A Magazine of Her Own?

by Margaret Beetham

Like the corset, the women's magazines which emerged in the nineteenth century produced a `natural' idea of the domestic wife; the fashionable woman; the romancing and desirable girl. Their legacy, from agony aunts to fashion plates, are easily traced in their modern counterparts. But do these magazines and their promises empower or disempower their readers?
A Magazine of Her Own? is a lively and revealing exploration of this immensely popular form from its beginnings. In fascinating detail Margaret Beetham investigates the desires, images and interpretations of femininity posed by a medium whose readership was and still is almost exclusively female.
A Magazine of Her Own is at once a chronological tracing of the history, a collection of intriguing case studies and an intervention into recent debates about gender and sexuality in popular reading. It is a book which anyone who is interested in the unique, influential world of the woman's magazine - students, scholars and general readers alike - will want to read

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 1996

Reviews

[Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction for this book is fantastic, setting out the author's intentions, approach and methodology in clear and useful terms. A model for feminist literary criticism - aware of the limitations of ideas of biology on gender categorisation, and interested in the construction of the social category 'women' through social discourse. I was surprised how current Beetham felt in this, considering her use of scholars such as Judith Butler is limited.

This book was essential to my research, and I was very glad to have such a fluent and accessible work to read on the topic. Excellent scholarship, and enjoyable reading matter.