My research seeks to understand ways in which English-educated Chinese women in cosmopolitan Singapore bolstered their identity while living under the influences of Confucian values, patriarchal nation-building and racial concerns. My thesis examines women who have themselves been lost in translation when they were co-opted into the creation of a viable state after 1965. Often women are treated as adjuncts in the patriarchal state, particularly since issues of gender are not treated with the equality they deserve in the neo-Confucian discourse. This thesis takes an unconventional approach to how women have been viewed by utilizing primary sources including Her World and Female magazines from the 1960s and 1990s, and subsequent material from the blogosphere. I analyze images of women in these magazines to gain an understanding of how notions of gender and communitarianism/race intersect. By looking at government-sponsored advertising, my work also investigates the kind of messages the state was sending out to these women readers. My examination of government-sponsored advertisements, in tandem with the existing mainstream consumer advertising directed at women provides therefore a unique historical perspective in understanding the kinds of pressures Singaporean women have faced. Blogging itself is used as a counterpoint to show how new spaces have opened up for those who have felt constricted in certain ways by the authorities, women included. It would be fair to say that women?s magazines and blogging have served as ways for women to bolster their self worth, despite the counter-argument that some highly idealized and unhealthy images of women are purveyed. The main target group of glossy women?s magazines is English-educated women readers who are, by virtue of the Singapore?s demographics, mostly Chinese.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1997. / Text in Spanish with abstracts in English and Spanish. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 434-462).

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-164). Also available via the World Wide Web

Assignment (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: After South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, many Afrikaans-speaking people were worried that their language might not survive, especially in a country where English became the accepted lingua franca. However, since 1999 a large number of Afrikaans magazines have entered the market. Publishers and marketers have realized the magazine-reading Afrikaans market is affluent and willing to use their spending power to read their language. Contrary to Afrikaans, the other indigenous languages have not proven themselves to be as marketable. Even though these languages are spoken by the biggest part of the South African population, they are mainly used in the speakers’ private spheres. In a country where most Afrikaans speaking people are bilingual and many South Africans are able to understand English, the question is: Why has Afrikaans not followed the same route as the other indigenous languages, and might it still go that way if its future is left to be determined by market influences? The focus of this study is on the origin and the development of the Afrikaans publishing market, with specific emphasis on magazines. Afrikaans’ position in the community and the economy of the Afrikaans magazine market will also be discussed. The study aims to answer the question: Is it still economically viable to publish in Afrikaans and what are the Afrikaans magazine publishing market’s prospects for the next five to ten years. The researcher comes to the conclusion that it is still very profitable to publish Afrikaans magazines. A publication’s success will be determined by whether it satisfies a need, whether it has a sound business model and whether advertisers are willing to use the publication as an advertising medium. It is up to magazines to convince advertisers to advertise in Afrikaans or to be willing to accept English ads. The less affluent Afrikaans-speaking market could be considered a future market for magazine publishers. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Kort ná Suid-Afrika se oorgang na demokrasie in 1994 het onder Afrikaanssprekendes kommer ontstaan dat hul taal sou verdwyn, veral toe Engels as die algemene gebruikstaal in die openbare sfeer na vore getree het. Die getal Afrikaanse tydskrifte op die Suid-Afrikaanse mark het egter sedert 1999 toegeneem. Uitgewers en bemarkers het besef die Afrikaanssprekende tydskrifmark is welvarend en Afrikaanssprekendes is bereid om hul koopkrag te gebruik om hul te taal te lees. In teenstelling met Afrikaans het die ander inheemse tale nie dieselfde bemarkbaarheid getoon nie. Hoewel die tale ’n aansienlike moedertaalbasis het, word dit grotendeels in die sprekers se private sfere gebruik. In ’n land waar die meeste Afrikaanssprekendes tweetalig is en ’n groot persentasie van die bevolking Engels magtig is, is die vraag waarom Afrikaans nie dieselfde roete gevolg het as die ander inheemse tale nie en of dit dalk nog daardie roete sal volg indien sy voortbestaan aan markkragte oorgelaat word. Die fokus van hierdie navorsing is op die Afrikaanse tydskrifbedryf – die ontwikkeling en groei van die Afrikaanse tydskrifmark en die ontstaan van nuwe Afrikaanse titels. Die fokus is dus terselfdertyd onvermydelik ook op Afrikaans se posisie in die samelewing. Laastens is die fokus op die ekonomie van die Afrikaanse tydskrifbedryf. Dit is steeds ’n sake-onderneming, en moet dus winsgewend wees. Die studie wil dus vasstel watter faktore ’n rol speel in die lewenskragtigheid van die Afrikaanse uitgewersbedryf. Die sentrale navorsingsvraag is: Is dit steeds ekonomies lewensvatbaar om in Afrikaans te publiseer, en wat is die Afrikaanse uitgewersmark se vooruitsigte vir die volgende vyf tot tien jaar? Die studie kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat dit tans baie voordelig is om in Afrikaans te publiseer. ’n Publikasie se oorlewing sal egter afhang van of dit ’n behoefte onder lesers bevredig, van ’n goeie sakemodel en veral die bereidwilligheid van adverteerders om die tydskrif as advertensiemedium te gebruik. Die onus rus op die tydskrifbedryf om óf die adverteerders te oortuig om Afrikaanse kopie te skep óf bereid te wees om ter wille van die ekonomiese oorlewing van die produk Engelse advertensies te aanvaar. Die studie bevind ook dat die minder welvarende Afrikaanssprekende bevolking as ’n toekomstige mark beskou kan word en tydskrifte kan daar moontlik na die sukses van koerante kyk.

