*" and "*My face is mine, the highlighter is mine, the contour is mine. I do whatever I want*."

Similarly, in the analyzed videos of Duygu Özaslan, the main conclusion is that she prefers "non-specialization" and challenges professional knowledge by lack of specialization or incompetence. Her expression, "*I will try to do it like a makeup artist now*," in one of her videos means that she admits to not being a professional makeup artist. Moreover, Özaslan sometimes confesses her minor makeup mistakes in her videos. In parallel with these findings, according to research conducted in China, almost all of the beauty vloggers interviewed were amateur-originated, and the desire to "share beauty skills with sisters" was the main point that started their vlogging activities. However, these amateur vloggers have unexpectedly turned into viral figures on social media [17]. This reality coincides with the participatory aspect of integrating social actors in today's consumer society, contrary to Weber's charismatic authority conceptualized through characterizing an individual's personality [53].

### *3.2.3 The death of the sisterhood: "I took an oath in my first video that I will be the end of them all"*

Sisterhood has taken its place in feminist literature and the movement's history as a critical concept that will unite all women and enable them to fight against patriarchy. Bell Hooks, in her work emphasizing the importance of sisterhood, deals with the fact that the meaning of sisterhood has lost its deserved place in the feminist movement over time and the threats and risks posed by this fact:

*"The vision of sisterhood that had been the movement's rallying cry seemed to many women to no longer matter. Political solidarity between women, which had been the force putting in place positive change, has been and is now consistently undermined and threatened. Consequently, we need a renewed commitment to political solidarity between women as we were when the contemporary feminist movement first began" [54].*

One of the most critical elements that threaten sisterhood is the creation of competition among women, which is a patriarchal strategy. By sowing the seeds of hostility between women, competition deprives the victims of the patriarchal system of a common ground of struggle. This reality is noticed explicitly or implicitly in Danla Bilic's videos. For example, in her video where she hosted Ece Seçkin, Bilic humorously and sarcastically states that she has more advanced color knowledge than Seçkin, while graciously saying that she will not withhold her mastery of colors from her. Thus, she reproduces the hierarchy between women and the subtle ways of prevailing in the competition with her followers. Similarly, in Bilic's different videos, the scale between women is reproduced in a way that erodes sisterhood. In the video where she conveys her makeup tactics to high school girls at a level their teachers cannot notice, she has almost turned into a maternal or "big sister-style" authority figure:

*"I brought this for my high school princesses with no skin problems. We apply this lipstick so that it should be a permanent lipstick and should never come off when your teacher tells you to take it off. I call out to high school girls: Never, ever stop yourself from dying your hair, applying your lipstick, and drawing your eyeliner."*

Similarly, a study on a famous beauty phenomenon named Zoe Sugg revealed that the vlogger adopted a kind of "big sister" attitude in her videos [55]. However, although Bilic's video has an older sister style, this is based on the construction of hierarchic relations, rather than a feminist sisterhood manner. There are examples of the death of the sisterhood in Danla Bilic's cynicism, which she adopted and almost turned into a style in her videos titled "Yeditepe University 50% scholarship girl makeup" and "The girl who became a DJ after becoming a phenomenon." In the first video, she states that the female students at Yeditepe University hide their demand for a trendy and affordable cosmetics brand. Besides, she portrays the phenomenon-DJ type she criticizes in the second video with witty theatricality.

