Teen Vogue: Audience and Representation

Audience

What is the Teen Vogue mission statement and what does this tell us about the target audience and audience pleasures?

• Educate, Enlighten and Empower. This suggests that the target audience is perhaps younger, and reformers or aspirers with liberal politics and a clear interest in Personal Identity and surveillance rather than prioritising the diversion aspect of the media. 

What is the target audience for Teen Vogue? 

• Through the 63% of Gen Z/Millenial readers you can see that the target audience is around the ages of 17-25 and high social media influence suggests that they are online activists- or perhaps vocal about online issues- such as reformers would be. The fashion focused as well as celebratory narrative surrounding teenagers, who break traditionalist values and stereotypes, suggest that this magazine is targeting teens, of all different sexualities, races and gender identities.

What audience pleasures or gratifications can be found in Teen Vogue? Do these differ from the gratifications of traditional print-based magazines?

• Surveillance, Personal Identity and Personal Relationships. There is also an aspect of diversion and an inclusion of popular culture and intertextual references, which appeal to both current and slightly older generations. They are quite similar to traditional magazine gratifications albeit perhaps not tabloids- as they value humanity and politics over celebrity value and extensive 'clickbait'.

How is the audience positioned to respond to political news stories?

• The audience is perhaps influenced to support more Left-wing opinions and views regarding the current political climate. The liberal perspectives within the magazine content and op-eds suggests that the magazine favour more tolerant, progressive mindsets when it comes to politics and political opinions rather than traditionalist views. 

How does Teen Vogue encourage audiences to interact with the brand – and each other – on social media? 

• By being active on an array of social media sites, such as facebook, twitter, and snapchat it appeals to the fast-paced atmosphere that teenagers live in today. There's a lack of patience for literature and news is expected to be 'short and engaging' so by providing tailored content on these sites they optimise audience engagement. Another way, is through youtube- their 'Playlists of [our] lives' segments with upcoming or established celebrities and musical artists appeal to the fanbases of these people and can gain a lot of traffic through this medium. This also encourages people to share the video - or clips from the video- and essentially creates a community online for the brand and it's content. 

Representations

What do the ‘tentpoles and editorial pillars’ (key events and features throughout the year) suggest about the representation of women and teenage girls on teenvogue.com?

• They suggest that women are far more than their appearances- they're politically aware, intellectually active and successful as well as being interested in fashion, their appearance and conforming to the beauty ideals of a contemporary era [clear skin, fashion trends, natural makeup]. The use of celebrity also suggests that teenage girls are still conforming to the stereotype of clear idolisation of celebrities that spreads through mainstream media however teen vogues content such as compliment battles serves to suggest that this will be more of an aspect of empowerment for teens rather than condemnation. 

How are issues of gender identity and sexuality represented in Teen Vogue?

• Teen Vogue include a range of transgender, non-binary as well as cisgender writers within their magazine- as well as similar diversity of sexualities. This allows issues to be tackled from a first hand perspective and perhaps alleviate any bias or debunk second hand assumptions from the conversation- the issues are taken seriously and discussed in a way that puts the reader in the position to come to their own conclusions whilst still exerting heavily influence regarding Teen Vogue's ethos and personal politics. 

Do representations of appearance or beauty in Teen Vogue reinforce or challenge traditional stereotypes?

• Representations of appearance in Teen Vogue definitely subverts stereotypes- however there is no denying that certain aspects do reinforce the eurocentric beauty ideals that plague the fashion industry. The focus on appearance is still prevalent throughout the magazine however there is a clear change; with increased diversity, less airbrushing/photoshop and far more variety of body shapes, beauty ideals and expectations. 

What is the patriarchy and how does Teen Vogue challenge it? Does it succeed? 

• The 'patriarchy' is a societal system in which men are seen as the dominant, more 'superior' member of society and women exist as a means to serve. Teen Vogue clearly places the power in the hands of the women- the content, the covers and even the mission statement all exist to empower women and place them in a narrative in which they succeed. I think they do succeed, there's a clear range of gender depictions within the text however the representations all exist without being at the expense of another. 

