Advance Search

Miss-represented: A critical analysis of the visibility of black women in South African Glamour magazine

A critical analysis of the visibility of black women in South African Glamour magazine

Pontsho Pilane
Mail & Guardian
Mehita Iqani
University of the Witwatersrand
Keywords:
Copyright and Licensing:
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Share:

How to Cite

Miss-represented: A critical analysis of the visibility of black women in South African Glamour magazine. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 35(1), 126-141. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v35i1.1606
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC
  • Articles
  • Submited: October 14, 2022
  • Published: October 17, 2022

Abstract

This paper reports on a quantitative content analysis of 2,699 images of women present in one
year’s worth of the South African edition of Glamour magazine. Motivated by critical race theory,
black feminist thought and critical consumption studies, the aim of the study was to determine how
often black women were represented in the sample and, further, to examine the particular body
types and hairstyles preferred in the aesthetic of black women featured. The findings showed that
even though Glamour magazine claims that 65% of its readership is comprised of black women,
they feature in only 30% of images, and when present, have hairstyles and body types most
commonly associated with white supremacist ideas of beauty. The (albeit unsurprising) failure
of Glamour magazine to adequately represent a diversity of black femininities is theorised as a
result of pervasive neo-liberal, racist and patriarchal structures of power in post-apartheid South
Africa. We argue that the case study illuminates a racially charged post-feminist moment, in which
black women are represented as valuable only in terms of their proximity to a white ideal, and
valued only in terms of their lucrative potential as an aspirant, compliant mass market.

