A feminist theoretical perspective on the socialization of teenage girls through Seventeen magazine

Abstract

An analysis of the ideology constructed in Seventeen magazine suggests that the concerns of a teenage girl are primarily with her appearance, household activities, and romance and dating. Sixty percent of the editorial copy for each issue for the years 1961, 1972, and 1985 dealt with beauty, fashion, cooking, and decorating. The feminist movement of the late 1960s may have influenced editorial content somewhat: the amount of coverage in the category "male-female relations," representing traditional socialization, decreased in 1972, while coverage in the category "self-development," representing more feminist messages, increased. In 1985, however, the percentages returned to their 1961 figures, suggesting that the effect was not permanent.