Constructing representations of femininity:
- The female identity is represented as possibly bound to a certain lifestyle containing homecare, suggesting that women are only housewives and their purpose is to care for the family.
- The magazine shows how to be the perfect housewife; we consistently see the reinforcement of the idea that women belong at home.
- The target audience is heterosexual females, which isn't always obvious because of the contents such as the Alfred Hitchcock interview as well as things that may be more appealing to the heterosexual male audience.
- The function of the magazine is for women's entertainment, they may read the magazine to possibly feel wanted, maybe something to relate to in a time where women maybe underappreciated.
- Hitchcock emphasises his wife is a very good cook, making the reader feel they either need to be one of two things; either attractive or good cooking. People would idolise Grace Kelly.
- George gerbner's theory of cultivation; that if the producer's ideology is seen time after time, eventually people will be influenced by it.
- The sole function of the magazine is to manipulate women, anchors women to follow a certain lifestyle.
- Because of how the publishers and editors would have been mostly male, this could possibly be used to suggest the magazine was used in order to shape how heterosexual men may want women to be like, manipulating them through the magazine, men would do this in order to seem more powerful; if women are in the kitchen then they're not working, going to university or protesting in the streets, allowing men to remain superior.
- It establishes a hegemonic difference between the two genders, an example of patriarchal hegemony.
- Gives the idea that women are wearing makeup for men, to look appealing to them, instead of wearing it for themselves.
- Constructs a target audience, everything needs a primary target audience, Women magazine exists purely because of the financial aspects.
- It creates a binary opposition between men and women, with women knowing their place in society; creating a simplified world for the audience.
Feminist theory - bell hooks :
- Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women.
- Feminism isn't a lifestyle choice, it is a political movement
- Race, class and gender all determine the extent to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.
- Hooks believes that feminism is for everyone
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