Often, paradigm shifts within society are viewed as sudden developments when, in fact, they are actually products of dynamic forces long at work. The social revolution of feminism, and later postfeminism, fits this model. Although the feminist movement reached its height in the period from the late 1960s to the early 1970s (Cohen, 1988; Butler and Paisley, 1978), prior research reveals that evidence of its upsurge can be seen in communication from works prior to even the nineteenth century (Jolliffe, 1986; Woodward,1960; and Zuckerman, 1998).

For many people, a social movement is simply a media event. What they know about something is what they read or hear. The agenda-setting function of the media posits that if an issue is at the forefront of media coverage, it is at the forefront of the audience’s thoughts (McCombs and Shaw, 1972).

This ability to determine the salience of issues is typified by the play select issues receive on magazine covers. Messages touted by the cover of a magazine sell readers not only the publication, but also the relative importance of the issues addressed. The latter is true also for those who do not subscribe, purchase or even open issues of a specified magazine, as this group, too, can be affected by the cover issues presented. Standing at the newsstand or supermarket checkout, one can hardly avoid noticing the prominently displayed messages of the magazine covers proclaiming what is "in vogue." Regardless of whether anything else is known about a periodical, one can often get a sense of its content–or at least what it advertises as its content via the cover–through such chance encounters. Such pervasiveness of magazine covers helps explain recent campaigns to "cover the covers" of publications viewed as inappropriate by groups such as Morality in Media (Posnock, 2000; Kantz, 1999).

While women’s magazine covers may showcase a variety of topics, they may also effectively showcase the changing sentiments of society regarding feminism. According to Wolf (1991), women’s magazines have popularized feminist ideas more widely than any other medium. Women’s magazines, long ignored and trivialized, are now recognized as the powerful forces they are in shaping and structuring femininity (Walters, 1995).

Women’s magazines for over a century have been one of the most powerful agents of changing women’s roles (Wolf, 1991; Jolliffe, 1986). Magazine articles published during the first decade after enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment indicate that the women’s movement was a vibrant force, a new attitude that was shaping the beginning of a new social order and a medium for women’s assimilation into the political system (Bonard, 1994). Similar championing of changing women’s roles by women’s magazines during times of shifting political climates have also been noted in other countries such as Poland and the former Soviet Union (Rukszto, 1999; Attwood, 1999).

To investigate whether women’s magazines, in fact, reflect the historical patterns of feminism and postfeminism in the issues conveyed on their covers, a content analysis of popular women’s magazines was employed. The treatment of male-female relationships by women’s magazines and a traditional men’s magazine was also examined.

II. REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

Women’s magazines were the first to overtly combine advertising and editorial in a marriage of convenience; this promotional partnership was well-established by 1900. Women’s journals played a crucial part in developing what has been called "the feminization of American purchasing," reinforcing women’s role as consumer (Zuckerman, 1995). Ladies’ Home Journal Cyrus Curtis in a speech to advertisers once expressed this function of women’s magazines in a manner which epitomizes it, "[T]he real reason, the publisher’s reason, is to give you people who manufacture things that American women want and buy a chance to tell them about your products." In fact, the very form of the magazine adheres to a cardinal rule of consumer culture: they are disposable, replaced each month by a fresh set of images (Scanlon, 1995).

Ohmann (1996) sees popular magazines as America’s first "national mass culture," shaping and socializing a large group of middle-class consumers. This mass culture began transforming in the period surrounding World War II, becoming the diverse mix of mediums and messages we see today (Walker, 2000).

Admittedly, mass culture has diversified, and women’s mass culture has followed suit with the development of women-oriented television programming, Internet content, etc. But it is still women’s magazines that best represent women’s mass culture.

