女性ジャーナリズム論(<特集>ジャーナリズム論を探る)

抄録

We cannot say that women's journalism with a critical function exists today, at least in Japan. Nevertheless, women's journalism has flourished for the last ten years, if we mean media which reflect and lead the dominant movement of women's culture, or magazines and other printed media whose readers are mostly women. Instead of reporting politics, economics and science, they have created a unique style covering fields which other kinds of magazines won't touch, for example : beauty, fashion, house-keeping, childcare, romance, marriage and so on. This paper describes the three main characteristics of the latest women's magazines as follows : (1) Spreading world-wide common ideas on the basics of charm or famous brand goods, originally modelled on the white middle class in western countries. (2) A Great volumes of advertisements, especially new cosmetics and fashions providing values that stress the desirability of "change, " "newness" or "consumption." (3) Challenging readers to change both physically and personally going beyond their ordinary family life style, as the private life of each person becomes more standarized. In future, it is thought that these phenomenon can affect not only women's but also men's society.