How do girls’ magazines talk about breasts?

Abstract

Girls’ magazines play an important role in female adolescents’ identity and their constructions of femininity. Despite breast development being common to all female adolescents, and breasts being a key signifier of femininity, the representation of breasts in girls’ magazines has not been investigated. A Foucauldian discourse analysis was conducted to understand the ways in which breasts are represented in two popular girls’ magazines ( Teen Vogue and Seventeen). Articles in Seventeen promoted a contradictory and potentially confusing postfeminist discourse, supporting calls for Body Positivity, whilst at the same time framing breasts as problematic and encouraging girls to aspire to an ideal breast. The reader was positioned as a consumer with the purchase and wearing of bras offered as a neoliberal solution to these problems. In contrast, Teen Vogue articles conveyed a feminist informed Body Positivity discourse. Readers were positioned as active feminist advocates, incited to adopt radical, collective, political responses in order to challenge the potentially damaging messages surrounding breast ideals and sexualisation. We argue that consistent feminist messages are needed across and within media to support teenage girls in negotiating their bodies and identities.

Erasure of labour: a critical analysis of appetite suppressant product marketing by Flat Tummy Co

“…The consistent rhetoric from each repertoire is 'don't try, you will fail', which leads logically and inexorably to FTC products that promise to make difficult, nay impossible, work unnecessary. It also reifies the neoliberal approach to the body by generating insecurity and then providing an individualised product as a solution (Brown et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Here we see neoliberal consumption offered as a solution to women's problems. Women are said to gain power through the purchase of products (Brown et al, 2020), ostensibly leading to a 'winwin' for women and for neoliberalism.…”

“…In answer to this call to work, neoliberal consumerism is invariably trumpeted as the solution. By consuming products, work on the body can be enacted ( Nicola Brown, Christine Campbell, Craig Owen and Atefeh Omrani, 2020). Consumption is positioned as central to production of postfeminist identity (Riley et.…”