In Bilic's videos, some discourses that abolish the sisterhood turn into hostility toward their fellows beyond the competition between women: "*Some YouTubers used to put on this foundation and appear before the camera as if they were wearing no makeup. Danla Bilic does not fall for a trick. I have an oath in my first video that I will finish them all.*" On the other hand, some of Bilic's expressions that destroyed sisterhood goes beyond defense against negative criticism against her on Twitter and turn into a counter-attack: "*They are trying to smear campaign against Danla Bilic. The funny thing is that the girls who do these are not even bloggers. They are 'Kezos*.*'* <sup>15</sup> *Kezos, who think they are bloggers, are trying to defame me. You know what? I will eat them alive.*"

The death of the sisterhood, which is one of the most important findings of the research, coincides with the creation of a hyperreality rather than the accurate means of struggle in the prosumption activities fictionalized on YouTube and the lack of conditions that will provide a basis for rational resistance practices and prevents women's liberation. Indeed, according to Baudrillard [56], liberation is nothing but a simulation in the "post-orgy state" of our age. Under these conditions, women must be competent to have a say over their bodies and deal with beauty practices. However, for women's freedom to be realized, it is essential to stop being enchanted by icons, perhaps to get rid of the enchantment in the "disenchanted world" that Ritzer [57] mentions, and turn into iconoclast sisters.

*"Significantly, sisterhood could never have been possible across the boundaries of race and class if individual women had not been willing to divest of their power to* 

<sup>15</sup> "Kezo" is an abbreviation of "Kezban," a rural-originated female name in Turkish used as slang to define rural-originated girls in cities.

*Women Entrepreneurs as Vloggers: Turkish Beauty YouTubers in the Context of Simulative Labor DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109501*

*dominate and exploit subordinated groups of women. As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized" [54].*

### *3.2.4 Enjoying pleasure and iconization beyond commodities: "I have the quality, I have the beauty."*

In the videos analyzed, there is inevitably the fact of "commodity fetishism" based on the consumer products used during makeup applications, which Marx conceptualized with the claim that consumer products have a unique autonomous power in the capitalist system. Hence, makeup products' brand information is conveyed to the audience by approaching them with the camera before they are used in the videos. At this point, the exaggeration of "signs," one of the basic concepts of Baudrillard's [58] consumption theory, and the reproduction of the "sign value comes into question.

Parallel to the reality of commodity fetishism, the videos provided findings consistent with Baudrillard's analysis of societies of abundance and waste. For example, Bilic's friend can, a guest in one of her videos, says that Bilic does her clothing shopping without trying on the products, and if the clothes she buys do not fit her body, they "*rot away at home*." In another video, Bilic said she bought a costly cosmetic product on a foreign trip without checking the price: "*Then I looked at my credit card. It cost 700 dollars!*." In the video titled "Yeditepe University 50% scholarship girl makeup," she expressed: "*Some people are angry with me. They say 'you use costly products.' But you will see soon, I will not use this (expensive product).*" Although it can be thought that she criticizes the class inequalities embedded in the consumption of products, it is revealed in her video titled "The makeup of the high school girl who says 'I applied only mascara' to her teacher," that this is a strategic move: "*Maybe you will say, 'Danla, that foundation is costly. We are still in high school.' Then you will not eat or drink something (to save money to buy the foundation). Quality is never a coincidence.*" Indeed, the "Yeditepe University 50% scholarship girl makeup" video is the first on Bilic's YouTube channel, and it is possible that she aimed at increasing the number of subscribers of her channel (including the relatively low-income audience) with the promise of using affordable makeup products. Similarly, according to research conducted in Indonesia, beauty vloggers lead college students to waste, and watching beauty vlogs often increases the tendency to consume beauty products. Beauty vloggers establish hegemony on students with strategies, such as providing information about cosmetic products and their use, gaining confidence, increasing communication, and updating information about beauty products [59].

Similarly, it is possible to notice the wastage theme in Duygu Özaslan's videos. In the video where Özaslan applies affordable makeup products, she proves her wasteful consumerism behavior by showing a long shopping slip of cheap makeup products she bought due to her lack of knowledge about the product's quality. For instance, she shared her experience with a makeup product she did not like with the following expressions: "*I gave them all to someone.*" Furthermore, she advises her followers to use the products abundantly when applying makeup, saying, "*you should not use your hands with cowardice."*

