Reading Women's Magazines by Joke Hermes

In order to answer this question, I will look at not only the women that are included in the magazine, but also the way that the audience is perceived by the producers of the publication. “ How are women represented in Heat magazine?” I therefore decided to research the following question: I am particularly interested in the way women are constructed through the content of the magazine. Heat is one of many women’s magazines on the shelves today and, like other what might be considered ‘gossip’ magazines, raises many questions about gender representations. My research is based on the magazine Heat. How are women represented in Heat magazine? After completing this research, I have also conducted further research into femininity in women’s magazines which you can find in the next post.įeel free to comment below as any feedback is greatly appreciated! I have split the findings up into sub-sections to clearly guide you through the discussion. Some strong conclusions have been drawn into the way women are constructed and feel this conclusions are a true reflection of real life. Representations in society have always been something that has interested me, and as a reader of such magazines myself, I decided this would be a good place to begin my research. The book provides both a detailed analysis of a particular media genre and an introduction to the role of media products in day-to-day lives of individuals.The following research analyses the way female representations are constructed within one of the most popular women’s magazines in journalism today – Heat. While based on original ethnographic research, this book also covers a broad spectrum from 'Woman', 'Woman's Own' and 'Cosmopolitan', to feminist magazines and gossip magazines. Readers are, on occasion, empowered by magazines, which may provide them with the opportunity to imagine 'perfect selves'. Drawing on extensive interviews with readers (both women and men), Hermes shows that, for many readers, women's magazines are a genre that helps pass empty time, that are easily put aside when other things need to be done and that sometimes offer stories or information that may strengthen the reader for a while.

She explores the ways in which individuals use media products in their daily lives, as well as the interpretive repertoires they employ in order to make sense of media texts. But what do readers think? Why do they read them, how do they read them and what role do they play in their lives? In this study, the author examines womens' magazines through the eyes of their readers. reading gossip magazines - the imagined communities of 'gossip' and 'camp'.Īlmost everyone has an opinion about women's magazines.reading a feminist magazine - fantasizing the female homo universalis.easily put down - how women and men read women's magazines.Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index.

Reading Women's Magazines by Joke Hermes