Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T23:47:59.544Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Older women using women's magazines: the construction of knowledgeable selves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2020

Dana Sawchuk Open the ORCID record for Dana Sawchuk [Opens in a new window]  and
Mina Ly Open the ORCID record for Mina Ly [Opens in a new window]
Dana Sawchuk*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Mina Ly
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Email: dsawchuk@wlu.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Women's magazines are widely read in Canada. The popularity of such magazines is significant because critical gerontologists, primarily drawing on content analyses of the magazines, often argue that these publications convey problematic messages about ageing. This article broaches the subject of women's magazines and ageing from a different vantage point, that of the older woman reader herself. This audience-centred research draws on 21 semi-structured interviews with Canadian women over the age of 55. The study examines what older women say about the ageing-related content of women's magazines, along with what they say about how, when and why they read these magazines. Findings illustrate that participants are aware of the inadequate and unrealistic representations of older women in women's magazines. Nonetheless, they value the publications as a source of practical information on a variety of topics and as a light and undemanding source of entertainment and relaxation. The study reveals how participants assess and deploy magazine contents and characteristics in ways that contribute to, and are informed by, their lives and identities as older women. Against the broader cultural context of ageism, using and talking about women's magazines enables the participants to position themselves as knowledgeable and informed on a variety of topics and in multiple interactions, both in explicit reference to the magazines themselves and more generally in their lives.

Keywords

women's magazinesolder womenmagazine readingageingidentityself-positioningCanada
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , April 2022 , pp. 765 - 785
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, M (2003) Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada, and the Myth of Converging Values. Toronto: Penguin Canada.Google Scholar
Ades, J and Larouche-Maltais, A (2019) From NAFTA to CUSMA: The Changes, the Additions, and What Remains. The Conference Board of Canada. Available at https://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=10323&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1.Google Scholar
Armstrong, S (2000) Magazines, cultural policy and globalization: the forced retreat of the state? Canadian Public Policy 26, 369–385.10.2307/3552407CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Azzi, S (1999) Magazines and the Canadian dream: the struggle to protect Canadian periodicals 1955–1965. International Journal 54, 502–523.Google Scholar
Ballaster, R, Beetham, M, Frazer, E and Hebron, S (1991) Women's Worlds: Ideology, Femininity and the Woman's Magazine. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3, 77–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braun, V and Clarke, V (2012) Thematic analysis. In Cooper, HM, Camic, PM, Long, DL, Panter, AT, Rindskopf, D and Sher, KJ (eds), APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology, Vol. 2, Research Designs: Quantitative, Qualitative, Neuropsychological, and Biological. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 57–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, A and Knight, T (2015) Shifts in media images of women's appearance and social status from 1960 to 2010: a content analysis of beauty advertisements in two Australian magazines. Journal of Aging Studies 35, 74–83.10.1016/j.jaging.2015.08.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christensen, CL (2017) Healthy ageing and mediated health expertise. Nordicom Review 38, 9–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coupland, J (2009) Time, the body and the reversibility of ageing: commodifying the decade. Ageing & Society 29, 953–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Covert, JJ and Dixon, TL (2008) A changing view: representation and effects of the portrayal of women of color in mainstream women's magazines. Communication Research 35, 232–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawford, R (1980) Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services 10, 365–388.10.2190/3H2H-3XJN-3KAY-G9NYCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Currie, D (1999) Girl Talk: Adolescent Magazines and Their Readers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.10.3138/9781442675346CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Del Rosso, T (2017) There's a cream for that: a textual analysis of beauty and body-related advertisements aimed at middle-aged women. Journal of Women & Aging 29, 185–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dolan, J (2014) Smoothing the wrinkles: Hollywood, ‘successful aging,’ and the new visibility of older female stars. In Carter, C, Steiner, L and McLaughlin, L (eds), The Routledge Companion to Media and Gender. London: Routledge, pp. 342–351.Google Scholar
Ellison, KL (2014) Age transcended: a semiotic and rhetorical analysis of the discourse of agelessness in North American anti-aging skin care advertisements. Journal of Aging Studies 29, 20–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fairclough-Isaacs, K (2015) Celebrity culture and ageing. In Twigg, J and Martin, W (eds), Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. London: Routledge, pp. 361–368.Google Scholar
Featherstone, M and Hepworth, M (1995) Images of positive aging: a case study of Retirement Choice magazine. In Featherstone, M and Wernick, A (eds), Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life. London: Routledge, pp. 29–47.Google Scholar