All these analyses coincide with Baudrillard's [58] definition of the wastefulness inherent in today's consumer society with "*throwaway society*" or "*garbage-can sociology*." He exemplifies the intrinsic nature of wastefulness in a consumer society with the advertising slogan, "*Smash up your car; the insurance will do the rest!*" [58] parallels the videos' discourses and the two vloggers' behaviors. Content similar to these analyzes is produced in Duygu Özaslan's video titled "My daily makeup," in which she heralds that she will share the makeup products she uses most every month with her followers. In this video, her statement that she changes her blush every day is in line with Bauman's comments on the fluid, uncertain, variable structure of today's consumer society. The condition of being a good consumer is not to be tied to any consumer product [60]. Indeed, "*consumer goods have memento mori written all over them, even if with an invisible ink*" [60].

Despite these explanations, the most original finding of the research is that although commodity fetishism and wasteful consumerism are recommended in Danla Bilic's videos, these elements do not reach the level of the leitmotif of the videos. For example, Bilic says that the foundation she recommends to high school girls is "*one of the most amazing, water-like, most useless foundations in the world.*" Besides, she shares the secrets of creating simulations with her audience through the following statements: "*If you want to do an extremely natural makeup, if you want your teachers not to understand that you are wearing makeup, you can use this foundation.*" As is seen, the opposition of commodity fetishism is produced, and both phenomena can even make harsh criticisms of several makeup products, such as "overgross."

Based on the previous analyses, it is apparent that an "iconization" goes beyond commodities and prosumption activities, especially in Danla Bilic's videos. In the content produced by her, followers are not taught to make up, and makeup is a side element; it can be argued that her viewers follow Bilic as an icon rather than a makeup practice. As exemplified by the phrase "*I have the quality, I have the beauty, the honor, the dignity, it is all in me...*," the well-known phenomenon is positioned beyond the commodities by blessing herself. Indeed, through beauty vloggers' videos, followers often witness the transformation of the physical self. The vloggers, appearing without makeup at the videos' beginnings, transform into whom they want to be that day by making up during the video. As a result, although beauty vloggers have purposes such as teaching new makeup techniques and spreading upto-date information about products through their videos, mainly vloggers' privacy sharing and self-representation practices come to the fore [4]. Hence, Bilic creates a simulation over prosumption. It can be thought that it made her a phenomenon. She never tolerates discourses and comments that she thinks may undermine her iconography. This attitude, exemplified in the statement, "*I will highlight more because somebody on Twitter said that I highlight much*," has a more striking dimension in the following expressions:

*"Well, a crew has sprung up. Why is Danla Bilic famous? Who made her famous? It is none of your business. Whoever did it did it. Whoever loved me loved me. It is none of your business. They are so mad. Honestly, I like it. You know, I like to make people mad!"*

Moreover, Bilic's strong criticism and opposition to DJing offers show that she struggles with potential threats that would erode her iconicity, sometimes with discourses that include signs of aggression:

*"Let us suppose that a sane venue manager will invite me to his/her place to entertain people and to be an appetizer for them. Think about it. A muckety muck will come. He will sit across from me, just for fun. He will make me open a bottle and send me some crappy drink. He will want me to play this. You know what? I will sit him on top of what is spinning in that DJ booth. I will spin him 70 laps on it. Never mind me again, but if you do not have 60 thousand 70 thousand Turkish liras—I have to share this detail—do not make an offer to be a DJ."*

*Women Entrepreneurs as Vloggers: Turkish Beauty YouTubers in the Context of Simulative Labor DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109501*

As a result of all this, Bilic's videos confirming her iconicity turn into a feast where she enjoys being a phenomenon, being an icon, and her show: "*Yes, I am done with my makeup. I am ready for the night. I will do what suits me and make a very nice DJ closing. Now all I ask of you is to turn your headphones up and see how the DJ performs (with laughter).*" Indeed, in many of her videos, even routine dialogs or narratives are surrounded by laughter. It is seen that a happiness simulation is created by laughing even at things that cannot be laughed at. The fact that happiness-oriented attitudes and behaviors are simulative is confirmed by Bilic's having undergone many esthetic operations besides stomach reduction surgery [61]. Similarly, according to a study on social media content producers, content producers emphasize emotions, such as satisfaction and fun. The insistence on emphasizing a positive mood can indicate the emotional effort spent to increase the number of followers by transforming into a loved figure [22].

