Evaluation (Q2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?)

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

A sterotype of my target demographic is that they are very girly, like animals and the colour pink is the most attractive to them. However, i know that this is not true of all girls age 8-12. Recent studies have shown that girls this age are getting more and more involved in activities such as football, playing a musical instrument and comic books. This may be because gender roles and social norms of girls do not have as much of an impact as they did 30 years ago. Ann Oakley conducted a survey on pre-teen girls and asked them about their aspirations in life, in 1974 their aims seemed to revolve around motherhood however when she repeat the study in 1994 the girls' aims were directed on a career. Seeming to prove that girls nowadays prioritise career ambitions over starting a family.

My magazine aims to reflect a positive representation of women within the media, the character i used 'Millie' is pictured as happy and friendly. The clothes she is wearing do not emphasise her figure or draw attention to her body, this is because i tried to oppose the male gaze within my magazine however i understand that my magazine is a business and will have to incorporate some features of the male gaze in order to make a profit. This is why i shot my model wearing some make up with her head slightly canted. The use of make up may be an example of hyper reality within the media however she is not wearing anything which is an example of hyper reality to the extreme e.g false eyelashes or breast enhancement. My model is not typical of a model you would find in a magazine such as cosmopolitan. She is not a size zero and i have not edited her to look so, she is a UK size 10 and hopefully this will inflict upon my readers a more realistic idea of what girls look like and should look like.

The typography i used is varied but most of it is lower case which gives an impression of femininity and softness, also the colours i used are mostly 'candy-shop' colours and have connotations of childhood and innocence which is what my magazine is all about.

Also, i purposely didn't include any direct links to the idea of relationships or romance as other magazines aimed at my demographic. This is because i think this should not be something young girls should be interested in at such a young age as this reinforces our patriachal society. I want to inflict the idea upon my readers that romantic relationships are not as important as the media portrays.