Decoding Femininity: Advertisements and Their Teenage Readers

Currie (1997) conducted a study on how girls interpret what it means to be a woman based on advertisements in magazines.  She conducted interviews and focus group sessions with 48 girls ages 13 to 17, most of whom are not regular teen magazine readers.  The focus group sessions used 25 advertisements gathered from Seventeen magazine and the individual interviews allowed the participants to discuss the content from their favorite magazines.  The author found several themes common among respondents.  They rejected ads that that they felt were illogical or irrelevant; often spoke against ads’ portraying women with perfect bodies, but rarely spoke against society’s mandate for women to always look good; linked feeling good about themselves with looking good; and wanted to have the self-esteem and confidence that models personified.  Currie stated that the study is a perfect example of how people develop ideology based on the images that they see regularly.  She found that women may define who they are, but the conditions in which they must thrive are not of their making.

This study reminds me most of a poem that my mom used to hang in my room, which I included below, “Children Learn What They Live,” (Nolte, 1972). The things we see everyday have the most impact on the adults we become. This study focused on the role the media plays in young women’s development. Their role is important, but what children encounter and learn in the household, I believe, is equally important. If parents spent more time encouraging media literacy, so that their children understood the media’s role and actions, more young people would identify less with how the media says they should feel about their image and focus more on how they really feel about themselves as a complete person.

This is the actual poster that used to hang in my room

(Children Learn What They Live, n.d.)

Reading Representations of Black, East Asian, and White Women in Magazines for Adolescent Girls

Sengupta (2006) conducted a study to compare how White, Black, and East Asian women were portrayed in advertisements in teen magazines.  She analyzed two issues from YM and Seventeen and one issue of Fashion 18.  The researcher analyzed full-page and multiple-page advertisements featuring at least one woman, totaling 194 images. Content was analyzed for beauty type (e.g., classic/feminine, sexy/sensual), representation type (e.g., East Asian, Back, White), and product type. The models were also coded for their implied social relationships and relative importance in the ad (e.g., major role, minor role). The study proved that race played a role in how ads portrayed models. Black models were usually placed in fashion advertisements, and White models were usually placed in beauty advertisements, which correlates with traditional American ideals and stereotypes that portray White women as the ideal beauty and Black women as having a hypersexual body. East Asian women were found to possibly be starting a new stereotype considering their prominence in technology advertisements.

To be honest, I never quite paid much attention to the race of females in advertisements, but the findings in this study are especially interesting because Black women are often more concerned with beauty (e.g. getting nails and hair done, buying makeup) than body image. Studies show that African American women are disproportionately obese compared to other races in America and are less likely to practice behaviors that would help with weight management, (July, Hawthorne, Eliot, Robinson, 2003). Is it possible that Black women may be subconsciously influenced by the lack of representation in beauty advertisements, and as a result toss the already-achieved body image acceptance aside and strive to be seen as equally as beautiful as their White counterparts?

Naomi Campbell, one of the few top Black models, is depicted in this video discussing her stance on the lack of Black women portrayed as beautiful by the media.

(Idtvdocs, 2009)

Conclusion

The studies discussed in this blog have covered a variety of ways that magazines influence teenage girls and young women. For some, these publications are a rite of passage—a way to learn what it means to be a young woman and may even help to develop those social skills that are important to womanhood. Learning what it means to be a woman must mean learning about body image, considering it was among the highest segments of teen magazine’s content. Sadly, it did not promote acceptance of various body types; instead, girls were taught to strive for a body type that only makes up only 5% of the population. Encouraging young women to strive for better health and to portray their best face to the world would be more practical than promoting and adapting to the European ideals that fill their pages. Diversity and racial stereotypes are very uncommon in these magazines and do not typically reflect the various races that comprise the countries that they serve. As a result, women of these underrepresented groups are unlikely to find women that look like them modeling a range of products. Feminism, as generally defined by Pierce (1990) as female independence, is too often overlooked in teen magazines. The United States has more women graduating from college than men, yet the teen magazines still commonly portray women as dependent on men. Regardless of the education and careers that so many women have attained, occupations in these magazines geared toward adolescent females still portray males in jobs twice and often as females. Male dominance also carries over into the way relationships are featured. Girls are often portrayed in advertisements and articles in teen magazines as either being submissive to boys or ideally being submissive to boys. The only time girls are usually encouraged to stand up to boys is when it come to their sexuality; however, girls are still taught to expect boys’ sexual advances but are expected to also fight them. These magazines that seem so innocent contain far more harmful message than people often realize. While there are a few magazines that support independent females and a realistic approach to body image, magazines the ones typically discussed are likely hear to stay. Media literacy is the only way that young women and people as a whole can see through the messages that many take for granted. I encourage all people to learn more about media literacy, especially in regard to the media’s values. Consider visiting the Center for Media Literacy’s page for more information.