Women’s magazines are the only product of popular culture that change with women’s reality, are mostly written by women about women’s issues and take women’s concerns seriously. To the uninitiated, a woman’s magazine may seem merely a powdery bit of fluff, but no notion could be more unreal or deceptive. That is just the style in which the magazines express themselves, for if the top layer seems fluffy, the underlying base is solid and powerful. These publications involve a giant business investment, and have an overwhelming influence on American life (Woodward, 1960). Women are deeply affected by what their magazines tell them because they are the clearest window most women have to their own mass sensibility (Wolf, 1991). According to Ladies’ Home Journal editor Myrna Blyth, "Probably no magazines have as intimate a relationship with their readers [as do women’s magazines] and yet, at the same time, have such strength in journalism and information that they provide" (Kerwin, 2000).

That women look to their magazines both to be informed and guided in many areas is logical. It has long been thought that media play a major role in developing our world views, partially by aiding the creation of "the images in our heads." The relationship of women and their magazines is clearly not unidimensional. Women see how the magazines portray them and the attitudes they espouse regarding women’s various roles, and, in turn, adapt how they see themselves to fit with this perspective. The evolution of popular-culture images of women has always been "a manifestation of larger social, economic and cultural developments" (Kitch, 1997).

Some attention has been given to the study of women’s magazines, but few go beyond analyzing the image of women in the media (Peirce, 1990). Few use a theoretical basis to examine the ways this media reinforces ideologies.

The most relevant ideology to women and their roles, freedoms and opportunities over the past century is, of course, feminism. Webster’s Universal College Dictionary (1997) defines "feminism" as, "A doctrine advocating social, political and economic rights for women equal to those of men." Peirce (1990) defines feminist messages as those emphasizing taking care of oneself, being independent and not relying on another person for fulfillment or identity.

Doner (1993) noted that, although women’s magazines have consistently conveyed destructive images and attitudes on beauty and relationships to their readers, the publications do not consistently undermine women. For with the destructive content comes the redeemingly constructive messages, and women’s magazines routinely casually intermingle stunningly superficial stories with feminist ideas. In fact, many feminist ideas (such as the need for equal-pay-for-equal-work and the unacceptability of sexual harassment) have become part of popular culture thanks to the constant play they receive in the magazines (Doner, 1993).

The past half-century has seen three major periods that have been identified as outstanding in the feminist movement (Taylor, 1989; Schlenker et al., 1998). The first period rose from the abolitionist conflict of the late 1930s; the second emerged through late 1960s to early 1970s drastic social reform. Accompanying the politically conservative 1980s, feminism garnered less of society’s attention and underwent what some critics refer to as a "backlash" (Faludi, 1991; Duncan, 1997). More recently, the 1990s have seen a return to milder forms of feminism which take a somewhat humanistic approach, aspiring to meet feminists’ goals individually as opposed to the collective actions of the past (Schlenker, 1998; Gamble, 1999; and Hermann and Stewart, 2001). This "softer, gentler" feminism is often termed "postfeminism."

Existing analyses of media messages reveal a consensus that the "posting" of feminism took place in or around the year 1986 (Dow, 1996; Faludi, 1991). Labelled by some a "backlash" against feminism, this paradigm shift is more aptly referred to as postfeminism. Backlash implies total rejection of feminist ideals; postfeminism illustrates the existing assumptions of validity of some of feminism’s goals (Dow, 1996). One early study of this phenomenon defines postfeminism as, "The simultaneous incorporation, revision and depolitization of many of the central goals of second-wave feminism" (Stacey, 1983).

This trend toward postfeminism, as articulated by magazine-industry expert Kalia Doner, senior associate at the Center for Women Policy Studies’ and former executive editor of First for Women, is reflected in women’s magazines. "The 1970s were a good time for the women’s movement and for women’s magazines. Unfortunately, it didn’t last. The country recoiled from the turmoil of the 60s and 70s. In the 1980s, most magazines shrank away from discussing anything in a political context, and women began to feel that feminism was the true ‘F’ word" (Doner, 1993).

Since Betty Friedan’s 1963 The Feminine Mystique charged women’s magazines with propagating false images and ideals of women, there has been much investigation of this subject. Peirce (1990) and Schlenker et. al (1998) found in their studies of Seventeen magazine articles that during the period of the feminist movement there was an increase in the amount of feminist messages. However, in 1985 this trend reversed, possibly reflecting sentiments of postfeminism (Doner, 1993).