Fraser, S (1997) A note on the process. In Fraser, S (ed.), A Woman's Place: Seventy Years in the Lives of Canadian Women. Toronto: Key Porter Books, pp. 11–13.Google Scholar
Frazer, E (1987) Teenage girls reading Jackie. Media, Culture and Society 9, 407–425.10.1177/016344387009004003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friedan, B (1963) The Feminine Mystique. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
Gagné, G (2019) Trade and culture: the United States. International Journal of Cultural Policy 25, 615–628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garner, JD (1999) Feminism and feminist gerontology. Journal of Women & Aging 11, 3–12.10.1300/J074v11n02_02CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goff, PM (2007) Limits to Liberalization: Local Culture in a Global Marketplace. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, E (1959) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Hermes, J (1995) Reading Women's Magazines: An Analysis of Everyday Media Use. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hirsch, A and Cherubini, E (2018) Glossies so white: the data that reveals the problem with British magazine covers. The Guardian, April 10. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/10/glossy-magazine-covers-too-white-models-black-ethnic-minority.Google Scholar
Hudon, T and Milan, A (2016) Senior Women. Available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-503-x/2015001/article/14316-eng.htm.Google Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L (2003) Overcoming ambivalence: the challenges of exploring socially charged issues. Qualitative Health Research 13, 718–735.10.1177/1049732303013005009CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L (2011) Facing Age: Women Growing Older in Anti-Aging Culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Hurd Clarke, L and Korotchenko, A (2012) Doing beauty: women, ageing and identity. In Ylänne, V (ed.), Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 103–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, P, Stevenson, N and Brooks, K (2001) Making Sense of Men's Magazines. Malden, MA: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Jerslev, A (2018) The elderly female face in beauty and fashion ads: Joan Didion for Céline. European Journal of Cultural Studies 21, 349–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, S and Calasanti, T (2015) Critical perspectives on successful aging: does it ‘appeal more than it illuminates’? The Gerontologist 55, 26–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korinek, VJ (2000) Roughing It in the Suburbs: Reading Chatelaine Magazine in the Fifties and Sixties. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korinek, VJ (2007) The Chatelaine legacy. Canadian Woman Studies 26, 14–21.Google Scholar
Lewis, M (2016) Maclean's among magazines hit by Rogers media overhaul. Toronto Star, September 30. Available at https://www.thestar.com/business/2016/09/30/rogers-to-stop-print-editions-of-four-magazines.html.Google Scholar
Lewis, DC, Medvedev, K and Seponski, DM (2011) Awakening to the desires of older women: deconstructing ageism within fashion magazines. Journal of Aging Studies 25, 101–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lövgren, K (2013) The Swedish tant: a marker of female aging. Journal of Women & Aging 25, 119–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacRae, H (2018) ‘My opinion is that doctors prefer younger people’: older women, physicians and ageism. Ageing & Society 38, 240–266.10.1017/S0144686X16001021CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magazines Canada (2010) Building on Canadian Strengths: Canadian Magazines in the Digital Economy. Available at https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/028.nsf/vwapj/MC_digital_consultation_paper.pdf/$file/MC_digital_consultation_paper.pdf.Google Scholar
Magazines Canada (2016 a) Magazines: A Comparison of Canada & U.S. Available at https://magazinescanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/USCanComparison2016English_FINAL.pdf.Google Scholar
Magazines Canada (2016 b) Magazine Trends. Available at https://magazinescanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/MagazineTrends2016Eng.pdf.Google Scholar
Magazines Canada (2017 a) The Role of Magazines at Retail: A Reader-and-Buyer Study. Available at https://magazinescanada.ca/pdf/the-role-of-magazines-at-retail-a-reader-and-buyer-study/.Google Scholar
Magazines Canada (2017 b) Vividata's Latest Report Shows Canadians Love Magazines. Available at https://magazinescanada.ca/news/vividatas-latest-report-shows-canadians-love-magazines/.Google Scholar
Mahrt, M (2012) The attractiveness of magazines as ‘open’ and ‘closed’ texts: values of women's magazines and their readers. Mass Communication and Society 15, 852–874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinson, M and Minkler, M (2006) Civic engagement and older adults: a critical perspective. The Gerontologist 46, 318–324.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayan, MJ (2009) Essentials of Qualitative Inquiry. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.Google Scholar
McDonnell, A (2014) Reading Celebrity Gossip Magazines. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
McHugh, KE (2003) Three faces of ageism: society, image and place. Ageing & Society 23, 165–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, H (2014) Communicating empowerment through education: learning about women's health in Chatelaine. Global Media Journal 7, 5–21.Google Scholar
Mendes, K (2010) Reading Chatelaine: Dr. Marion Hilliard and 1950s women's health advice. Canadian Journal of Communication 35, 515–531.Google Scholar
Minkler, M and Fadem, P (2002) ‘Successful aging’: a disability perspective. Journal of Disability Policy Studies 12, 229–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moeran, B (2015) The Magic of Fashion: Ritual, Commodity, Glamour. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.Google Scholar