pdf
pdf

Article Metrics Graph

Article Views | PDF Downloads
Chart Graph | Range Graph

References

  1. Ajani ya Azibo, D. (2011). Commentary: On skin bleaching and lightening as psychological misorientation mental disorder. Journal of Pan African Studies, 4(4):219-232.
  2. Alexander, S.M. (2003). Stylish hard bodies: Branded masculinity in men's health magazine. Sociological Perspectives, 46(4):535-554. doi: 10.1525/sop.2003.46.issue-4
  3. https://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2003.46.issue-4
  4. Ballentine, L.W. & Ogle, J.P. (2005). The making and unmaking of body problems in Seventeen Magazine, 1992-2003. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 33(4):281-307. doi: 10.1177/1077727X04274114
  5. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077727X04274114
  6. Beetham, M. (1996). A magazine of her own?: Domesticity and desire in the Woman's Magazine, 1800-1914. London: Routledge, Chapman & Hall.
  7. Benwell, B. (2003). Masculinity and men's lifestyle magazines. London: Wiley.
  8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2003.tb03600.x
  9. Benwell, B. (2005). "Lucky this is anonymous." Ethnographies of reception in men's magazines: a "textual culture" approach. Discourse & Society, 16(2):147-172. doi: 10.1177/0957926505049616
  10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926505049616
  11. Biko, S. (1978). Black consciousness and the quest for a true humanity. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 8(3). Retrieved November 25, 2015, from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/01k1c0vf
  12. https://doi.org/10.5070/F783017354
  13. Brooks, K., Jackson, P. & Stevenson, N. (2000). Ambivalence in men's lifestyle magazines. In K. Brooks, P. Jackson & N. Stevenson (Eds.), Commercial Cultures: Economies, Practices, Spaces. Oxford: Berg.
  14. Brown, D.L. (2008). African American resiliency: Examining racial socialization and social support as protective factors. Journal of Black Psychology, 34(1):32-48. doi: 10.1177/0095798407310538
  15. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798407310538
  16. Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  17. Butler, J. (2002). Gender Trouble: Tenth Anniversary Edition. London: Routledge.
  18. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203902752
  19. Byrd, A. & Tharps, L. (2002). Hair story: Untangling the roots of black hair in America. New York: St. Martin's Griffin.
  20. Cohen, B.C. (1963). The press and foreign policy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  21. Conrad, K., Dixon, T.L. & Zhang, Y. (2009). Controversial rap themes, gender portrayals and skin tone distortion: A content analysis of rap music videos. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(1):134-156. doi: 10.1080/08838150802643795
  22. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838150802643795
  23. Covert, J.J. & Dixon, T.L. (2008). A changing view representation and effects of the portrayal of women of color in mainstream women's magazines. Communication Research, 35(2):232-256. doi: 10.1177/0093650207313166
  24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650207313166
  25. Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review. 43(6):1241-1299. doi: 10.2307/1229039
  26. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
  27. Crewe, B. (2003). Representing men: Cultural production and producers in the men's magazine market. Oxford: Berg.
  28. Deacon, D., Murdock, G., Pickering, M. & Golding, P. (1999). Researching communications: A practical guide to methods in media and cultural analysis. New York: Bloomsbury USA.
  29. Dlova, N., Hamed, S.H., Tsoka-Gwegweni, J., Grobler, A. & Hift, R. (2014). Women's perceptions of the benefits and risks of skin-lightening creams in two South African communities. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, 13(3):236-241. doi: 10.1111/jocd.12104
  30. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.12104
  31. Dosekun, S. 2015. Fashioning spectacular femininities in Nigeria: postfeminism, consumption and the transnational. PhD dissertation. King's College, London.
  32. Ferguson, M. (1983). Forever feminine: women's magazines and the cult of femininity. London: Heinemann.
  33. Gill, R. (2008). Culture and subjectivity in neoliberal and postfeminist times. Subjectivity, 25(1):432-445. doi: 10.1057/sub.2008.28
  34. https://doi.org/10.1057/sub.2008.28
  35. Gill, R. (2009). Mediated intimacy and postfeminism: a discourse analytic examination of sex and relationships advice in a women's magazine. Discourse & Communication, 3(4):345-369. doi: 10.1177/1750481309343870
  36. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750481309343870
  37. Gill, R., Henwood, K. & McLean, C.A. (2000). The tyranny of the "six-pack"? Understanding men's responses to representations of the male body in popular culture. In C. Squire (Ed.), Culture in psychology (pp. 100-117). Hove, UK: Routledge. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from http://www.routledge.com
  38. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203361047_chapter_7
  39. Glenn, E.N. (2008). Yearning for lightness: Transnational circuits in the marketing and consumption of skin lighteners. Gender & Society, 22(3):281-302. doi: 10.1177/0891243208316089
  40. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243208316089
  41. Gqola, P. 2001. Ufanele uqavile: Blackwomen, feminisms and postcoloniality in Africa. Agenda, 16(50):11-22. doi: 10.1080/10130950.2001.9675990
  42. Harris-Perry, M.V. (2011). Sister citizen: Shame, stereotypes, and black women in America. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  43. Hermes, J. (1995). Reading women's magazines: An analysis of everyday media use. (1st ed.). Cambridge: Polity.
  44. hooks, bell. (2007). Ain't I a woman: Black women and feminism. Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press.
  45. hooks, bell. (2014). Black looks: Race and representation. London: Routledge.
  46. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315743226
  47. Hunter, M. (2013). The consequences of colorism. In R.E. Hall (Ed.), The Melanin Millennium (pp. 247-256). Amsterdam: Springer Netherlands. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_16
  48. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4608-4_16
  49. Iqani, M. (2012a). Consumer culture and the media: Magazines in the public eye. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  50. Iqani, M. (2012b). Smooth bodywork: the role of texture in images of cars and women on consumer magazine covers. Social Semiotics, 22(3):311-331. doi: 10.1080/10350330.2012.665261
