Magazines

We see different representations of teenage girls in the media in a range of medians, one of which is in magazines. Even just looking at the cover of a magazine brings about a representation of teenage girls.

For example, this is the March 2014 girlfriend magazine cover. Even the name of the magazine has a way to pull in younger females as the connotations of the name girlfriend are a girl's best friend, someone to confide in and someone to share gossip with. The cover girl is Lea Michele who is known for being an actor and singer, mostly as the character 'Rachel' on Glee. Glee is a programme aimed at a range of aged viewers, but a large amount of Glee viewers are between the age of 10 and 14. Girlfriend magazine has a core target age of 14-17 year olds but because we always tend to act/ take interest in older activities and media, the target age group is really between approximately 10 and 14 years old. Lea Michele is one of the faces of Glee and both glee and girlfriend magazine appeal to the age group of approximately 10-14 so it means it's likely to be of interest to that age group. The writing on the cover is all in lilac and pink, the lilac matching Lea Michele's crop top and the pink matching her lips. These two colours also attract the younger girls because they are feminine, girly and innocent. The front cover stories are 'Lea Michele-hope and heartache', 'Love me syndrome-do you have it?', 'Get the secrets to a happy life' and a large amount of celebs names listed eg. The Vamps, Lorde, Bruno Mars ect. Even though girlfriend is a New Zealand magazine, only one New Zealander made the front cover and that's Lorde. The significance of Lorde being the only New Zealander on the cover is that it almost creates the idea that New Zealanders are not good enough or talented enough to make it on the front page. The whole magazine is made in the very American way, with not only the American celebrities but the typical American stereotypes (such as the pretty, fit, blonde, popular girl). This shows the contrast between how 'magnificent' and 'amazing' America is and how small and 'untalented' New Zealand seems to be. It also creates the idea that America is the glamorous place to be and would be a much better place to live in than New Zealand when in reality, parts of America, such as L.A are full of rubbish and bad traffic. All of the cover stories discuss topics that are of interest to young girls such as love, happiness and fame which is a good selling point for the magazine.

We see a picture of Lea Michele on the cover and her long, wavy, brown hair looks perfectly windblown and has volume. This single picture on the front of the magazine affects teenage girls in society. They see the picture of Lea Michele and think 'I wish I had her hair' when in reality her hair would have been worked on for a long period of time just to get looking like that for the photo shoot. This realisation came to me not long ago because when I was younger, I always watched 'Hannah Montana'. I always loved Miley Cyrus's long hair and always wished that my hair could just naturally be like that too. I was young and was affected by the media because Miley Cyrus's hair (most likely) would have taken just as long to do as Lea Michele's for the cover of girlfriend. It was not natural but that's what I was lead to believe at that age. The readers of girlfriend are all about the same age as I was at that time and don't think how much time would have gone into it but only how nice it looks. Lea Michele also has deceivingly natural makeup on and unnaturally perfect skin. This again is a trick of the media representing girls as perfect because facial blemishes (eg. pimples) are definitely an insecurity of young females/teens. By presenting this perfect skin, young girls tend to think, 'maybe that little bit of make up could hide it' or 'maybe if I used the same face wash my skin would be clear too.' Further on in the magazine they then advertise make up and facial scrubs and with the previous thoughts in their heads, they become interested in purchasing. Lea Michele's skin has been bronzed and she is wearing a lilac crop top displaying her stomach. Lea Michele wears an innocent yet seductive facial expression and has her arms and body in an unusual position.  Showing off her perfectly flat torso/stomach affects girls because for a large amount of teenage girls, maintaining a completely flat stomach is a difficult task. It affects teenage girls by making them feel uncomfortable and self-conscious about how they look compared to Lea Michele (who is most likely photo shopped in this picture). It could make teenage girls feel unhappy and depressed that they are unable to have that perfect body and be able to show their stomach. In very small writing at the bottom of the cover it says, 'Reality Check. This image was supplied to us retouched.' I think the media used the tiny writing as a strategy because a large amount of people wouldn't read the small writing as it's so small that it's unlikely to be important. For those who do read it, even though they know that it has been fixed up and photo shopped, that may make little effect on them because the size of the picture compared to the tiny 'reality check' is overpowering and we still tend to wish we look like her because it's programmed into our head to make a judgement (just as it is to stereotype.)

