Grado de Hipertrofia/complicación por hematoma

The process of carrying out this research has been filled with highs and lows. From my initial enthusiasm for the subject, to a rising sense of pessimism in finding that previous studies yielded only marginal enthusiasm from their participants, to a renewed sense of vigour when conducting my interviews.

To summarise, while previous studies have found participants unable to articulate much on the subject of women’s magazines, this study found participants to be both articulate and interested during the course of discussions. Certainly there was a high level of self-reflexivity from participants, most of whom also demonstrated a

familiarity with feminist critiques of the women’s magazines genre, citing consumerist values and ‘conflicting’ ideologies as negative aspects of modern magazines. On the other hand, most participants were keen to dismiss these ‘passing annoyances’ as anything other than trivial, attributing them to the need for magazines to appeal across to a broad range of women. This suggests that readers are able to be far more selective and critical when it comes to processing women’s magazines than much previous research has asserted. There is therefore a need for academics to move away from the ‘older feminist position of concern’ (Hermes, 1995: 3) towards a broader minded view of modern readers as having the autonomy to negotiate with magazines without being subjected to one definitive ideology. While, as Chapter Two indicated, there has been an effort on the part of some studies to move towards reader- orientated approaches to research, this must be maintained as magazines continue to develop.

Women’s magazines are developing, as this research has shown. Participants were both surprised and pleased by Grazia’s inclusion of more ‘meat’ in its content,

although clearly the hybrid genre has not been perfected. There is not yet an ideal format for merging the broader political world into the genre of women’s magazines, as responses from participants and my textual analysis have demonstrated, yet clearly a widening of what is known as the ‘Women’s World’ is welcomed. This returns to an important point made by Winship regarding the placement of ‘women’s magazines’ as a genre, which is separated by the fact that there is no ‘Men’s World’ section.

Essentially, as women’s magazines are marked out so explicitly, the implication is that all other titles (including business, politics etc) are for men (1987: 6-7). This sentiment has been echoed by other critics who have seen women’s magazines as narrowing the women’s world to gossip, beauty and sex, with no interest in current affairs or politics (Gauntlett, 2002; Jones, 2009). Grazia is beginning to dispel some of those criticisms, with its status as the magazine with ‘the highest loyalty of any other weekly or glossy lifestyle monthly in the UK’ attesting to its success (Bauer Media).

Interestingly, after the launch of Grazia in 2005, two new weekly women’s magazines were launched in the UK; First and In the Know, both of which were described as ‘more serious and news driven’, ‘eschewing the celebrity diet of many weeklies for more topical news and lifestyle content’ (Farey-Jones, 2007; Holmwood, 2006). Both magazines were shut down less than a year after they launched, due to poor sales (Andrews, 2008; Press Gazette, 2007). This points to the fact that, as my research demonstrates, for all there is a desire to broaden the women’s world

portrayed in magazines, there is an equal desire to maintain the basis of the genre as a form of entertainment and a resource of female-orientated knowledge. This could be practical knowledge, from being ‘in the know’ about celebrity gossip or fashion trends, to where to purchase specific items, or, particularly for younger participants, more abstract knowledge into their aspirational impulses for the future. This

knowledge was often acknowledged as fairly trivial, yet it speaks to the core purpose of magazines, which is entertainment. For all their ideological implications in their representation of women, women’s magazines are ultimately a form of leisure.

This ‘contradictory consciousness’ (Damon-Moore, 1994: 196) when it comes to women’s magazines makes the research process difficult. When researchers

attempt to ‘look’ inside people’s heads they ‘rarely find coherent ideas’ because we are all subject to ‘multiple and conflicting ideologies’ (Frazer, 1987: 409).

Furthermore, as this research has shown, magazines themselves denote multiple and conflicting ideologies. Yet, it is the very fact of these complexities that makes research all the more important. There is not yet an ‘ideal’ women’s magazine, but to suggest that there could or should be one would be to suggest that there is a formula for an ‘ideal’ woman. As Winship has stated, ‘my ideas for reading magazines, like

my desires for the kind of woman I want to be, are perversely contrary’ (1987: 5). Magazines will continue to develop, as will the political context that shapes the women who read them, thus carefully considered, ‘sophisticated, productive and sympathetic’ research must continue to be conducted (Gauntlett, 2002: 207). My own research has attempted to further the study of women’s magazines, taking into

account the changes that have occurred since the last bout of research was conducted and hoping to bridge the gap that has been left in the field. I hope that in the future, the gap will begin to narrow.