How Is the Stereotypical Role of Women Promoted Through U.S. Magazines in the 1960s?
Abstract
It has been verified from research that women’s magazines during the 1960s portrayed women in a sexualized or old-fashioned manner. On the other hand, the Feminist Movement had already begun in the start of the century and was ongoing and at its peak at the time. Additionally, research conducted in more recent decades shows that despite the ongoing feminist movement, which supported that women should have equal rights and should be treated with the same respect as men, women’s magazines promoted an old-fashioned image of women. This role that had been attributed to the post-war women consisted of the woman’s position being in the house, taking care of the children, waiting for her husband to come home from work, and not being able to make important decisions n her own. Thus the question that arises from the previous facts is whether or not the women’s liberation movement was moving forwards or backwards. Moreover, this research paper examines how despite the ongoing feminist movement, women’s magazines were holding on to the old-fashioned ideas of the previous decades and promoted women as the ‘weaker sex’
[Word count: 183]
Introduction
During the 1960s the Feminist Movement was developing throughout the westernized societies. The movement was ongoing, and especially prominent in the United States with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963, a book that depicted and criticized the stereotypical role of women at that time. During that decade, women’s magazines were very popular, even for teenagers since teen magazines had already debuted in the 1940s. In these magazines, women were almost exclusively promoted for their sexuality and always depicted as the weaker sex.
It is true that in the 1960s women were not as focused on their career as women are now and men were not as involved in the family as -some might say- they are now, but what the magazines promoted was an extremely stereotypical image of a woman’s role in society. All the
It has been verified from research that women’s magazines during the 1960s portrayed women in a sexualized or old-fashioned manner. On the other hand, the Feminist Movement had already begun in the start of the century and was ongoing and at its peak at the time. Additionally, research conducted in more recent decades shows that despite the ongoing feminist movement, which supported that women should have equal rights and should be treated with the same respect as men, women’s magazines promoted an old-fashioned image of women. This role that had been attributed to the post-war women consisted of the woman’s position being in the house, taking care of the children, waiting for her husband to come home from work, and not being able to make important decisions n her own. Thus the question that arises from the previous facts is whether or not the women’s liberation movement was moving forwards or backwards. Moreover, this research paper examines how despite the ongoing feminist movement, women’s magazines were holding on to the old-fashioned ideas of the previous decades and promoted women as the ‘weaker sex’
[Word count: 183]
Introduction
During the 1960s the Feminist Movement was developing throughout the westernized societies. The movement was ongoing, and especially prominent in the United States with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in 1963, a book that depicted and criticized the stereotypical role of women at that time. During that decade, women’s magazines were very popular, even for teenagers since teen magazines had already debuted in the 1940s. In these magazines, women were almost exclusively promoted for their sexuality and always depicted as the weaker sex.
It is true that in the 1960s women were not as focused on their career as women are now and men were not as involved in the family as -some might say- they are now, but what the magazines promoted was an extremely stereotypical image of a woman’s role in society. All the
Bibliography: Editor: Nancy A. Walker, Women’s Magazines 1940-1960, Gender Roles and the Popular Press, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1998 Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, Penguin Books, 1965 http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/the_feminist_movement_in_the_u.html http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/ladies_home_journal_sit_in.htm http://www.loti.com/sixties_music/1960s_TEEN%20MAGAZINES.htm http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1764302 http://www.csustan.edu/honors/documents/journals/soundings/Holt.pdf http://www.csub.edu/~cgavin/Communications/art7.pdf