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A cross-cultural comparison of women’s magazines in Japan and North America

University of British Columbia

Western feminists have viewed women's magazines as socializing agencies which shape women's perspectives of being female. It has been argued that the ideologically biased and limited content of women's magazines are obstacles for the achievement for gender equality and that more positive images of women are needed. Others argue that women's magazines serve to teach women how to be successful in male-oriented society. This thesis examines the visual and written messages regarding femininity found in women's magazines for young single working women in both Japan and North America. By using both quantitative and qualitative content analyses, the socio-cultural context of the role of women's magazines were compared. Results showed that women in both cultures are given limited positions in the world of women's magazines, although significant cultural differences were also observed. In advertisements, North American women's magazines tend to show both traditionally feminine (sexy and elegant) women and "new" and "active" women. The presence of predominantly macho-type male figures suggested the persisting subordination of women to men. Japanese women's images are narrowly defined, leaving only a few characteristics, such as pretty and cute, for women to choose. An examination of Caucasian female models in Japanese advertisements revealed that their presence could serve to establish Japanese cultural boundaries of femininity. Through the magazine's article content, North American women's magazines tend to have a variety of articles which encourage women to have it all or to become "superwomen." Japanese women's magazines clearly differentiated their content by the career orientedness of their targeted readership and most of the articles in the mainstream magazines are marriage-related. The overall findings suggest that North American women's magazines serve as "survival guides" for women to succeed in male-oriented society by learning both masculinity and femininity. In contrast, the main purpose of Japanese women's magazines apparently is to provide a cultural text for readers to gain femininity as a cultural resource to be successful as women in their society.

Japan; North America

Text

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0098969

Master of Arts - MA

Arts, Faculty of; Anthropology, Department of

1995-11

Graduate