Women's magazines are popular cultural forms which offer readers representations intended to advise women on how to work towards and achieve idealised femininities. They perform such a function within the wider socio-historical context of gender relations. In a country such as South Africa, where patriarchal gender relations have historically been structured to favour men over women and masculinity over femininity, the representation of femininity in contemporary women's magazines may serve to reinforce or challenge these existent unequal gender relations. Informed by a feminist poststructuralist understanding of the gendered positioning of subjects through discourse, this study is a textual analysis that investigates the subject positions or possible identities offered to readers of Destiny, a South African business and lifestyle women's magazine. Black women, who make up the majority of Destiny's readership, have historically been excluded from the formal economy. In light of such a background, Destiny offers black women readers, through its representations of well-known business women, possible identities to take up within the white male dominated field of business practice. The magazine also offers 'lifestyle content', which suggests to readers possible ways of being in other areas of social life. Through a method of critical discourse analysis, this study critically analyses the subject positions offered to readers of Destiny, in order to determine to what extent the magazine's representations of business women endorse or confront unequal gender relations. The findings of this study are that Destiny offers women complex subject positions which simultaneously challenge and reassert patriarchy. While offering readers positions from which to challenge race based gender discrimination – a legacy of the apartheid past – the texts analysed tend to neglect non-racially motivated gender prejudice. It is concluded that although not comprehensively challenging unequal gender relations, the magazine whittles away some tenets of patriarchy.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis focuses on the representation of women in media aimed at women. A critical examination of visual communication (magazines, advertising and visual story-telling1) will demonstrate that the media may be regarded as highly influential in the way women perceive their bodies, reproduction and sexuality. I begin by examining the presentation of the ‘ideal’ woman as an instance of the Pygmalion complex. This reading of the media’s formulation of the female ideal aims to demonstrate the psychological effects of the Pygmalion complex on women, and illustrates how the resultant striving for perfection drives production and consumption. I shall demonstrate how the image of the ‘ideal’ woman is increasingly more sophisticated and convincingly portrayed through the use of digital manipulation, plastic surgery, excessive dieting and exercise regimes. I propose that the average woman is left feeling inadequate and is undermined by the voice of her own cultural representation. This thesis also investigates the persistence of the virgin / whore binary in the media’s depiction of female sexuality. I propose that this is an essentialist and dualistic presentation of female sexuality as either ‘good’ (surrendered, submissive and conforming – i.e. the virgin); or ‘bad’ (transgressive, explicit, dangerous and destructive – i.e. the whore). I further suggest that this polarised appropriation of women’s sexuality deprives women of ownership of their own sexuality. I also propose that the media’s treatment of female sexuality presents women as being in competition within one another for male attention and approval and that this representation damages female solidarity. Finally I demonstrate that pornography has infiltrated all aspects of popular culture, from magazines to music videos. My hypothesis is that this use of pornographic conventions depicts the rape and abuse of women as normative, commonplace and even entertaining, and that this has a detrimental effect on both women’s and men’s sexual and social wellbeing. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is gerig op hoe vroue in die media wat op vroue gerig is, verbeeld word. 'n Kritiese ondersoek van visuele kommunikasie (in tydskrifte, reklame en visuele verhaling2) sal toon hoe die media as uiters invloedryk beskou kan word ten opsigte van hoe vroue hul eie liggame, voortplanting en seksualiteit beskou. Ek begin deur die voorstelling van die 'ideale' vrou as 'n voorbeeld van die Pygmalionkompleks te ondersoek. Hierdie beskouing van die media se formulering van die ideaal van vrouwees is daarop gerig om die sielkundige effek van die Pygmalion-kompleks op vroue te demonstreer en illustreer hoe produksie en verbruik deur die strewe na perfeksie wat as gevolg van hierdie formulering ontstaan, aangedryf word. Ek sal toon hoe die beeld van die 'ideale' vrou, as meer en meer gesofistikeerd, oortuigend weergegee word deur middel van digitale manipulasie, plastiese snykunde, oormatige volg van diëte en oefenprogramme. Ek voer aan dat die gemiddelde vrou hierdeur met die gevoel gelaat word dat sy tekortskiet en ondermyn word deur die boodskap van die publikasies wat haar eie kulturele beeld verwoord. Hierdie tesis ondersoek ook die volhardendheid van die tweeledige voorstelling van vroulike seksualiteit in die beelding van maagd en hoer wat in die media aangebied word. Ek voer aan dat dit 'n wesenlike en dualistiese voorstelling van vroulike seksualiteit as óf 'goed' (uitgelewer, gedwee en konformerend – d.w.s. die maagd), óf 'sleg' (oortredend/sondig, eksplisiet, gevaarlik en vernietigend – d.w.s. die hoer) is. Ek stel verder voor dat hierdie gepolariseerde toe-eiening van die vrou se seksualiteit vrouens van eienaarskap van hul eie seksualiteit ontneem. Ek stel ook voor dat die voorstelling van die vrou se seksualiteit soos dit in die media aangebied word, suggereer dat vrouens ter wille van die aandag van 'n man en om goedkeuring te wen met mekaar kompeteer en dat hierdie voorstelling skade doen aan die gevoel van solidariteit tussen vroue. Ten slotte demonstreer ek hoe pornografie reeds alle aspekte van die populêre kultuur vanaf tydskrifte tot musiekvideos binnegedring het. My hipotese is dat hierdie gebruik van pornografiese konvensies die verkragting en mishandeling van vroue as normatief, alledaags en selfs vermaaklik uitbeeld en dat dit 'n nadelige effek het op die seksuele en die sosiale welsyn van mans sowel as vroue.

