Reading Japanese women's magazines: the construction of new identities in the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

This article examines the transgressive function of some Japanese women's magazines in the 1970s. It traces changes in the lives of Japanese women by focusing on the emergence of three new magazines that targeted young women from the late teens to the early 20s. It examines the contents of two magazines, An'an and Non'no, launched at the beginning of the 1970s, which showed their readers how to get independent time and space away from the surveillance of parents. In 1977 another magazine, More, was launched, targeting readers in their 20s and 30s who were brought up reading An'an and Non'no. More shows the strong influence of feminism, and encouraged its readers to escape from the traditional women's life which was centred on marriage, husband and children. This article argues that the three magazines reflected the changes of Japanese women and reinforced those changes by providing knowledge, support for new identities and an imaginary community for readers. In this respect it breaks with earlier feminist readings of girls' magazines which focused on their ideological function of reproducing patriarchy.