Throughout the years women's magazines have proved to be a profitable market. In general, these magazines are known as moral guides, shopping guides, and texts of stories and advice columns that can serve as an inspiration for different kinds of women. The numbers of sales of most of these women's magazines is impressive. Both women and young women have a history of consumption of these magazines that still continues today. For years, researchers have been investigating what it is that draws the women and teens to subscribe to these magazines. What kinds of techniques and strategies are being used? And what influence do these magazines have on the socialization of gender roles for women? Although these questions take much research and analyzing to even begin to answer, the use of language and different types of text is a great place to begin.
[...] Gossip, as Deborah Jones describes it in The Feminist Critique of Language, is the of talking between women in their roles as women, intimate in style, personal and domestic in topic and setting, a female cultural event which springs from and perpetuates the restrictions of female role, but also gives the comfort of validation” (Jones, 243). Gossip forms a kind of speech community. It is no wonder that magazine editors and publishers have capitalized on this aspect of women's culture and communication. [...]
[...] In conclusion, women's magazines have amassed billions of dollars in sales and are widely popular throughout the United States and many other countries as well. They use techniques to promote “community” among readers, and try to get the readers to feel as though they are in a conversation or a chat session with their girlfriends. The use of this discourse of a community of sisters and friends is clever and, obviously, successful. Editors and copywriters go to great pains to learn about their target audience. [...]
[...] I mean willingly to become the confidant of readers, young and old, rich and poor, who can safely trust me with their ideas and difficulties” (164). Joy Leman explains that the start of producer-audience relationship spread to other publications and is now a defining characteristic of women's magazines. “They are informal and friendly, constructing a ‘tone of intimacy and confidentiality'” (Leman, 63). According to Mary M. Talbot author of Language and Gender, there are three different ways that the “voice of a friend” can be established: the impression of a two way interaction, an informal style, and the establishment of common ground. [...]
[...] The question to be asked is how are these techniques in the magazines contributing to the socialization of women and young women? First, it is necessary to understand the term femininity. Femininity is a conglomeration of concepts and themes, social relations, and practices. It discursively organizes women's lives, even impinging on their bodies. It is articulated in commercial and mass-media discourses, especially in the magazine, clothing and cosmetics industries (Talbot, 144). These industries are constantly working to shape fashion and beauty standards. [...]
[...] However, they contribute largely to the socialization of women and young women. According to sex role theory, women' magazines are “scripts of femininity: women are said to learn femininity through identification with cultural representations. These representations are problematic because they offer stereotypical depictions of women. They not only distort the true nature of women, but they also distort the true interests of women. For example, a study done by Evans and his colleagues in 1991 notes that publications approach their theme topic of interpersonal relations through fashion and beautification, giving only some attention to the normative problems in relationships. [...]
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