To examine these possible changes in the dissemination of feminist messages by women’s magazines, this study examined the covers of women’s magazines. It was decided to "judge magazines by their covers" because it is often readers who do exactly that. Many times it is the cover that initially attracts the reader to the magazine. Titles, catch phrases and pictures displayed on magazine covers are usually all that the reader has time to look at in a store (Malkin et al., 1999). Most fashion and beauty magazines rely on newsstand sales for half of their circulation (Krafft, 1991).

Industry knowledge of and capitalization upon this is reflected in the following statement from a corporate circulation director. "The cover is primarily a sales tool...the images selected and the way we describe the contents must be provocative, hard-hitting and full of elements that sell" (Lee, 1998). Cover pictures are the most important images to appear in any magazine. Good ones can stop readers in their tracks and pull them inside to the most important story in the publication (Douglis, 2001). A magazine cover itself provides a summary statement about both readers’ character and magazines’ promises (Kitch, 1998). Due to their ability to gain initial interest from readers, thus indirectly relating that which resonates with the audiences, it is important to explore the messages that are being presented to readers on the covers of these women’s magazines.

To explore the social reality of feminism/postfeminism constructed in women’s mass culture, the following questions are posed with the overarching question: Do women’s magazines reflect the historical patterns of the feminist movement through the issues conveyed on their covers?

1. What are the major issues on the covers of women’s magazines during the three periods of study?
2. Do the issues differ significantly by type of magazine?
3. What roles are portrayed by women’s magazine cover subjects?
4. How sexually-explicit are women’s magazine covers?
5. How has racial diversity been addressed by women’s magazine covers?
6. How have male-female relational issues been addressed by women’s magazines?
7. How have male-female relational issues been addressed by men’s magazines?
8. Have these relationships changed over time?

A content analysis of Ladies’ Home Journal, Seventeen and Esquire was performed for approximately the last half of the twentieth century using time periods I (1947-1955), II (1967-1975) and III (1987-1995). Essence, launched in May of 1970, was analyzed for 1970-1975 and 1987-1995. A representative sample was chosen from each of the time periods resulting in a total of 382 magazines (See Appendix A for complete breakdown of sample). This stratified sampling scheme resulted in the equivalent of nine constructed years per magazine (three per time period; four-and-a-half total constructed years for Essence). As suggested by Anders (1999) and others, the constructed year provides an equal proportion of issues drawn for all months and seasons to offset any extraneous monthly or seasonal variables that unequal proportions might introduce.

The time periods for examination of pre-feminism, feminism and postfeminism eras were selected to capture the overall sentiments of each era for comparison within and among magazines. The period from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s can be considered the height of the most recent feminist movement (Cohen, 1988; Butler & Paisley, 1978). The time period selected to represent feminism was 1967-1975. During this period, significant social changes were taking place. With regard to the feminist movement, the benchmark 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling as well as the proposal–and defeat-- of the Equal Rights Amendment denote some contemporary concerns of the era. Postfeminism first emerged in the early to mid 1980s (Doner, 1993). It was opted to allow "breathing room" between the specified eras in order to avoid contaminating them with irrelevant transitional periods and, thus, avoid diluting the results.

The specific magazines analyzed were selected for several reasons. First, all have high circulations within their respective market segment: Ladies’ Home Journal at five million, Seventeen at over two million, Essence at over one million and Esquire at 700,000 (Audit Bureau of Circulations, 2001). All were logical choices for their high circulations, history and audience appeal.

Ladies’ Home Journal is the longest-running, most widely circulated traditional women’s magazine. Seventeen can claim the same among youth-targeted women’s magazines. According to Cheryl Idell, VP of Research at Western International Media, "An ad in Seventeen can reach as much as 90 percent of the 12-17 female audience" (Consoli, 1999). While Essence cannot claim as long a history, it was the first national magazine that was truly targeted to African-American females, and it remains the most successful in this niche. Ebony, the longer-running African-American publication, fits into the general interest category. So although Ebony’s longevity would have made it well-suited for this study, Essence was the better choice as the African-American counterpart to Ladies’ Home Journal as it is clearly targeted at women.

