Index• Introduction• Girls’ life magazine analyses• Example of Spanish magazine• Reflexion• References

Introduction • TV, tablets, smartphones and magazines + every

single day = EFFECTS

• Teen magazines = crucial in the media influence on girls

• American Psychology Association, 22% of adolescent girls read magazines at least 20 minutes a day

• The influence of advertisements and fashion layouts has a total effect on teenagers.

What about gender?

Action, transport, adventure for BOYS Beauty, kindness, princesses for GIRLS

This information comes from the book of Rosalind Gill “Gender and the Media”

Introduction

In men magazines:Woman is a sexual object of men’s desire

In women magazines the content is focused on the men:

How do they think?What do they want?

In teen girls magazines the most common questions are: “How can I look like a model or how do I have to behave to get and keep a

boyfriend”

Differences between men/women’s magazines

In teens magazines often appear boys interviewed about what they want in a girl, about the differences between a “good girl” and a “bad girl” but the message behind this is that:

Girls are always evaluated for their appearance

The themes of the magazines are influenced by the ideology

In 1940 – women’s magazines put in evidence the independent work outside home…

But in 1950 – it was celebrated the return to family life, encouraging women to do the housework.

and the ideology has changed over the years

An example:

The magazines were been influenced by social, political and economical changes such as the rise of feminism or the large number of women into the labour market.

But today the way in which women are seen has changed again. There are specific images of the “woman” that magazines propose:• Women seen through the celebrities : worried about lifestyles, diets, body care, sex life...• Feminist point of view• Someone who can do everything in and outside home: who is able to work, to bring up children, to cook and to do home projects

BE NATURAL! BUT..A big contradiction

The biggest contradiction that occurs in teen magazines is that they promote two opposite messages:

The message put in evidence is often “be yourself”

But at the same time a girl has to:• Have a perfect skin• Have stylish hair • Be thin• Pay attention to her appearance and her behaviour

And – first of all – they have to be attractive for a boy.

Girls’ life magazine’s analyses • If you don’t follow

these ideas, you don’t have style

• It creates dependency on girls, they need to buy the magazine to know what and how to wear it

Do girls really think that boys play with them or are all this kind of magazines promoting that thinking?

The most important thing is the appearance: it doesn’t matter what, if it’s an easy way to look better

Do you think they are going to mention the addiction of

reading magazines?

Girls’ life webzine

First thing girls

should be

interested inDifferent topics,

everything girls could be

worried about

Crafts, recipes., draws…

Gossip, star style., exclusives

…

Fashion, beauty, how

to look good…

Eat right, healthy stuff…

About guys,

mainly “girls’

concerns”…

Girls’ life webzine • In the section GET A BF (boyfriend),

the writers call themselves “ice breakers” and give girls 8 “flirty tips” to make him their homecoming date

• We can see some questions such as: “do guys change their mind about liking you?”

• A girl asking for help: “I’m dating a guy I don’t like just to have a boyfriend”, and then she explains her story with this bloke.

• Is it real or just an invention of the creators?

• They also give some ideas for dating (during autumn season)

It is quite worrying as there are lots of matters more important than boys that should be interesting for girls

Girls’ life webzine • In this section we can find questions

like this: What to do if you think a friend needs help? (“FRIENDS”)

• In “FAMILY” they explain what girls should do to get whatever they want without begging. It doesn’t seem to be very ethical

• About “SCHOOL”, they are so cool that say: “school has a way of making interesting subjects super boring”

• It gives girls an incentive to hate the school someway.

If girls read “advice”, they would think that everything is said there ,is good

Girls’ life webzine

• Some techniques are used to attract more readers. E.g. “Psst! Wanna know the secret to looking totally amazing this year? It’s all in the details!”

• “Surveys”, the name they give for answering questions such as: “What do you prefer: curl your hair or straighten it?”

• We can see some ideas to redo our bedroom

• Recipes: how to cook peach muffins • Some tips to “rock girls’ weekends”;

for instance: “How to turn any afternoon into a party”

Example of Spanishmagazine The repeated themes are:

Love

Gossip

Sex

Reflexion

•Do you think it is a big problem?

•Can we compare this sort of media with television?

•What would you do to improve this situation? (what can we do?)

Bibliography and websites

• GILL, R.: “Gender and the media” (2007) Malden (USA): Smeg

• The negative effects of teen megazines• http://www.ehow.com/list_7769492_negative-effects-teen-magazines.html#ixzz283stcNZH

• Girls’ life webzine• http://www.girlslife.com