How to be a Girl: Consumerism Meets Guidance in the Australian Women’s Weekly’s Teen Segments, 1952–1959

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn 1952, when Australian teenagers were beginning to emerge as their own distinct social and consumer group, the Australian Women’s Weekly introduced a column specifically targeted at teens. “Youth Sums Up” was intended for both boys and girls, but by 1954 it had developed into For Teenagers, a monthly lift-out aimed predominantly at girls, which became Australia’s first version of a national teen girl magazine. In this article, I examine the ways in which the Weekly used its teen segments and lift-outs to mould teenage girls into the 1950s feminine ideal, and to sell the products that reflected the attitudes and values of the time to this new and powerful young market. I also demonstrate that while the Weekly’s teen segments promoted a traditional femininity, some of its teen girl readers publicly rejected these notions within the pages of the magazine, giving us a broader understanding of teenage girls, girl culture, and what is usually defined as a purely conservative decade.