Esquire, while not currently the highest-circulating men’s magazine, has the longest history and was very influential on other men’s periodicals such as Playboy. Since Esquire’s 1940 debut of "A Guide to Girl Watching," the format has been virtually inseparable from magazines targeted at males. Begun as a counterpart to women’s magazines, early Esquire attempted to "sell men" on the acceptability of their participation in consumer culture. Soon, men were being sold on the idea that they were "in the market" for status, and that women were among their competition for such status (Breazeale, 1994).

Coding each magazine cover was performed by first analyzing the visual messages (gender, role, level of sexual explicitness of dress and race of cover subject). Then textual messages were categorized as traditional or feminist, if applicable, or "other." Male-female relational theme headlines were then subcategorized. Care was taken that all headlines were accounted for and the total number of headlines coded equaled the actual total number of headlines found on each cover. (See Appendices B and C for operational definitions, coding categories and examples.)

The items examined for the sample of women’s magazines included the major issues presented by the cover headlines and their categorization, if applicable, as traditional or feminist messages. The roles portrayed by were analyzed for female cover subjects only. Male cover subjects were excluded on the basis that men, by very definition, cannot be cast in a "feminist" role. The subjects’ level of sexual explicitness of dress and race were accounted for as well.

Additionally, the treatment of male-female relationship issues by both the women’s magazines examined here and the men’s magazine Esquire was examined. This was important because popular magazines serve as an important source of relational information for millions of individuals in this culture. This is particularly true when ambiguity enters the picture due to larger social conflicts concerning sex roles and subsequent changes in relational structures, as occurred with the women’s movement beginning in the early to mid 1960s (Duran & Prusank, 1997). Each cover headline pertaining to male-female relationships was coded as a manifestation of one of the following themes: understanding the opposite sex, how to attract the right date/mate, initiating dates, gender and talk differences, revitalization, sex, conflict, breakup/divorce, or career/co-worker.

For ease and accuracy in interpreting the results, data were entered into the statistical software program SPSS for analysis. A combination of Pearson product-movement correlations, chi-square and t-test were utilized. The standard alpha level of p < .05 was employed to determine significance.

Assumptions

An underlying assumption of this paper is that magazines, indeed, can be judged by their covers. It is also presumed that women’s magazines have, historically, been instrumental in aiding the change of women’s roles in society and also are reflective of contemporary society’s attitudes regarding such changes.

Limitations

One unavoidable limitation in this study was the fact that Essence was not introduced until mid-1970. Thus, it was impossible to get a full historical view of this publication targeted at African-American women.

Additionally, the magazines studied, while targeted to somewhat varied female demographics, are all quite traditional in their approaches and target audiences. Examining more feminist-focused publications such as Ms. or Sassy could have afforded a more dramatic representation of the types of feminist messages that have been touted by women’s magazines. For the purpose of this study, however, it was desirable to use long-running, largely mainstream publications to surmise widespread–and wide-reaching–changes in attitudes about women. 

Of the 392 magazine covers examined, the typical cover had only one person–usually female–as its cover subject. The women’s magazines contained an average of 5.6 total headlines. The most common type of role portrayed was a traditional one.

Overall, the most prevalent types of issues conveyed through women’s magazine headlines were traditional. Nearly 90% contained one or more traditional headlines; the mean number of traditional headlines per cover was 3.3. On three-fourths of women’s magazine covers, a traditional headline concerning "appearance" was seen. Approximately half contained "home and family" or "male-female relations" cover headlines.

Feminist headlines appeared on nearly 70% of the magazine covers included in the sample; the mean number of feminist headlines per cover was 2.1. For feminist headlines, "political/world issues" and "self-development" ranked the highest, materializing in nearly half of the population. Less popular was the "education or career," surfacing on only approximately every sixth cover. (For more details, see Appendix D, Table 1.)

