How is female identity encoded?

What messages about female identity are encoded into woman magazine? What impact does this have on the target audience?

•  lexis of the headline, 'are you an a-level beauty?' uses direct address, in order to make the audience feel like they need to look beautiful, in order to be considered as good and superior. 'A-level' has connotations of being the best, as in being related to grades or school, and therefore if the woman does not feel like she fits this mould, she will feel dissatisfied with her life and appearance, therefore reading the article to make her look better. This encodes women to be completely on appearance and beauty in order to have a happy life.
• The advert for the Max Factor makeup, shows a woman standing applying makeup with a man behind her. The mise-en-scene of the mirror creates the narrative that women are obsessed with their appearance, as she is smiling into it whilst she  makeup. This makes the target audience believe that by using makeup, you will be happy.
• The layout includes four sets of lips in the bottom right corner on the double page spread titled, 'are you an a-level beauty'. This repeated motif encodes women to have the same identity, in order to fit in. This is extremely ignorant and sexist.
• The inclusion of make-up shows the dominant ideology to be that women need to wear makeup in order to be considered beautiful. (Max Factor). This relates to the male gaze theory, by Van Zoonen, where women are only constructed in media products to be looked at by heterosexual men.
• There is very specific ways in which women should behave, for example, they should look professional and beautiful on the outside, but have burning passion on the inside, 'like snow-capped volcanoes', in the Alfred Hitchcock interview.

What functions does the magazine serve?

• It makes women feel inferior to men, and feel like they have to dress and make themselves look acceptable to a male standard. This gives men power.
• The function of a women's magazine is to tell them how to behave and how to be.
• There is nothing on hobbies, going outside etc. Every article is about serving men.
• In the 1960's, bands, celebrities and hippies were around. Sex and drugs became more acceptable, yet for some reason none of this is included. This is to keep people in order.
• Woman magazine cultivates the ideology that women should follow what a man says, this retains power in society.

Key Theory 9 - Feminist theory - Bell Hooks

• Feminism is a struggle to end patriarchal hegemony and the domination of women. Feminism is not a lifestyle choice, it is a political commitment. Race, class and gender all determine the extend to which individuals are exploited and oppressed.

'Feminism is for everyone'

When we say that a woman is emotionally weak, that means that if a man cries, he is weak. Bell Hooks means by, 'feminism is for everyone', that it affects everyone. Sexism against women is also sexism against men. 'Women belong in the kitchen', well then don't men belong at work? Isn't that sexist? You're implying that they are useless at something.

What links every woman in woman magazine?

• They are all attractive to a hegemonic and stereotypical standard
• They all wear makeup.
• They are all white.
• It does not represent the ethnicities which lived in the UK.
• By not including any other races other than white, we can argue that this magazine is racist. The message which is encoded, is that only white women are attractive, as the only women featured are white. This constructs this ideological perspective.

George Gerbner - Symbolic annihilation theory

Symbolism - where something steps in for something else

Annihilate - to get rid of something

He said that if we completely lack a representation in a media product, it is like they have completely been removed from the face of the Earth.

Women Magazine does not feature black women, as the dominant ideology of the time period, is that black women were not attractive during this time period. For financial reasons, they also do not feature black women, with fears that their target audience would not be satisfied and therefore not buy the magazine, therefore resulting in a loss. Ultimately, this reinforces the idea that white people are more powerful than black people.

Female stereotypes

• Women are better cooks.
• Women are better at cleaning
• Women are objects
• Women are dumb
• Women are physically and mentally inferior 
• Women belong at home
• Women depend on men
• Women have a submissive personality
• Women are very emotional and needy
• Women are beautiful

A third of a magazine's revenue comes from advertising.

The two ways magazines make money:

1. Magazines generate revenue primarily through sales of copies (print and digital) and through advertising 
2. Advertising accounts for approximately one third of total revenues across the industry. It is, therefore, vitally important that the magazine and advertising content target the same audience in order that the advertising brands benefit from increased sales as a result of advertising in the magazine.

Why could women magazine charge so much for advertising? Because three million women buy it per week, and therefore at least that many people will see it! They can charge today's equivalent of thousands.

Breeze Advert

• The mise-en-scene of her makeup, shows that even when getting washed, a woman must look good. Appearance is valued, no matter where you are. Her hair is also done and styled, which shows that she should make effort wherever. It shows that appearance is everything and creates a self-obsessive narrative for women. Women must always look beautiful. There is a binary opposition between cleanliness and the full face of makeup.
• The producer has left out the mise-en-scene of the bath, in order to allow a stronger focus and emphasis on her body. This shows that he views women as objects, and links into Van Zoonen's theory, that women are constructed differently to men, in order to be attractive.
• The producer's ideological perspective is conveyed to be that in order to be beautiful, you must be young. This contradicts the target audience which is middle aged women.
• The lexis of 'because you're a woman', has a patronising tone, and shows that women are treated differently to men, as there is an acknowledgement that because of gender, she must receive different products and therefore different treatment.
• The soap promises to make women 'all-over feminine', this shows that the selling point of the product is not the function of the soap itself, but the lifestyle. The soap is suggesting that in order to be considered feminine, which was a stereotypical goal at the time in order to be attractive, you must buy this product. Hence, it manages to manipulate the audience.
• The position of her body is teasing the audience. She is showing quite a lot of her breasts, only covered with her arm. This is teasing behaviour. This is probably fairly surprising to a 1960's performance. It looks like this came from a porn magazine, like playboy. This is because the emphasis is on the woman and her body.
• Her face anchors the audience to believe she is beautiful. Her expression is a pout, which acts as a proairetic code, as it suggests a romantic relationship and that she will kiss someone.
• 'You need a soap which will show you kindness', this shows that the soap is something which is essential for life. Femininity is essential for a successful life. This is a condecending mode of address to the audience. 
• By calling the audience, 'darling', it is a direct mode of address which is relatable. This is polysemic as it could be said by a woman or a man.
• 'All over feminine' is a euphuism. It is heavily hinting that by using the soap, you will be clean and attractive. To be clean is to be feminine. The process of cleaning yourself turns you into a woman.