This doesn't just affect the teenage girls but also affects society's perception of them and their attitude. The males in our society judge female girls just as females judge themselves. This is because the media has created a barely attainable image for female girls which boys compare us to. The difference between reality and the media's representation is that in reality everybody has flaws and nobody is perfect. I think the idea of perfect was created by the media and is merely an illusion.  The consequences of these differences between reality and the media's representations are that girls feel more self-conscious, lack self-confidence and punish themselves for not being perfect (when perfect is unachievable).

Thomas Knoll and John Knoll were two brothers that started developing photo shop in 1987. They both enjoyed photography and computing and created the multi-million dollar application. Photo shop is used by the media to create an impossible image for girls to live up to. This makes them feel like they feel they have to purchase products advertised in the media (eg. magazines) to 'fix' their insecurities. Photo shopping  can cause serious issues to teenage girls as stated in my photo shopping blog because girls become insecure and can begin to get eating disorders or not be in a stable mental state. Which can lead to very serious consequences or (in extreme cases) death. "Epidemiological studies have suggested that the incidence of eating disorders among adolescent girls has increased over the last 50 years. The reported prevalence rate for anorexia nervosa is 0.48% among girls 15 to 19 years old. Approximately 1% to 5% of adolescent girls meet the criteria for bulimia nervosa (1). Today, more than ever, adolescents are prone to concerns about their weight, shape, size and body image, and as a result, diet to lose weight (2–5). Little is known about how these body image- and weight-related concerns arise. These behaviours have been suggested as possible risk factors for the development of eating disorders. Many researchers have hypothesized that the media may play a central role in creating and intensifying the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction and consequently, may be partly responsible for the increase in the prevalence of eating disorders." (Quoted from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792687/). "Each year millions of people in the United States are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disorders. More than 90 percent of those afflicted are adolescent and young adult women." "An estimated one thousand women die each year of anorexia nervosa. As many as one in ten college women suffer from a clinical or nearly clinical eating disorder, including 5.1% who suffer from bulimia nervosa." (Both quoted from  http://depts.washington.edu/thmedia/view.cgi?section=bodyimage&page=fastfacts). All of these quote/statistics are true facts that are proof of the media having a negative affect on us. The life threatening eating disorders and the number of deaths just shows that the media has such a large impact on us and can drive us to our own death.

On the inside of the magazine, we saw 11 pages of make up advertisements, 4 of skin care and 18 on fashion and jewellery. In these 33 pages of advertisements, all of the products were within a reasonable price range which is affordable for younger girls to buy with their pocket money. All of the products were purchasable at local stores such as grocery stores which is beneficial for the media because it makes it much easier for girls to purchase them. The repetition of similar styles on those 18 pages of fashion and jewellery or the repetition of make up products (eg. mascara) on those 11 pages, makes young teenage girls desire the object or item more and more throughout the magazine. Clothing trends do this in particular as some teens try hard to follow the trends and they are advertised the most. The repetition of these items makes teenage girls more likely to buy them, benefitting the media. In a crème magazine, they used a different theory of advertising, they had a few products that were very expensive and said 'If you want to be gorgeous, you need these. Between the few items being sold, it added up to over $200, yet, many young teens would most likely take an opportunity to be gorgeous when they get the chance, therefore the media once again benefits.