In over 97% of the cases studied for women’s magazines, the cover subject was female. Of these, the roles portrayed were of a traditional nature within nearly 90% of the sample; in 10% feminist roles emerged. The most prevalent depiction of a traditional role was that of the "glamour girl" (60% of all cover subjects), trailed by "mother" (6%) and "wife (5%); feminist roles found representation most frequently as a "female counterpart" (4% overall), closely followed by "politician or activist" (3.6% overall). (See Appendix D, Table 2.)

The women’s magazine covers were not found to be sexually explicit in the dress of the cover subjects. The mean value was 1.4–slightly more provacative than "demure," but not yet "suggestive." Incidentally, men’s female cover subjects were found to have a mean of 2.2–just beyond "suggestive." (See Appendix D, Table 3).

Racial diversity of cover subjects among the women’s magazines studied was anything but diverse. Each publication in the sample adhered quite rigidly to its respective originally-targeted race when choosing models to place on the cover. Essence, maintaining its stance since its establishment as an African-American woman’s publication (Zuckerman, 1998), contained 100% African-American cover subjects. Seventeen and Ladies’ Home Journal overall contained 95% Caucasian cover subjects, including a handful of minority models in the later time periods. Ladies’ Home Journal’s inclusion of minorities is less commendable than that of Seventeen, however, as all but one of its minority cover subjects is a recurring use of talk-show host Oprah Winfrey. (See Appendix D, Table 4)

The treatment of male-female relational issues by magazine covers varied between men’s and women’s magazines. While women’s were more apt to discuss "sex" (16%), "marriage" (10%) and "understanding the opposite sex" (9%), men’s magazines gravitated toward "admiring the opposite sex’s looks (19%), "sex" (7%) and "understanding the opposite sex" (5.5%). (See Appendix D, Table 5)

In order to arrive at a definitive conclusion as to whether women’s magazines reflect, through the issues touted on their covers, the historical patterns of the feminist movement, several questions were posed, along with consideration for each variable’s relationship to the passage of time. Each of the research questions aided the construction of a more complete picture so that an answer could be surmised for the overarching question of concern.

RQ1: What are the major issues on the covers of women’s magazines?

Overall, the traditional issue of "appearance" is the most prevalent, appearing in 211 (77%) of the covers studied. The other traditional issues of "home and family" and "male-female relations," as well as the feminist issues of "political issues" and "self-development" all appear on nearly half of the covers. Only "education or career" lagged behind, appearing only one-sixth of the time.

YES, as the time periods increase, women’s magazines containing feminist headlines also increase (Total number of covers containing feminist headlines per period: Period I-26, Period II-80, Period III-82). (r=0.21, df=272, p < .05)

Primarily this significant change occurred between time periods I and II (m=1.34 to m=2.19). (t=3.28, df=104, p < .05)

Thus, the most noticeable change in women’s magazines occurred between the mid-1950s and late 1960s, resulting in a dramatically increased number of feminist-voiced headline messages. This pattern is consistent with the historical pattern of feminism.

RQ2: Do the issues differ significantly by type of magazine?

YES, the different types of women’s magazines tend to vary in their coverage of issues. The most prevalent type of headline for all three magazines was the traditional "appearance." However, the publications differed in the amount of covers published that contained feminist headlines (Number of feminist-headline-containing covers per magazine: Ladies’ Home Journal-91, Seventeen-57, Essence-40). (x²=24.8, df=2, p < .05)

The traditional magazines, Ladies’ Home Journal and Essence, gave feminist headlines the most prominence, displaying them on 84% and 70% of their covers, respectively. Seventeen, the youth-targeted publication, exhibited feminist headlines only 54% of the time.

RQ3: What roles are portrayed by women’s magazine cover subjects?

Overall, most are traditional roles (90%); feminist roles comprise 10% of the sample.