Neathery-Castro, J (2012) Canada as multilateral player: trade in cultural products. Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 18, 76–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nimrod, G (2017) Older audiences in the digital media environment. Information, Communication and Society 20, 233–249.10.1080/1369118X.2016.1164740CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oates, CJ (1997) Rereading Women's Magazines: The Feminist Identity of Best, Bella and Take a Break (Doctoral dissertation). University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Available at http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/12776/.Google Scholar
OHanlon, A and Mendez, T (2016) The lens on older women: images of successful aging in a magazine feature. The Gerontologist 56, 142.Google Scholar
Ontario Creates (2018) Magazine Industry Profile: August 2018. Available at http://www.ontariocreates.ca/Assets/Industry+Profile/Magazine/Industry+Profile+Magazine_en.pdf.Google Scholar
Ramanathan, L (2018) Women's magazines are dying: will we miss them when they're gone? The Washington Post, December 31. Available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/womens-magazines-are-dying-will-we-miss-them-when-theyre-gone/2018/12/31/a3bbe3ac-f729-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html?utm_term=.d3d7bb511c50.Google Scholar
Revera Inc. & International Federation on Ageing (2013) Revera Report on Ageism: A Look at Gender Differences. Available at http://www.ageismore.com/getmedia/4130a0e3-c35e-44b2-b297-55ea6ca1db01/Revera-Report_Gender-Differences.pdf.aspx?ext=.pdf.Google Scholar
Rody-Mantha, B (2018 a) Digital Growth Slow for Newspapers and Magazines: Study. Media in Canada. Available at http://mediaincanada.com/2018/01/25/digital-growth-slow-for-newspapers-and-magazines-study/.Google Scholar
Rody-Mantha, B (2018 b) Many Magazine Readers Still Opt for Print: Study. Media in Canada. Available at http://mediaincanada.com/2018/10/22/many-magazine-readers-still-opt-for-print-study/.Google Scholar
Rody-Mantha, B (2018 c) Newspapers and Magazines Still Popular, Especially on Mobile: Study. Media in Canada. Available at http://mediaincanada.com/2018/04/23/newspapers-and-magazines-still-popular-especially-on-mobile-study/.Google Scholar
Rowe, JW and Kahn, RL (1998) Successful Aging. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.Google ScholarPubMed
Roy, S (2008) ‘Taking charge of your health’: discourses of responsibility in English-Canadian women's magazines. Sociology of Health & Illness 30, 463–477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rozanova, J (2010) Discourse of successful aging in The Globe & Mail: insights from critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies 24, 213–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searing, C and Zeilig, H (2017) Fine lines: cosmetic advertising and the perception of ageing female beauty. International Journal of Ageing and Later Life 11, 7–36.10.3384/ijal.1652-8670.16-290CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smirnova, MH (2012) A will to youth: the woman's anti-aging elixir. Social Science & Medicine 75, 1236–1243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, M (2014) Fiction and the nation: the construction of Canadian identity in Chatelaine and Canadian Home Journal during the 1930s and 1940s. British Journal of Canadian Studies 27, 37–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soden, S (2012) Redefining cultural roles in older age: grandmothering as an extension of motherhood. In Ylänne, V (ed.), Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 84–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, L, Maclaren, P, Catterall, M, O'Malley, L and Prothero, A (2007) A space of one's own: women's magazine consumption within family life. Journal of Consumer Behaviour 6, 236–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twigg, J (2010) How does Vogue negotiate age? Fashion, the body, and the older woman. Fashion Theory 14, 471–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twigg, J (2012) Fashion and age: the role of women's magazines in the constitution of aged identities. In Ylänne, V (ed.), Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 132–148.10.1057/9781137009340_9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Twigg, J (2018) Fashion, the media and age: how women's magazines use fashion to negotiate age identities. European Journal of Cultural Studies 21, 334–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Berg, C (2015) Making sense of health messages on HIV and AIDS in South African women's magazines. In Thorsen, E, Savigny, H, Alexander, J and Jackson, D (eds), Media, Margins and Popular Culture. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 89–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wada, M, Hurd Clarke, L and Rozanova, J (2015) Constructions of sexuality in later life: analyses of Canadian magazine and newspaper portrayals of online dating. Journal of Aging Studies 32, 40–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winship, J (1987) Inside Women's Magazines. London: Pandora.Google Scholar
Ylänne, V (ed.) (2012 a) Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9781137009340CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ylänne, V (2012 b) Introduction. In Ylänne, V (ed.), Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ylänne, V (2012 c) Conclusion. In Ylänne, V (ed.), Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 226–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ytre-Arne, B (2011 a) ‘I want to hold it in my hands’: readers’ experiences of the phenomenological differences between women's magazines online and in print. Media, Culture & Society 33, 467–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ytre-Arne, B (2011 b) Women's magazines and their readers: the relationship between textual features and practices of reading. European Journal of Cultural Studies 14, 213–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ytre-Arne, B (2014) Positioning the self: identity and women's magazine reading. Feminist Media Studies 14, 237–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar