Similarities between British and Brazilian EWM

other magazines published in Britain, for instance, Motorboat and Yatching, Cycling Weekly, Amateur Gardening, Focus, Video Camera, Eventing or Practical Woodworking, we see that people who are interested in sailing, cycling or woodwork buy specific magazines related to their hobbies or for entertainment in general. Women's magazines, however, imply that all women, or those who fit the target audience, are interested in these topics, independently of their personal interests.

If compared to the weekly publications, glossy magazines tend to place women as more financially independent and more sexually liberated. However, the message conforms to conservative views of femininity. Cosmopolitan, for example, was developed for the new, modern woman, but it contains traces of traditional values of a male-dominated society (Ballaster et al, 1991; Winship, 1987; McCracken, 1993;

Figueiredo, 1994). McCracken (1993:161-2) affirms:

Although Cosmopolitan makes much use of pseudo-sexual liberation, eroticism, and voyeuristic fantasies, the magazine ultimately offers women conservative messages. Readers are allowed to experience social transgressions and the exotic, to derive pleasure from reading about such themes, but by the end of these pieces are reminded of the correct behavior pattern.

Whether they are weekly or monthly, women's magazines exist to help women develop new skills of femininity (as in the case of Cosmopolitan). Masculinity is a natural state, but femininity has to be taught (Ferguson, 1983), reinforcing the belief that women have to learn how to cope with different problems in their lives, such as their love affairs, families, health, beauty, careers.

Some other current women's magazines in Britain (besides the ones being analyzed in this thesis), categorized under the headings women's interests and fashions and style in The Willings Press Guide (1994), include Annabel, Bella, Gloss Magazine, Harper's &

Queen, to mention just a few, which add up to 61 different titles.

much greater than their particular traits. As Fiske (1989:IX) tells us, when comparing popular culture in three Anglo-Saxon countries, 'each [culture, my addition] inflects the common ideology differently, but the differences are comparatively superficial'. During my research I have also found superficial peculiarities in the Brazilian and British EWM.

Some of them include:

• the more intimate way Brazilian women relate to each other. Women kissing on the cheeks is part of this close relationship. In Brazilian EWM, thus, editors use 'Um beijo' in the closing section or leave-taking, in contrast to 'See you next week/next month' or 'See you then' in the British EWM.

• the 3 occurrences of the word 'sex' in approximately 9,000 words in Brazilian EWM as opposed to 96 occurrences in the 27,497 in the British EWM. It seems that in Britain women talk a lot about sex and use this word explicitly, but in Brazil the tendency is to regard it as more natural. Thus we see from the EWM that in Britain, especially monthly magazines explore the topic intensively, while in Brazil, the topic becomes naturalized.

• the use of expressions as 'bumbum' (buttocks) and 'colo' (bosom) in Brazilian EWM, while in British EWM, we find 'peeing, farting and menstruating' (ed 22, ed 51) and

‘Orifice affairs..., vibrators, ...the carrot’ (ed 24) which would probably not be found in Brazilian magazines.

A plausible explanation for these contrasts is that in Brazil the visual aspect of sex and sexuality in magazine advertisements and articles, in soap operas and films, in dress is constantly explored and has become part of our cultural values. However, writers of mainstream written forms do not express themselves as freely and openly. In England, this freedom in writing seems more apparent, but visually speaking, there are clearly much stronger restrictions. To illustrate this point: In a feature from Company on sex talk (Sept 1993), the writer Radice (1993:44) asks and evaluates,

Have you ever noticed how many TV programmes there are on the subject, where people queue up to share their sexual habits with millions of gripped viewers? It’s a national obsession. Perhaps we are so sexually repressed that our only kicks come from talking about it.

Whereas in Brazil the visual is more open, in Britain it is the written form which appears to be more liberated.

• the publication of weekly magazines usually for women who work only within the home do not exist in Brazil; besides, in spite of the growing number of new magazines in Brazil, in Britain there are more than 80 publications directly or indirectly related to women, as Braithwaite (1995) points out.

In spite of these contrasts, EWM in Brazil and in Britain project a world of similar wishes, hopes and plans for women. The topics covered are health, diets, the relationship with men, fashion, recipes, etc, guided by the ideology of advice and beauty, with a superordinate form of ideology: the ideology of consumption. The editor of Nova says in one of the editorials (brz ed 14) that the editors of Cosmopolitan got together in London to discuss issues related to readership all over the world. She says:

Nós nos reunimos em Londres, no final do ano passado, para discutir o que está acontecendo com as nossas leitoras ao redor do mundo. Sabe o que descobrimos? Que seja na Austrália, nos Estados Unidos, na Alemanha ou em Hong Kong, tudo o que as mulheres querem é ter sucesso na carreira, equilíbrio emocional, muito amor, uma família feliz. Igualzinho a todas nós aqui no Brasil. Um beijo,

Marcia Neder (Nova - Jan 1993) - (brz ed 14)

In terms of critical discourse analysis, this excerpt exemplifies the fact that language use reflects, shapes and at the same time constructs, constitutes social entities and relations (Fairclough, 1993a). By means of discourse, the editor of the Brazilian publication is telling her readers that the editors of Cosmopolitan from different parts of the world see women as having similar wishes: professional success, emotional equilibrium, love, and a happy family. Even if women wish to have other plans, these become explicitly mentioned as the ones women should strive for. In the Italian EWM from the December 1993 Pratica magazine, the editor also establishes a close link with readers and offers solutions and stimuli to women’s problems³. She says:

Avete bisogno di informazioni precise, di consigli, di stimoli nuovi. E noi siamo perfettamente d’accordo: oggi sono pochissime le ragazze di ventánni che accetano tranquillamente di stare a casa.

(You need precise information, advice, new encouragement. And we surely agree: today very few 20-year-old women quietly accept staying home)

3 I would like to thank my colleague Vera Bianco, from the our Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina for the translation of this Italian EWM into Portuguese. Here is the extract in Portuguese: Vocês têm necessidade de informações precisas, de conselhos, de novos estímulos. E nós estamos perfeitamente de acordo: hoje são pouquíssimas as moças de vinte anos que aceitam tranqüilamente ficar em casa.

I believe this seems to be the trend in Western societies, where women's magazines portray experiences shared by millions of readers, who have to cope with conflicting ideological positions in contemporary society.