YES, there is a significant difference in the number of feminist role-containing covers over time (Total number of magazine covers containing feminist role cover subject per time period: Period I-3, Period II-6, Period III-22). (x²=14.7, df=2, p < .05)

YES, as time periods increase, covers containing feminist-role cover subjects also increases (Total number of magazine covers containing feminist role cover subject per time period: Period I-3, Period II-6, Period III-22). (r=0.22, df=272, p < .05)

Over time, the number of women’s magazine covers placing cover models in feminist roles has increased. The most substantial rise occurred between periods II and III, resulting in an increase from 2% to 8% of covers containing feminist roles.

RQ4: How sexually-explicit are women’s magazine covers?

Overall, women’s magazine covers tend to be conservative in their level of sexual explicitness. The mean value for sexual explicitness of cover subjects’ dress was 1.4–almost half-way between demure and suggestive.

YES and NO. Although sexual explicitness, on average, did not increase from time period I to time period II (m=1.486 to m=1.489), it did decrease, on average, from time period II to time period III (m=1.489 to m=1.18). (t=2.09, df=198, p < .05)

While sexual explicitness may not have been shown to increase empirically from period I (the 1940s and 50s) to time period II (the 1960s and 70s), the era of the "sexual revolution" may have yielded a different expression of sexual explicitness than what was studied here. As this study only accounted for the sexual explicitness of models’ clothing and not poses/positions of models or their gestures or expressions, etc., there may be a component of sexual explicitness for which this study did not account. Also, the coding categories used were quite forgiving to subtle suggestions of sexuality; a significant number of cover models would have to have been half-nude (i.e., "partially clad") to make a major impact on the perceived sexual explicitness of any time period.

Overall, it has been addressed only marginally. The publications studied depict 95-100% of their cover models in accordance with their original respective racial affiliations.

NO, there is no significant difference in the number of racial minority cover subjects over time (Number of magazine covers containing racial minority by time period: Period I-0, Period II-1, Period III-8).

In fact, of the entire sample of Ladies’ Home Journal and Seventeen covers, only nine portrayed a cover model that was not Caucasian. Of these, three featured talk-show host Oprah Winfrey; accounting for this helps illuminate the scarcity of racial diversity in these magazines even further.

RQ6: How have male-female relational issues been addressed by women’s magazines?

Overall, women’s magazines tended to focus on the themes of "sex," such as Essence’s July 1993 "Black Women Explore Sexuality," "marriage," from July 1987 Essence "The Truth About Marriage: Men and Women Speak Out," "understanding the opposite sex," for example, "The Secret Life of Boys" from Seventeen’s April 1987 cover and "conflict," as with the May 1994 Seventeen headline "When His Friends Hate You."

NO, the average number of magazine covers containing male-female relational issues has not changed significantly over time (Period I m=1.14 to Period II m=1.45 to Period III m=1.45).

Overall, women’s magazines tended to focus on the themes of "admiring the opposite sex’s looks," "sex" and "understanding the opposite sex."

YES and NO. Although, on average, the number of male-female relational issues did not change from time period I to time period II (m=1.0 to m=1.0), the average number did change significantly from time period II to III (m=1.0 to m=1.6). (t=1.16, df=23, p < .05).

By and large, traditional headlines and roles dominate the covers of women’s magazines. This is especially true for the roles portrayed by cover subjects; 90% of the time they were shown in a traditional role. Admittedly, this depiction–especially that of "glamour girl"--has become nearly synonymous with magazine covers.

Still, the amount of feminist headlines increased significantly during the era of the feminist movement (time period II), and has since held its position if not increased again ever so slightly. Ladies’ Home Journal contained the most feminist headlines at an overall rate of 84% of covers with one or more feminist headline; Essence was at 70%; Seventeen had 54%.

While the depiction of feminist roles occurred in only 10% of the sample, this trend did increase over time, showing the largest portion to exist in time period III.

The sexual explicitness of women’s magazine covers was, overall, demure. Interestingly, sexual explicitness was found to have actually decreased from time period II to time period III. (See Appendix B for coding categories and definitions.) This is somewhat difficult to interpret as sexual explicitness could be viewed as a product of either "liberation" (i.e., the exuberant "bra burning" of the 1960s and 70s) or "objectification" (i.e., gratuitous "bikini babes")–two motivations with polar opposite implications.

