More sugar?

Abstract

Teenage magazines such as More' and Sugar have been the subject of some controversy in Britain recently. Media attention has indicated that such magazines are too sexually explicit for young women and one Member of Parliament declared that the magazines 'rob girls of their innocence'. This paper will look at the ways in which magazines aimed at an adolescent female market can be seen as a cultural resource for teaching and learnmg about issues of sexuality. The paper will explore the ways in which sexual issues are presented for young women through the magazine format. This is followed by an analysis of the ways in which young women read, discuss and negotiate these media messages. Using ethnographic material drawn from school-based research and textual analysis of teenage magazines, the paper suggests that there is a complex process of negotiation where young people read the material and the messages within the social context of friendship groups and personal experiences. Acts of readership within the school context produce enactments of femininity and masculinity which can be seen as 'gender displays', offering a sphere for the constitution and public exhibition of sex-gender identities.