How do the Representations of Women Differ in Men's Magazines Compared to Women's Magazines

Nicole Aves

How do the Representations of Women Differ in Men’s Magazines Compared to Women’s Magazines.

Hypothesis;

Due to the changing roles of women, the media should reflect this in their representations. My intention is to find if there is a difference in the way women are portrayed in men’s magazines and women’s magazines. I would expect that men’s magazines would be more stereotypical of women (sex objects, domestic, vulnerable) whereas woman’s magazines would be more feminist (women power, independence). My first concept is Angela McRobbie’s pluralist idea of target audience demands (advertisement attraction due to audience demands). My second concept is Marjorie Ferguson’s cult of femininity (instructing women in values and behaviour of being a woman).

Context and Concepts;

The first research study I will be looking at is Angela McRobbie (1991). McRobbie notes how women’s magazines have to attract advertising. The articles on make up are surrounded by advertisements for eyeliner, hair mousse, and lipstick. Fashion and celebrity, prominent in such magazines, are also tied into the system of consumption. It is seen to be unusual to not be interested in hairstyles, cleansing and all the other intimate rituals that are an intrinsic part of being a woman in contemporary consumer culture.

The second study I will be looking at is Marjorie Ferguson (1983). Ferguson conducted a detailed content analysis and interview study of three of the largest selling women’s magazines. She found that women’s magazines convey a ‘cult of femininity’. They instruct women in values and attitudes about being a woman. They tell women what to do and how to think about themselves, about their men, colleagues, children, what to wear how to act, and what to buy to be a femme fatale. While Ferguson claims that it is only men that are instructed in this way, a similar approach is now being applied to men. However, this does not suggest there is an increasing equality in representations of gender roles; rather the magazines aimed at men simply increases gender stereotyping.

These studies are relevant to mine because they show how women are portrayed in women’s magazines. Women don’t want to see other women as sex objects but as successful and guided on how they can be successful too. Articles such as ‘how to get a man’ and ‘how to get a body like Angelina Jolie’ help them to achieve this consumer cult of femininity. The target audience dictates what they want in their magazines, if they don’t like the content they won’t buy it. The advertisements reflect the consumer culture of the target audience – women like to know what ...

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Men’s magazines differ in the fact that they don’t like being told how to act, how to style their hair, or what clothes to wear to be in fashion. Men like magazines that feature attractive women posing half naked in promiscuous positions, and the latest video games with strongmen working their way through levels of violence and destruction to rescue the damsel in distress. They are produced by men for men; so they reflect what men portray as important (and how they portray women) to please the male audience.

Methodology;

Before choosing a method for a study you must consider the practical factors. These are access and opportunity, time, and money. The material used in my study is a form of mass media (magazines) and can therefore be easily accessed (as they are available in many stores throughout the country) to ensure the repeatability of the study. Mass media is cheap so this is not a problem and neither is time. This study will be conducted as a thematic analysis. This is.

I will conduct my analysis on the three women’s magazines and the three men’s magazines that have the most readerships. I have chosen to analyse the top three magazines because they are the most popularly read and therefore I can collate my results according to the representations that the greater proportion of magazine readers are exposed to.

I will observe the images of the women to find the way in which women are portrayed throughout the magazines including the adverts, articles and interviews. The articles and interviews in magazines are reflected in the illustrations for effect.

My data will not be over textual or statistical, as I will be looking at the nature of the pictures rather than the extent. My data will be qualitative because it gives a detailed picture of what people do, think and feel. It is subjective – it involves opinions, meanings and interpretations. Quantitative methods don’t tell you much about the individuals in society. Also by using qualitative methods I will not have to place the pictures into artificial categories.

The sort of things I will look for are signs of women as domestic symbols, sex objects, vulnerable, being instructed in ways of life, and pressures on appearance. These are the most common gender stereotypes of women. I aim to find out if they are applied in the representation of women in the best selling magazines.

Potential Problems;

My research proposal has no practical concerns such as data collection or access, as I will be using magazines that are a form of mass media so my resources are easily accessible and so therefore the data collection will too be easily accessible. There are also no ethical concerns as my study is aimed at the media and not people centred, so I don’t need to take into account any ethical issues.

The validity of my proposal could be questioned as the results may be affected by reflexivity. Reflexivity is when the researcher looks for evidence specifically to support their theories and beliefs. I may do this using selective attention. For example as a woman I may look at the magazines from a feminist perspective and divert my attention to evidence to support ideas, such as men perceive women as sex objects and domestic symbols or generally less important, rather than looking at the picture as a whole, or not viewing the message in the intended way. Pictures are polysemic (have multi messages) and are open to individual interpretation. My interpretation of a picture may be different to another individual, as we are all socialised in different ways.

The sample of magazines I have chosen may not be big enough to generate reliable or representative results. Each magazine is different, so to only look at the top three magazines aimed at each of the two genders is not representable of all magazines, as the results cannot be generalised to the entire population of magazines. Not all women’s magazines are aimed at make up and fashion advice, just the same as not all men’s magazines are aimed at perceiving women as sex objects. Some of the magazines may not be useful to finding results of how women are perceived. To get the correct generalisation, I would have to look at many magazines aimed at both genders, and extensively over many issues. As I would use qualitative methods of data collection it could be difficult to repeat so is not very reliable. Also positivists say that qualitative results lack credibility because they’re subjective and open to interpretation.

I would consider my research proposal to be quite repeatable, as all the resources I would be using are easily accessible and anybody could carry out an analysis on them to verify my results.

(1213 words)

Bibliography

[1] 2004, AQA AS level sociology revision guide, Coodination Group Publications LTD

[2] Haralambos

[3] Moore. S 1994 / 1997, A level sociology, Letts Educational LTD.