As the media is a powerful conduit of dominant ideologies and norms about sexuality, analysis of media messages about gender, relationships, and sexual practice can shed light on how people may conceptualise their own sexual and gender identities and behaviours. An interrogation of these messages is particularly vital for media targeting young audiences as it has been argued that the media serves as a primary agent of sexual socialisation (e.g. Zillmann, 2000, p. 41), especially for young people who may be reticent about speaking to parents or educators about sexual matters.
This presentation examines the language around sexuality within popular Australian teen lifestyle magazine Dolly across a ten year period to explore the changing assumptions, norms, and ideologies about sex, sexuality, gender, and relationships presented to its female audience. Using a critical discourse analysis approach (e.g. Fairclough, 1995, 2010, 2018), print and online content published between 2007 and 2017 is examined to explore heteronormative constructions within the sex and relationships articles and advice columns of the magazine, with an emphasis on the discourse features which act to marginalise LGBTI+ identities.
It is found that the heterosexual norm remained pervasive across the period sampled, acting to exclude LGBTI+ readers from discussion of sexual health, safe sex practices, and relationships. Content around non-heterosexual relationships and identities increased over time, but remained limited and chiefly constructed through a heterosexual lens, being predominantly presented in terms of experimentation and transitory attractions. How Dolly reproduces dominant ideologies of female and male (hetero)sexuality is discussed and the social implications of such heteronormativity is considered.
References
Fairclough, N. (1995). Media discourse. London: Hodder Arnold.
Fairclough, N. (2010). Critical discourse analysis: The critical study of language (2nd ed.). Harlow: Pearson.
Fairclough, N. (2018). CDA as dialectical reasoning. In J. Flowerdew & J. E. Richardson (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of critical discourse studies (pp. 13-25). London: Routledge.
Zillmann, D. (2000). Influence of unrestrained access to erotica on adolescents' and young adults' dispositions toward sexuality. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27S(2), 41-44.
