Changes in Women's Status in Women's Magazine Fiction: Differences by Social Class

Abstract

Women's magazines reflect and reinforce ideal characteristics of different social groups. Comparing the images of women in women's magazine fiction between 1970 and 1975 and between middle-class and working-class magazines, the former reflected economic and political movements in the relative status of women of that class. Middle-class women's fiction portrayed women as less likely to be valued for dependence and ineffectuality in 1975 as compared to 1970, and more likely to be valued for independence; plot devices were less likely to rely on traditional stereotypical female modes of behavior. In contrast, female passivity became more valued in working-class fiction. While in 1970, working-class women's fiction portrayed and valued the more active female characteristics, by 1975, that fiction had become significantly more traditional than middle-class fiction. This increase in valuing female passivity corresponds to the reversal of the long term secular trend from the 1950s onward of increased female labor force participation. Between 1970 and 1975 the labor force participation of women with less than high school education declined and job segregation by gender increased. Furthermore, the class selectivity in mobilization of symbols by the women's movement is evident. Women's images-especially those we choose' ourselves-can both reflect and determine the economic and political parts we play in society. Women have been traditionaly important in societal reproduction, including reproduction of children, of the labor force and of the values that unite a society in the face of pressures for structural changes. These functions have traditionally been unremunerated, regarded as priceless, gifts to loved ones which cannot be bought, because these actions are somehow uniquely female and done for love, not money. Ideally, in advanced capitalist states, reproduction of the labor force, children and culture is done by an individual of exquisite beauty, impeccable tastes and unlimited income. The last characteristic is necessary to fulfill a fourth important function of women under capitalism: consumption (Flora and Flora, 1978). Because consumption requires money, and wages paid to most wage earners do not meet the standards for maintenance of the labor force (much less for increasing levels of consumption), new sources of income (e.g., wage work for women) are necessary both as second family incomes and as heads of households. Much past research on media portrayal of women has stressed that a distorted image of women is presented because the productive role of women is neglected (Tuchman et al., 1978; Cardona, 1978). That research, either implicitly or explicitly denunciatory in nature, claims the media is somehow untrue to what women really do in society. However, there is another way to view the portrayal of women in the media that takes account of both their positions within the household and the position of that household within the larger economy and polity. Using that perspective, instead of providing a distorted image of what women do and the way women should be by showing women passively in the home (although actively consuming), the images of women reinforce * I would like to thank Susan Olson Metzler, of Memphis, Tennessee, who worked with me in coding the 1975 data.