Although Duygu Özaslan's icon status lags behind Bilic, it is possible to see traces of iconization in Özaslan's videos. For instance, from her following expression in the video titled "My daily makeup," it can be deduced that she considers it uneccentric to share her daily life:

*"I am in my home clothes; I just got out of the shower, and my hair is terrible, but let us get started. The point of the video is to get ready and get beautiful. In the meantime, I am having breakfast. Let me tell you from the beginning; this video has no interesting makeup. I would leave the house; I would get ready anyway."*

In Özaslan's video titled "I do makeup with techniques I hate—the thickest makeup I have ever done," it is apparent that hate is also a simulation and that she enjoys her iconicity. This statement parallels Bauman and Lyon's [21] argument about social media: "*We submit our rights to privacy for slaughter of our own will. Or perhaps we just consent to the loss of privacy as a reasonable price for the wonders offered in exchange.*"

#### **4. Conclusion**

The internet is one of the critical elements that make up the culture of YouTubers today and is organized around a unique structure and value judgments. This culture's new work and labor categories are formed, while visibility and visuality become essential. Women take an active part in this process and turn into new virtual entrepreneurs, and beauty vloggers become prominent figures. On the other hand, in the new virtual world of capitalism, the internet is also an area where women contribute to the reproduction of beauty ideals set up in the patriarchal system. Women's effort as beauty vloggers is based on creating simulations of the ideal female body. Therefore, the concept of simulative labor is proposed in the study. The activities of beauty vloggers should also be considered within the framework of prosumption, as they carry out a production process by wearing makeup while consuming the products. Some academic debates have interpreted the prevalence of female vloggers being occupied with the notion of beauty as women participating in the consumption culture by producing rather than being passive audiences and parties of the consumer society. According to this argument, women's use of self-care and beauty practices through their body perception and reconciliation with their bodies can sometimes create a strategy of resistance against the patriarchal system.

In order to question the claims mentioned above, the videos of Duygu Özaslan and Danla Bilic, the most popular female beauty phenomena with the highest number of followers in Turkey, were subjected to content analysis within the scope of this research. It is aimed to analyze different women identities' construction processes and how relations between women are formed and examine whether makeup videos can contribute to a liberation strategy for women in the context of simulative labor and prosumption relationality. The research findings reveal a tension between specialization and non-specialization regarding makeup techniques, where various simulations of women are created through makeup applications. The most striking finding is that there is a commitment to consumer products rather than a dependency; an implicit or explicit construction of an iconization goes beyond commodities, production, and consumption, sometimes accompanied by attitudes, such as contempt, criticism, and dislike. Although the effect of iconization is more substantial in Bilic's videos, it is apparent that both phenomena enjoy being icons.

These findings make the place of commodity fetishism in the virtual world in today's consumer society open to question. Are the phenomena of today's virtual culture located in a place above prosumption? Do simulations exceed prosumption? Is the concept of a virtual icon rather than a micro-celebrity more helpful in explaining today's YouTubers? These are questions that need to be answered by more extensive research. In addition, conducting research that will determine the followers of beauty vloggers and the comments of the viewers of their videos will make significant contributions to the literature. What is apparent; however, is that strategies based on acquiring competence for physical beauty cannot acquire a form of political struggle for women in a context where the capitalist consumer culture encompasses individuals' ontology and where consumption is encouraged to alienate individuals.

#### **Notes**

This paper is the revised and extended version of the oral presentation titled "Simulative Labor and the Construction of the Prosumer Female Identity," presented at the twenty-first Labor Economics and Industrial Relations Congress held at Eskişehir Anadolu University.