In the magazine, there were 3 pages on beauty, 2 on friend relationships, 10 on boyfriend relationships, 6 on advice and 1 on sex. Compared to other categories, there were a very large amount on boyfriends and I think this shows a very clear representation of girls. It shows a representation that all girls are boy crazed and have a boyfriend or want one. This is shown by a range of different articles about boys. This representation affects girls and society, and I saw an example in my own life the other day. I was teaching about 50-100 year 7 and 8 girls dance (10-13 year old girls). Some of them came up at talked to me and the first two things that a very large percentage of them asked were 'What is your name?' and 'Do you have a boyfriend?'. This shows how much of an affect the media has, when 'whether you have a boyfriend or not' is more important than knowing someone's age, where they go to school or where they're from. When we meet people we ask important details about them to get to know them, and the fact that whether you have a boyfriend or not was on that list is truly shocking. These girls have been raised with the media creating an influence on their lives through T.V, magazines, newspapers and many other forms of media. The 10 pages about boys in that one magazine demonstrates that these young girls brains are programmed to be boy crazed. It affects the representation of teenage girls because it creates the idea that we consume all of our time with boy involvement when a very large amount of teenage girls do not have boyfriends. It also affects ours and societies view on teenage girls because the idea has been created by the media that if you have a boyfriend you're popular and if you don't then you're not which makes the girls desire having a boyfriend more.
Inside the magazine, there was a section called 'The new project you' which tells us that we are not good enough as we are and that we can just change ourselves to be happier. This is something that young teenage girls get sucked into because they just want to be happy. This brings across a very negative idea because we should never have to feel like we need to change ourselves to be accepted or to fit in. We are who we are and people need to accept that.

Through out the whole magazine, the stereotypical representation of girls is that they are white girls with flawless skin, flowing, long, wavy hair and a fit healthy body. A girl with lots of friends and a boyfriend or wanting a boyfriend. They have a special talent and are willing to change for others. They sometimes are sporty and sometimes smart. None of the girls are different looking and most don't even have short hair, all are flawless and this is portrayed as normal. This brings across a bad stereotype and representation of teenage girls because this perfect image is created as it is in all types of media and as previously stated is unattainable. There is no normal, we are all different, we are all unique and we are all individual. In some ways it can be positive because we saw fit healthy girls so it encourages us to do healthy activity but on the other hand, they don't encourage or explain how to maintain balance in your schedule to fit it all in (eg. boys, sport, school, fitness ect.). Throughout the whole magazine there were omissions on sexual preference, disabilities and career choices involving a position of power. The fact that there were omissions on sexual preferences creates the idea that we shouldn't even think about sexual preference or that it isn't even a topic to discuss. This creates the idea that it isn't alright to be gay or to not be interested in boys and I think that this adds to the homophobia that some people have, which affects those who are gay. It may have very negative affects on gay people because some people just can't cope with not being accepted. The fact that they had omissions on disability adds to the idea that they only put beautiful people in the magazine who have a beauty that's unattainable. By putting disabled people in the magazine, it would take away the idea that we all have to be perfect and look and act a certain way. This would mean less people would feel that they 'have' to buy products that make them look beautiful because the disabled people bring a message that it's okay to be who you are. This wouldn't be beneficial for the media so it doesn't often happen. There were no role models  in the magazine that were doctors or lawyers, only people in the entertainment industry. Lea Michele was seen as a role model for staying strong after her fiancés death, because he overdosed on drugs, therefore killing himself. We see her as a role model for mourning him yet we don't see people like doctors who cures diseases and saves lives as role models. I think this brings across the wrong idea because it makes the entertainment business look the most desirable because they don't show the negative things as much as the fame. They didn't have an article stating that it was Cory Monteith who was responsible for his own death using drugs and leaving behind his 'soon to be bride'. Instead they wrote an article on Lea Michele who loved him very much and didn't blame him for anything. When Philip Seymour Hoffman (who played Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games) died of an overdose of drugs, that didn't spread through the crème and girlfriend magazines. They leave the entertainment business to look glamorous and give no recognition to the educated leaders of our country or of the political world because they know it won't capture the attention of teenage girls in the same way that hearing what celebrities are dating does. There were no pictures of over weight people throughout the whole magazine unless it was in an article that showed how much weight they lost. This almost creates a juxtaposition because it shows how bad it is to be fat and how much better you look being thin and when you compare the two it makes the idea of being thin and having a fit, healthy body much more desirable which adds to the representation of a normal teenage girl that is created in the magazine. In the whole magazine, there was only one picture with a person of colour which shows the racism of the media. I believe this is because we have negative stereotypes with the colour of their skin and the media doesn't want to portray females in this way. Magazines also create a false perception of teenage girls because the people that they talk about (as if they were teens) are mostly in their 20's or above such as the cover girl Lea Michele who is 27 years old.