The apparent lack of racial diversity among women’s magazine covers reflects a hesitancy to deviate from what–for that particular publication–has been the status quo. This is perhaps indicative of editors’ overall tendency to adhere to established "norms" in order to avoid confusing or offending readers.

The fact that the occurrence of male-female relational theme headlines has remained at a constant level throughout the time periods spanning the latter half of the twentieth century illustrates the consistent message that women are viewed as the emotional anchors/directors of relationships. The increase, on average, from time period II to time period III in male-female relational issue headlines on men’s magazine covers may reflect an increased willingness of men to be emotionally responsible in their relationships. This may also be an indication of society’s approval or acceptance of the presence of this "effeminized" trait of sensitivity in men.

From the answers to the seven research questions, the overarching question can be answered. It can be concluded that, yes, women’s magazines do reflect the historical patterns of the feminist movement through the issues conveyed on their covers.

While the sample within this study cannot easily be translated into a representation for the entire women’s magazine industry, it does give a good perspective on how popular traditional, youth-oriented and African-American targeted women’s publications have evolved concurrently alongside–and sometimes in reaction to–the feminist movement. Interestingly, the amount of feminist headlines remained steady, even increasing a bit, from period II to period III. This suggests a stable and lasting change in the focus of women’s magazines since the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s. Instead of illustrating a "backlash" against feminism in the 1980s and 90s, this represents, at least on the surface, a commitment to the tenets of feminism.

Feminism in the form of magazine cover subjects’ roles also held true to this pattern. Gaining slightly in the number of occurrences over time, the largest number of feminist role covers were from time period III.

Although this finding may contradict the view that postfeminism emerged in the 1980s as an opposition to feminism, it supports the notion that postfeminism is a continuation of feminism. Intuitively, this makes sense; the "battles" fought during the era of feminism have already come to fruition and women have since enjoyed greater freedoms and equalities. While messages promoting the exercise of such rights are sure to continue, along with carefully-chosen rallies for specific rights’ increase or sustainment (such as equal pay and abortion rights), demands for the acceptance of feminism and equality are no longer a necessity. Having achieved a large portion of its goals, the feminist movement has translated into a generation of women’s magazine covers that encourage readers to exercise–not fight for–their rights.

Studying magazine covers can yield concise and telling results. However well-founded, it is only an assumption that the covers of magazines are representative of their inside editorial content. A study focusing on this matter would be extremely beneficial to both further research of magazines as well as past research of magazine covers. One way this might be conducted is by comparing the cover headlines of magazines to their respective tables of contents for the types of and proportions of messages and how they match up.

A ubiquitous and powerful force in magazine publishing, as in all media, is advertising. Advertisers can drive editorial decisions if they wield enough influence, desire to do so and can find an editor who will accommodate them. Another angle from which to examine the prevalence of feminist messages in magazines might be to compare the types of advertisers with the types of messages put forth. It may be that one force in shaping the standpoint of women’s magazines on feminist issues is the views of advertisers. Messages touting traditional products such as beauty and cleaning products may seek a more traditional atmosphere–possibly with the aid of "complementary copy"–while products such as credit cards and cars may be, in the eyes of advertisers, better suited for publications that encourage women to be worldly and independent.

Anders, A. (1999). A content analysis of Seventeen, Essence and Redbook: 1985-1998.  Masters Abstracts International, 37 (6), 1550 (UMI No. 1395382. 

Attwood, L. (1999). Creating the new Soviet woman: Women’s magazines as engineers of female identity, 1922-53. New York: Palgrave. 

Audit Bureau of Circulations (2001). eData. [On-line] Available: http://www.accessabc.com 

Bonard, C.A. (1994). The women’s movement in the 1920s: American magazines document the health and progress of feminism.  Electronic Journal of Communication, 4: 2-4. 

Breazeale, K. (1994). In spite of women: Esquire magazine and the construction of the male consumer. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 20: 1-22.