CAPES / Neste trabalho, temos como objetivo investigar as associações entre tecnologias domésticas e tipos de feminilidades na revista Casa & Jardim como mídia de pedagogias de gênero. O recorte de estudo tem como foco os discursos textuais e imagéticos sobre tecnologias do lar veiculados na revista Casa & Jardim durante as décadas de 1950 e 1960. Neste período, as revistas direcionadas para públicos femininos buscavam criar uma identificação das mulheres com o espaço e o consumo domésticos, apresentando as tecnologias do lar, especialmente os eletrodomésticos, como recursos capazes de garantir o conforto doméstico, facilitando as rotinas das donas de casa e proporcionando maior bem-estar às famílias. Neste registro, as tecnologias do lar tanto favoreciam quanto glamourizavam as atividades cotidianas. Contudo, em paralelo, os padrões de limpeza, organização e administração do lar também tornaram-se significativamente mais exigentes. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, visamos compreender como eram configuradas as representações da “dona de casa ideal” na revista Casa & Jardim. Percebemos que, nos discursos do periódico, as tecnologias do lar assumiram um papel importante na construção de expectativas sociais acerca das práticas de consumo das donas de casa das camadas médias, cuja identidade social estava estreitamente vinculada às imagens de esposa e mãe. / This paper proposes to investigate the associations between domestic technologies and types of femininity in the magazine Casa & Jardim (House & Garden) as gender pedagogies media. The outline of the study focuses the discourses of textual and image about domestic technologies in the magazine Casa & Jardim during the 1950s and 1960s. In this context, the magazines aimed at female audiences sought to create an identification of women with space and domestic consumption, presenting the home technologies, especially appliances, as resources that could ensure domestic comfort, facilitating the daily routines of housewives and providing more welfare families. In this record, the household technologies both favored as charmed everyday activities. However, in parallel, the standards of cleanliness and organization of homes also become significantly more demanding. From a qualitative interpretative approach, will understand how they were configured representations of "ideal housewife" in the magazine Casa & Jardim. We point out that the discourses in the magazine of the household technologies played an important role in the generated expectations regarding the middle class modern housewife role, whose social identity was closely tied to images of wife and mother.

