Negotiating Femininity: Girls in Early Adolescence Read Teen Magazines

Abstract

Early adolescent girls' interaction with textual images of femininity were assessed through in-depth interviews with ten participants, ages twelve and thirteen, who are regular readers of Teen, Seventeen, Sassy, and YM magazines. The two primary findings represent different dimensions of the same phenomenon: girls' use of outside authorities in formulating personal standards— in this case, standards of behavior and appearance. In particular, girls relied heavily on the reports of boys' voices regularly featured in the magazines for counsel on how to attain male approval and negotiate romantic relationship. Also, girls' readings centered on images of beauty; specifically the “ideal” feminine body. Participants routinely ignored or rejected the magazines' fashion formulations and advice on hair and makeup. However, girls seemed ill equipped to critically analyze magazines' images of the feminine physique, even when they recognized these images did not accurately reflect the girls they know.