 Butler, M. & Paisley, (1978).  Magazine coverage of women’s rights.  Journal of Communication, 28: 185. 

Cohen, M. (2000). The sisterhood.  Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, Inc. 

Consoli, J. (1999).Girl power. Brandweek, 40: 27.          

Doner, K. (1993). Women’s magazines: Slouching toward feminism.  Social Policy, 37 (3): 37-43.           

Douglis, P.N. (2001). Visually literate magazine covers grab readers, tell stories. Communication World, 18 (2): 32-33. 

Dow, B. (1996).  Prime-time feminism: Television, media culture and the women’s movement since 1970.   Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 

Duncan, B. (1997). Identity and technology: Cyberfeminism in online “grrl zines.” Philosophical studies in education, 158-168. 

Duran, R.L. & Prusank, D.T. (1997). Relational themes in men’s and women’s popular nonfiction magazine articles. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 14: 165-189.           

Faludi, S. (1991). Backlash: The undeclared war against American women. New York: Crown.           

Friedan, B. (1963). The feminine mystique. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 

Gamble, S. (1999). The routledge critical dictionary of feminism and postfeminism.  Cambridge: Icon Books, Ltd. 

Hermann, A. & Stewart, A. (2001). Theorizing feminism: Parallel trends in the humanities and social sciences.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 

Jolliffe, L. Diffusion of ideas by 19th century feminists: the growth of women’s magazines. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Aug. 3-6, 1986, in Norman, OK. 

Kantz, M. (1999). Group wants cover-up of racy magazine headlines. National Catholic Reporter, 35: 8-9. 

Kerwin, A. (2000). Sex and the modern magazine editor.  Advertising Age, 71: S12-S18. 

Kitch, C. (1997). Changing theoretical perspectives on women’s media images: The emergence of patterns in a new area of historical scholarship.  Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74: 477-489. 

Kitch, C. (1998). The girl on the magazine cover: gender, class and the emergence of visual stereotypes in American mass media.  Dissertation Abstracts International, 59 (6), 1820A (UMI No. 9838498). 

Krafft, S. (1991). Window on a woman’s mind. American Demographics, 13 (12): 44-50. 

Lee, D. (1998). Make the cover a sales tool. Folio: The magazine for magazine management, [On-line] Available: http://www.foliomag.com/content/plus/1998/19980301.htm. 

Malkin, A., Wornian, K., & Crisler, J. (1999). Women and weight: gendered messages on magazine covers. Sex Roles, 40: 647-655. 

McCombs, M.E., & Shaw, D.L. (1972). The agenda setting function of mass media.  Public Opinion Quarterly, 36: 176-187. 

Ohmann, R. (1996). Selling culture: magazines, markets and class at the turn of the century.  New York: Verso. 

Peirce, K. (1990). A feminist theoretical perspective on teenage girls through Seventeen magazine.  Sex Roles, 23: 491-500. 

Posnock, S. (2000). Supermarket cover-up dents Cosmo sales. Folio: The magazine for magazine management, 29: 18-20. 

Rukszto, K. (1999). Women’s magazines as spaces for dissent: Restructuring in Poland. Resources for feminist research, 27: 83-95. 

Scanlon, J. (1995). Inarticulate longings. New York: Routledge. 

Schlenker, J., Caron, S., & Halterman, W. (1998). A feminist analysis of Seventeen magazine: content analysis from 1945 to 1995.  Sex Roles, 38: 135-149. 

Stacey, J. (1983). The new conservative feminism. Feminist Studies, 9: 559-584. 

Taylor, V. (1989). The future of feminism.  New York: Random House. 

Walker, N. (2000). Shaping our mothers’ world: American women’s magazines.  Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. 

Walters, S. (1995). Material girls: Making sense of feminist cultural theory.  Los Angeles: University of California Press. 

Wolf, N. (1991). The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. New York: William Morrow. 

Woodward, H. (1960). The lady persuaders. New York: Ivan Obolensky, Inc.           

Zuckerman, M.E. (1998). A history of popular women’s magazines in the United States, 1792-1995. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.