Women in Men's World

A Critical Discourse Analysis on Femininity Ideology in Men's Magazines in Thai

Abstract

This article aims at examining the femininity ideology through linguistics strategies in seven male magazines published from February to May, 2014 based on Critical Discourse Analysis. The study found that the conceptualization of femininity expressed in these male magazines consists of 3 concepts :  1) a female is different from male,  2) the concept of the female image consists of two subsets which are females as perceived by the role model and females not conforming to the role model,  and 3) inequality between females and males. These conceptualizations of the femininity were expressed through 4 linguistic strategies : the occurrence of collections, metaphors, presuppositions and the use of various voices in a text. The study also showed that male magazines promoted a patriarchal ideology in society. For these reasons, equal rights between the two genders should be built to raise awareness among men about this equality through constructed discourses for men.