CAPES / Neste trabalho, temos como objetivo investigar as associações entre tecnologias domésticas e tipos de feminilidades na revista Casa & Jardim como mídia de pedagogias de gênero. O recorte de estudo tem como foco os discursos textuais e imagéticos sobre tecnologias do lar veiculados na revista Casa & Jardim durante as décadas de 1950 e 1960. Neste período, as revistas direcionadas para públicos femininos buscavam criar uma identificação das mulheres com o espaço e o consumo domésticos, apresentando as tecnologias do lar, especialmente os eletrodomésticos, como recursos capazes de garantir o conforto doméstico, facilitando as rotinas das donas de casa e proporcionando maior bem-estar às famílias. Neste registro, as tecnologias do lar tanto favoreciam quanto glamourizavam as atividades cotidianas. Contudo, em paralelo, os padrões de limpeza, organização e administração do lar também tornaram-se significativamente mais exigentes. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, visamos compreender como eram configuradas as representações da “dona de casa ideal” na revista Casa & Jardim. Percebemos que, nos discursos do periódico, as tecnologias do lar assumiram um papel importante na construção de expectativas sociais acerca das práticas de consumo das donas de casa das camadas médias, cuja identidade social estava estreitamente vinculada às imagens de esposa e mãe. / This paper proposes to investigate the associations between domestic technologies and types of femininity in the magazine Casa & Jardim (House & Garden) as gender pedagogies media. The outline of the study focuses the discourses of textual and image about domestic technologies in the magazine Casa & Jardim during the 1950s and 1960s. In this context, the magazines aimed at female audiences sought to create an identification of women with space and domestic consumption, presenting the home technologies, especially appliances, as resources that could ensure domestic comfort, facilitating the daily routines of housewives and providing more welfare families. In this record, the household technologies both favored as charmed everyday activities. However, in parallel, the standards of cleanliness and organization of homes also become significantly more demanding. From a qualitative interpretative approach, will understand how they were configured representations of "ideal housewife" in the magazine Casa & Jardim. We point out that the discourses in the magazine of the household technologies played an important role in the generated expectations regarding the middle class modern housewife role, whose social identity was closely tied to images of wife and mother.

In this dissertation, the researcher presents the findings of a discourse analytic enquiry on the construction of femininity within a contemporary South African magazine. It is argued that gender is a social construction and that women’s magazines provide a channel through which discourse of femininity reaches women. These discourses in women’s magazines are often narrow and stereotypical in nature which may limit the development of women’s feminine gender identities. A discourse analytic approach was utilised to reveal the different discourses of femininity within a contemporary women’s magazines, Cosmopolitan, as well as to indicate how they may contribute to the construction of femininity. From the magazine, relationship-focused articles were selected, from which three predominant discourses of femininity were identified which includes femininity as heterosexual, nurturing, and managerial. An important finding is that competing discourses of empowerment and traditional femininity were evident. This points to the highly complex ways in which gender, specifically femininity, is constructed in the magazine under study. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

In this dissertation, the researcher presents the findings of a discourse analytic enquiry on the construction of femininity within a contemporary South African magazine. It is argued that gender is a social construction and that women’s magazines provide a channel through which discourse of femininity reaches women. These discourses in women’s magazines are often narrow and stereotypical in nature which may limit the development of women’s feminine gender identities. A discourse analytic approach was utilised to reveal the different discourses of femininity within a contemporary women’s magazines, Cosmopolitan, as well as to indicate how they may contribute to the construction of femininity. From the magazine, relationship-focused articles were selected, from which three predominant discourses of femininity were identified which includes femininity as heterosexual, nurturing, and managerial. An important finding is that competing discourses of empowerment and traditional femininity were evident. This points to the highly complex ways in which gender, specifically femininity, is constructed in the magazine under study. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)