Extra Special on Men!

How does Woman construct and appeal to it’s target audience? What choices have been made as to how women are represented?

• The main image is particularly striking, and depicts an extremely hegemonically, stereotypically attractive model pushing her bare foot in to the head on a man, wearing a suit and looking exaggeratedly  annoyed. The mode of address that this image adopts is jokey and not serious. 
• This image could be appealing to women at the time, as it symbolically represents a woman in a position of power. However, another reading could be that the woman is not being taken seriously, and the jokey mode of address infers that such a power dynamic is in fact hilarious. 
• This image is highly polysemic (which means it has many meanings), which may appeal to multiple audiences
• Additionally, the image has fetishistic connotations, by showing an attractive woman in a position of power over an attractive man. A fetish is an obsession with a particular aspect. Therefore, some audiences may take sexual pleasure from this image.
• This is a classic example of a negotiated reading, and also an example of the pick and mix theory where audiences can pick whatever ideology suits them
• The lexis of the phrase "getting to know them" constructs a binary opposition between men and women". This reinforces the idea that men are different and hard to understand, and this is potentially pleasurable for audiences, as it infers that if the female target audience upstands men, they may even have power over them
• The advice given is often highly sexist, and even makes the assumption that if a man talks about a woman, it will be in a disrespectful way
• MES of woman's costume is modern, stylish, classy and exciting, which contradicts traditional 1960's representations of women! However, it also presents aspirational and exclusionary representation of women for the target audience
• Men are overwhelmingly represented as well dressed, dressed in suits, ties and shirts. This may be symbolic of belonging to a higher class, and again is highly aspirational, and reinforces the ideology that in order for women to succeed in contemporary society, women must attract the attention of a rich and high status man