From first looking at the front cover I would assume it had multiple genres, making it a hybrid magazine; Lingerie, beauty and house care. The layout of the magazine is set out in a particularly way to maybe seem feminine, with the curly handwritten serif font. The primary target audience would be women aged between 30 and 50. The female model used on the front cover is made to look appealing to female audiences who are interested in beauty, which is a genre of the magazine, who would want to look like the woman on the cover. The cover anchors the audience to feel as if women are suited for the lifestyle shown, the stay at home, beautiful women who cares for everything at home. Sexualisation can also be seen. The mise-en-scene of the pastel colours don't stand out - suggesting an ideal stereotype for women. Her hairstyle is conservative and suggests an older aged woman. The rhetorical question 'are you an A level beauty?' is an example of a proairetic code suggesting you'll find out from reading the magazine. A direct mode of address is given through 'for your kitchen' which confirms the housewife stereotype. Her airbrushed white teeth connotes wealth, health and confidence. Her costume, a plunging dress showing the shoulders, potentially suggests she's willing to break stereotypes and is confident. Also airbrushing her face to make females see what the ideal woman looks like, showing an aspirational image for women. The colour purple is symbolic of flowers which are stereotypically beautiful and is also linked to being feminine. The word 'kitchen' is significantly bigger than the word 'lingerie' suggesting that household duties are more important than sex. The lexis 'Lingerie goes lively' can be seen as a hermeneutic code that suggests she's an innocent woman however she's linked with sex still, forming a binary opposition. The forced smile seen shows the mold women may have to follow in order to be up to men's standards, forming a patriarchal hegemonic code. 'The world's greatest women's magazine' is an example of a hyperbole and the capitalisation of 'Alfred Hitchcock' heavily suggests he's important or well known, used to attract an audience. Ethnocentrism, the belief your people are better than other people, can be seen within the front cover as it states British women are better through Hitchcock saying 'British women have a special magic'.
Women magazine :
- Published in 1964, brought out weekly
- Price was 7p, approx 80p in our money
- Women magazine first began in 1937 so a well established magazine
- Became very popular in the post-war period, reaching 12 million copies a week in the 1960's
- The magazine had quite a cheap feel because of the paper used
- The magazine itself had a huge circulation
Sociohistorical - what was going on at the time of the media product
The cookery section shows 'Making the most of bacon' which assumes the women are the ones at home who prepares and cooks the food for the rest of the family. Target audience still looks as if it would be women between the age of 30 and 50 through the contents of the magazine; for example the fact there's a page on starting school, a hegemonic assumption that the reader will have children. Plus, in the 'extra special' section there is an article about men which reinforces that men are more important, also the main interview from the magazine is an interview with a man, Alfred Hitchcock. 'A-level looks, makeup to work miracles' which is a big ideological assumption that women who don't wear makeup aren't attractive; also if A-levels are aspirational to the audience then the chances of attending university are unlikely. The overall look of the contents page isn't too different from modern women's lifestyle magazines, the general contents are very similar.
Women's liberation movement - 1972
Intercity, a railway company, used the women's liberation movement to advertise and attract an audience. The media uses a stereotypical representation in order to attract new audiences as the times were changing and people's views are different.
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