Oates, Caroline Jane (1997) Rereading women's magazines : the feminist identity of Best, Bella and Take a Break. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
Abstract
In this thesis the attraction of women's weekly magazines to their readers was
explored. Three bestselling titles in Britain, Best, Bella and Take a Break, were
analysed for their production, content and reception using Hall's (1980)
encoding/decoding model as a theoretical framework.
The production of the magazines was addressed via interviews with the three
editors and documentary sources, all placed within an environment of postfeminism
which characterised the magazines' launches. The editors claimed their
publications were intended to act as more than entertainment to the readers and
identified Best, Bella and Take a Break as incorporating feminist elements. This
feminism was interpreted as an attempt to support working class women in their
struggles with everyday life via two distinct approaches: first, to offer advice,
reassurance and information in the editorial (for example health, articles on
employment and finance) and second, to give women a voice in the true life stories
from which other readers could draw strength.
The editors' intentions for Best, Bella and Take a Break were realised (although
with different results for each magazine) in the content, which was analysed using
both qualitative and quantitative methods. It was found that despite the potential
ambiguity of certain content, the magazines nevertheless incorporated a supportive
feminist agenda, but this was not always recognised by the readers. Over one
hundred women were interviewed individually or in focus groups and it was found
that they interpreted the magazines in a number of ways. This finding expanded on
Hall's original three decoding positions of accept, negotiate and oppose.
Although readers did not necessarily decode the magazines as intended by the
editors, further evidence for the supportive feminism was apparent in the
community ethos generated by the sharing of magazines amongst readers. It was
also found that the trust and mediated interaction between a reader and her
magazine further encouraged a sense of community. It was concluded that Best,
Bella and Take a Break were offering a supportive feminist agenda to their
readers, some of whom recognised and used this content in their everyday lives.
Metadata
Keywords: | Literature |
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Awarding institution: | University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Identification Number/EthosID: | uk.bl.ethos.267067 |
Depositing User: | EThOS Import Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 31 May 2016 13:30 |
Last Modified: | 31 May 2016 13:30 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:12776 |
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