Coursework: Draft

To what extent are women objectified and misrepresented in the media by fashion magazines such as 'Vogue' and 'Look'?

In this piece of coursework, my intention is to focus on the representation (or misrepresentation) of women in the media today, specifically focusing on magazines aimed at women's fashion. A popular assumption established within the UK is that the 'perfect' woman is stereotypically a slender, size 8-10 woman with a seemingly perfect complexion, however this stereotype is considered a false misrepresentation. This stereo-typification is supported by the images used in magazines such as Vogue and Look, however both magazines differ in how their women are represented through media texts such as adverts, written articles and interviews. I will be using the theories and work developed by theorists such as Laura Mulvey and the 'Male Gaze', Jacques Lacan, Karen Coats and John Fiske, and talking about why and how women are represented in such a way that many consider to dehumanise them.



Flicking through the latest edition of both Vogue and Look magazines, I have found than an astonishing amount of advertisements contain female models no larger than a clothes size 6. 132 in Vogue compared to a mere 37 advertisements in Look contained female models of this size. I also found there to be approximately 8 size 8 models in Vogue, in comparison to 23 in Look. Taking into consideration that Vogue contains more than four times the amount of pages than look does, and contains more advertisements as a whole (rather than articles etc.), Vogue is still showing more size 6 models in proportion to it's other advertisements than Look are. Over all, the number of models found in these editions that were found at and larger size than an 8 were astoundingly small. 6 were found in Vogue, and 3 in Look (both of which only showed models no larger than a British clothes size 12). This will no doubt convince the magazine's audience that this is the way that they are meant to look, if naturally sized women are not represented at all in these magazines, then why would women think that it is something to strive for? They wouldn't.

As a principal, Vogue as a magazine contains a larger amount of advertisements rather than articles and stories, in comparison to Look. This is over several editions of both magazines, rather than just the one. Because of this, Vogue's intentions and motives may be seen to differ compared to those of Look Magazine, which contains articles on the latest celebrity relationships, gossip articles and affordable fashion.  These sorts of articles tend to gratify the needs of it's audience members by giving them an insight into the latest celebrity news and gossip. By doing this, Look (as a magazine) is in a way advertising the celebrity as a lifestyle choice, in comparison to Vogue, which I have found to be advertising a specific product, name or brand. Therefore, Vogue is seen to be directly advertising a specific product, whereas Look are advertising a certain style, and showing the audience how to achieve this style through the brands directly advertised in Vogue (or similar products at a much more affordable price).