New women, old messages? Constructions of femininities, race and hypersexualised bodies in selected South African magazines, 2003-2006

Bibliographic Data

ID3623517
AuthorsNadia Sanger (0000-0003-3556-8221, Human Sciences Research Council, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume35
Issue1
Pages137-148
Publication date2009-03-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Dynamics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0253-3952 • E-ISSN: 1940-7874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02533950802667301
OpenAlexW2088298682
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited12

This article discusses the ways in which racialised femininities are differently presented as hyper(hetero)sexual in three South African magazines targeting female readers – Femina, Fair Lady and True Love – between Citation2003 and 2006. I argue that the bodily work women are expected to perform is determined by constructs of race, where women are advised to regulate and control their physical bodies as a means of maintaining (hetero)sexual desirability or becoming (hetero)sexually desirable. I discuss how the racist portrayal of black womanhood in magazine advertisements that target white female readers of Femina and Fair Lady are sexualised in ways that define the black female body as alluring and exotic. My discussion reveals that the privileging of white heterofemininity in all three magazines as normative and ideal, simultaneously defines black women as the embodiment of a racialised (hetero)sexuality – at times mediated by essentialist ideas of Africa – which echoes racist colonial discourse and defines black women as essentially different. Keywords: femininitieshypersexualityraceSouth African women’s magazines Notes 1. This article is premised on an understanding of race, gender, sexuality and other social markers in the South African climate as constructed. 2. Statistics provided through personal communication with the AMPS, 26 August 2008 and Eighty20 Consulting, 28 August 2008. 3. There are many problems with the definitions of these racial terms. In this article, I use the construct ‘black’ as all encompassing of racial categories not categorised as ‘white’ in the South African context such as ‘coloured’ and ‘Indian’. I will use terms such as ‘black African’ and ‘coloured African’ to differentiate where necessary, as these differences do exist as meaningful in magazine representations. Magazines, such as True Love, for instance, are specifically targeted at black African women

Black women · Colonialism · Essentialism · Human sexuality · Normative · Political science · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · History · Law

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