  51. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2012.665261
  52. Jancovich, M. (2001). Placing sex: sexuality, taste and middlebrow culture in the reception of Playboy magazine. Intensities: A Journal of Cult Media, 2. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from http://intensities.org/Essays/Jancovich.pdf
  53. Krippendorf, K. (2012). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology. (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
  54. Laden, S. (1997). Middle-class matters, or, ow to keep whites whiter, colours brighter, and blacks beautiful. Critical Arts, 11(1-2):120-141. doi: 10.1080/02560049785310101
  55. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560049785310101
  56. Laden, S. (2001). Consumer magazines for black South Africans. Scrutiny2. 6(1):3-16. doi: 10.1080/18125440108565977
  57. https://doi.org/10.1080/18125440108565977
  58. Laden, S. (2003). Who's afraid of a black bourgeoisie? Consumer magazines for black South Africans as an apparatus of change. Journal of Consumer Culture, 3(2):191-216. doi: 10.1177/14695405030032003
  59. https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405030032003
  60. Lewis, D. (2001). Introduction: African feminisms. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity, (50):4-10.
  61. Machin, D. & Van Leeuwen, T. (2003). Global schemas and local discourses in Cosmopolitan. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 7(4):493-512. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9841.2003.00239.x
  62. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9841.2003.00239.x
  63. Machin, D. & Van Leeuwen, T. (2005). Language style and lifestyle: the case of a global magazine. Media, Culture & Society, 27(4):577-600. doi: 10.1177/0163443705054151
  64. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443705054151
  65. Machin, D. & Thornborrow, J. (2003). Branding and discourse: The case of Cosmopolitan. Discourse & Society, 14(4):453-471. doi: 10.1177/0957926503014004003
  66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014004003
  67. McCleneghan, J.S. (2003). Selling sex to college females: their attitudes about Cosmopolitan and Glamour magazines. The Social Science Journal, 40(2):317-325. doi: 10.1016/S0362-3319(03)00012-0
  68. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0362-3319(03)00012-0
  69. McRobbie, A. (2000). Feminism and Youth Culture. London: Routledge Chapman & Hall.
  70. Millard, J.E. & Grant, P.R. (2006). The Stereotypes of black and white women in fashion magazine photographs: The pose of the model and the impression she creates. Sex Roles, 54(9-10):659-673. doi: 10.1007/s11199-006-9032-0
  71. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9032-0
  72. Molebatsi, N. (2009). Locating African natural "hair-y-tage" in shampoo TV advertisements. Scrutiny2. 14(1):21-30. doi: 10.1080/18125440903151538
  73. https://doi.org/10.1080/18125440903151538
  74. Obbo, C. (1980). African women: their struggle for economic independence. London: Zed Press.
  75. Odhiambo, T. (2008). The black female body as a "Consumer and a Consumable" in current Drum and True Love magazines in South Africa1. African Studies, 67(1):71-80. doi: 10.1080/00020180801943131
  76. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020180801943131
  77. Patton, T.O. (2006). Hey girl, am I more than my hair?: African American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair. NWSA Journal, 18(2):24-51.
  78. https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2006.18.2.24
  79. Posel, D. (2010). Races to consume: revisiting South Africa's history of race, consumption and the struggle for freedom. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(2):157-175. doi: 10.1080/01419870903428505
  80. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870903428505
  81. Puoane, T. (2005). "Big is beautiful" - an exploration with urban black community health workers in a South African township. Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://reference.sabinet.co.za/document/EJC64875
  82. https://doi.org/10.1080/16070658.2005.11734033
  83. Sanger, N. (2009). New women, old messages? Constructions of femininities, race and hypersexualised bodies in selected South African magazines, 2003-2006. Social Dynamics, 35(1):137-148. doi: 10.1080/02533950802667301
  84. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533950802667301
  85. Saraswati, L.A. (2010). Cosmopolitan whiteness: The effects and affects of skin-whitening advertisements in a transnational women's magazine in Indonesia. Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism, 10(2):15-41.
  86. Schlenker, J.A., Caron, S.L. & Halteman, W.A. (1998). A feminist analysis of Seventeen Magazine: Content analysis from 1945 to 1995. Sex Roles. 38(1-2):135-149. doi:10.1023/A:1018720813673
  87. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018720813673
  88. Smith, G. (2000). From suffering in silence, to drawing strength from the margins. Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity. (46):34-41. doi: 10.2307/4066277
  89. https://doi.org/10.2307/4066277
  90. Sonnekus, T. & Van Eeden, J. (2009). Visual representation, editorial power, and the dual "othering" of black men in the South African gay press: The case of Gay Pages. Communicatio, 35(1):81-100. doi: 10.1080/02500160902906661
  91. https://doi.org/10.1080/02500160902906661
  92. Tate, S. (2007). Black beauty: Shade, hair and anti-racist aesthetics. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(2):300-319. doi: 10.1080/01419870601143992
  93. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870601143992
  94. Thomas, L.M. (2009). Skin lighteners in South Africa: Transnational entanglements and technologies of the self. In E. Glenn (Ed.), Shades of Difference: Why Skin Color Matters (pp. 188-210). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
  95. Wasserman, H. & De Beer, A. (2005). Which public? Whose interest? The South African media and its role during the first ten years of democracy. Critical Arts, 19(1-2):36-51. doi: 10.1080/02560040585310041
  96. https://doi.org/10.1080/02560040585310041
How to Cite
Miss-represented: A critical analysis of the visibility of black women in South African Glamour magazine. (2022). Communicare: Journal for Communication Studies in Africa, 35(1), 126-141. https://doi.org/10.36615/jcsa.v35i1.1606

Send mail to Author

Send Cancel

Custom technologies based on your needs

  • ORCID
  • Crossref
  • PubMed
    • Clarivate