Does Teen Vogue reinforce or challenge typical representations of celebrity?

• Teen Vogue reinforce typical representations of celebrity- they are obviously placed in a position of social superiority and many of the columns do discuss aspects of their lives which their readers would fail to relate to. However, there's also a candid aspect of celebrity representation which grounds them, whilst still capitalising off of the star power, and spreads the narrative that these are regular people who just happen to be talented or to have succeeded.

Feature: how Teen Vogue represents the changing nature of media aimed at women

How was the Teen Vogue op-ed on Donald Trump received on social media?

• Social media 'exploded with praise- and baffled reactions'

How have newspapers and magazines generally categorised and targeted news by gender?

• Newspapers and magazines generally categorised the 'Business' and 'Politics' sections, as well as current affairs as news to target towards men, who would be generally perceived as the people who would be interested whereas 'Lifestyle' news and tabloids usually targeted women as they believed that living a fulfilling life, as a housewife or gossip would be their interests. 

How is this gender bias still present in the modern media landscape?

• The bias is still reflected in how journalists are assigned stories to write- women are hardly assigned political news and even in the lifestyle climate- they can only pull even.

• "Women have been attending and graduating journalism school more often than men since the 1970s; by 2010, 64% of J-school graduates were female. Yet as of 2015, 65% of political journalists, 67% of criminal justice reporters, and 62% of reporters covering “business and economics” were male. Even in the lifestyle section, women can only pull even; the gender split there is precisely 50-50."

What impact did the alternative women’s website Jezebel have on the women’s magazine market?

• Jezebel combines feminist op-eds and political coverage with fashion and beauty, which was something that seldom happened within the journalism sphere. This lead to heightened traffic for the site and therefore more demand for similar content from consumers. It changed the expectations of women's magazines to depict 'both sides of the coin' so the politically aware and the superficially conscious.

Do you agree with the writer that female audiences can enjoy celebrity news and beauty tips alongside hard-hitting political coverage?

• I agree with the writer. I think that there is a lot of expectations when it comes to what women can enjoy, and what society feels they shouldn't but the changing media climate allows women to both enjoy the 'feminine' things whilst also navigating 'a man's world' - I think this aided Teen vogue's success as teenagers are the first generation that have not been told they cannot have both- they have been allowed to both indulge in celebrity news without feeling like they're compromising their political stance or activism. 

How does the writer suggest feminists used to be represented in the media?

• 'sexless. grim bra-burners, uninterested in pleasure or aesthetics'

What is the more modern representation of feminism? Do you agree that this makes feminism ‘stereotyped as fluffy’?

• The contemporary representation is people who are socially aware, interested in feminist issue but also interested in 'makeup and Beyonce'. I don't think it does, I think it provides a representation of feminism that is willfully against the patriarchy, by taking the stereotypes that people deemed superficial and showing that women can have both is far more empowering and doesn't take away from the social aims of feminism. 

What contrasting audience pleasures for Teen Vogue are suggested by the writer in the article as a whole?

• Surveillance and Diversion - women read to both be informed, and entertained. 

The writer suggests that this change in representation and audience pleasures for media products aimed at women has emerged from the feminist-blog movement. How can this be linked to Clay Shirky’s ‘end of audience’ theory?

• This can be linked to Shirky's end of audience theory since it reflects the many to many audience structure. Women, especially bloggers are far more interested in interacting with media texts than being passive observers of someone else's ideologies. Through online mediums, such as social media, this allows Teen Vogue readers to post their own thoughts and feelings and spread ideas suggested by the publication and create their own op-eds and blogs on matters that intrigue them.

Is Teen Vogue simply a product of the Trump presidency or will websites and magazines aimed at women continue to become more hard-hitting and serious in their offering to audiences?

• Personally, I think that more websites and magazines aimed towards women will be more serious and hard hitting in their content. We have gotten to a place in the current social climate, where willful complacency and mediated ignorance is no longer evading consequence- people want to be informed and they want to have a part in the change. I do think that the traditional content will still hold influence within publications, however I do think that as time goes on it will lose it's place as a priority, as more people click on links and interact with media that gives them an aspect of cultural capital.