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Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers
Contributor(s): Currie, Dawn H. (Author)
ISBN: 0802082173     ISBN-13: 9780802082176
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
OUR PRICE:   $44.06  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: April 1999
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Annotation: Current Feminist Debate Finds Itself At An Impasse Concerning The significance of women's magazines -- are they full of oppressive prescriptions of femininity or celebrations of woman-centred pleasure and resistance against the patriarchy? The question has been examined largely by middle-aged academics, in some cases far removed in age and education from the intended consumers of these magazines, and the assumptions they have reached about the messages absorbed by young women may be completely wrong.

Dawn Currie takes a new approach, by looking at the readers themselves and how they interpret the message of the women's magazine in their everyday lives. Based on interviews with 48 girls aged 13 to 17, this book challenges many assumptions that have arisen through researchers making their own interpretations, such as the supposed appeal of glossy photo spreads and advertisements. In Currie's study; we find that girls prefer written texts, particularly advice columns, because they view them as 'useful' for 'everyday living'; particularly within the school culture, which Currie finds reinforces the message of the teenzines by encouraging girls to doubt themselves rather than to question the cultural constructs that surround them. Using intertextuality as a reading strategy for materialist feminism, Dawn Currie distinguishes between the 'social' and the 'cultural' and allows us to better understand how power as a quality of social relationships, works through the cultural media of fashion and beauty magazines.

Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Women's Studies
- Social Science | Media Studies
- Social Science | Research
Dewey: 051.083
LCCN: 00550914
Physical Information: 1.04" H x 6.02" W x 9.01" (1.18 lbs) 416 pages
Themes:
- Sex & Gender - Feminine
- Topical - Adolescence/Coming of Age
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Current feminist debate finds itself at an impasse concerning the significance of magazines for adolescent girls- are they full of oppressive prescriptions of femininity, or celebrations of female-centred pleasure and resistance against the patriarchy? The question has been examined largely by middle-aged academics, in some cases far removed in age and education from the intended consumers of these magazines, and the assumptions they have reached about the messages absorbed by young women may be completely wrong.

Dawn Currie takes a new approach, by looking at the readers themselves and how they interpret the message of the magazines in their everyday lives. Based on interviews with 48 girls aged 13 to 17, this book challenges many assumptions that have arisen through researchers making their own interpretations, such as the supposed appeal of glossy photo spreads and advertisements. In Currie's study, we find that girls prefer written texts, particularly advice columns, because they view them as useful for everyday living, particularly within the school culture, which Currie finds reinforces the message of the 'teenzines' by encouraging girls to doubt themselves rather than to question the cultural constructs that surround them. Using intertextuality as a reading strategy for materialist feminism, Dawn Currie distinguishes between the 'social' and the 'cultural' and allows us to better understand how power as a quality of social relationships works through the cultural media of fashion and beauty magazines.


Contributor Bio(s): Currie, Dawn H.: - Dawn H. Currie is Chair of the Women's Studies Programme and Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia.