Sex, Feminism and Lesbian Desire in Women’s Magazines

Description

This book examines evolving pop culture representations of sex and relationships from the 1970s onwards, to demonstrate parallels between the strength of the feminist movement and positive portrayals of women’s sexuality. In charting changes in the sex and relationship content of women’s magazines over time, this analysis reveals that despite surface-level changes in sexual and relationship content, the underlying paradigm of hetero-monogamy remains unchanged. Despite a seemingly more diverse, empowered and liberated sexuality for women in contemporary magazines, in reality, such feminist rhetoric masks an enduring model of sexuality, which rests on women’s sexual and emotional maintenance of male partners and their own self-objectification and self-surveillance. Where substantive changes can be identified, they rise and fall in tandem with feminism. By demonstrating this empirical relationship between cultural products and feminist organising, the book validates an assumption that has rarely been tested: that a feminist social milieu improves cultural narratives about sexuality for women. Sex, Feminism and Lesbian Desire builds on ground-breaking feminist texts such as Susan Faludi’s Backlash to present an empirically focused, comprehensive study interrogating changes in content over the lifetime of women’s magazines. By charting the representation of sex and relationships in two women’s magazines—Cosmopolitan and Cleo—since the 1970s through an analysis of over 6,500 magazine pages and 1,500 articles, this timely work interrogates—and ultimately complicates—the apparent linear progression of feminism. This book is suitable for researchers and students in women’s and gender studies, queer studies, LGBT studies, media studies, cultural studies and sociology. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Feminism, contemporary womanhood and women’s magazines Why talk about women’s magazines? (How) Do media affect us? Women’s magazines as sexual confidantes Key themes and debates in women’s magazine research How do we talk about women’s magazines? Understanding sexuality as socially constructed Intersectionality Research design Why Cleo and Cosmo? A longitudinal study Analytical approach International perspectives Chapter overview Notes References 1 Sex and women’s subordination: how sex constrains women A radical feminist approach to sexuality Sexuality, power and patriarchy Critiques of radical feminism Compulsory heterosexuality Compulsory heterosexuality, sex-role stereotypes and objectification Policing compulsory heterosexuality And sexual fluidity? Pornification Understanding pornification Critiquing pornification Harmful or fantasy? “Waves” of feminism, postfeminism and the critique of sexuality A postfeminist sensibility A feminist reawakening Conclusion Notes References 2 “You’re very interested in men, naturally”: compulsory heterosexuality and sex difference Volume, precedence and propaganda Volume and precedence of heterosexual content Heterosexuality as coerced and propagandised The presumption of heterosexuality and the erasure of alternatives Heterosexuality as taken for granted Invisibilisation of alternatives to heterosexuality Complementarity, science and sex difference Sex-role stereotypes Decoding the male brain, science and sex difference Hegemonic femininity and beauty ideals Conclusion Notes References 3 “Girl-on-girl confessions!”: lesbian chic and heteroflexibility A note on language Education and analysis in the 1970s and 1980s References to female–female sexuality in the 1970s: progressive politics and enduring prejudice Diminished visibility in the 1980s Lesbian chic in the 1990s Heteroflexibility and the performance of lesbian sexuality at the turn of the century Explicit links between lesbian desire and male arousal Framing female–female sexuality for the male gaze Heterosexual dominance re-inscribed Road-testing threesomes: a counterpoint Having a “girl crush” and the simultaneous visibility and erasure of lesbianism in the 21st century Appropriation of female–female sexuality through the “girl crush” Support for lesbian and gay rights Conclusion Notes References 4 “The penis monologues”: pornification, male desire and aggressive masculinity The evolution of direct references to the sex industry Brief, passing references in the 1970s Early stages of pornification in the 1980s The sex industry, sensationalism and debate in the 1990s Normalisation of the sex industry in the 2000s Equivocation in the 2010s The growing precedence of male desire “Men-ology”: how to please your man Relationships as women’s work The male-in-the-head: a masculine blueprint The fragile male ego: woman as sex therapist The emergence of a more explicit and aggressive sexuality Increasingly explicit sexual content: striving for more, better, filthier sex An increasingly aggressive masculine sexuality Conclusion Notes References 5 “Booty boot camp”: heterosexual trends and (post)feminism The emergence of postfeminist values in the 21st century A postfeminist entanglement: feminism, tradition and choice Regulation of the self: bodily, sexual and psychological self-surveillance Individualisation: from collective struggle to personal responsibility Locating women’s sexual pleasure in the contemporary magazines Changing emphases in heterosexual content Shifts in sexual content and waves of feminist organising Conclusion Notes References Conclusion: feminist tides, pop culture and radical social change Measuring feminist success? The relationship between pop culture portrayals of sexuality and the feminist movement Cross-continental discourses “Analytical activism”: envisioning radical social change References Index