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What’s in Vogue? The Hijab, Islam, and Women's Magazines for Religious Women
Abstract by Dr. Sarah Fischer On Session 283  (Acts of Women)

On Sunday, October 13 at 1:30 pm

2013 Annual Meeting

Abstract
Studies of Islam in the media have concentrated on how the Western media stereotypes and codifies Muslims and Islam (Said 1997; Saeed 2007, Poole 2002). Many times, such media reports perpetuate the stereotypes of Muslim women as oppressed, passive, veiled objects (Hoodfar 1993; Bullock 2002; Imtoual 2005). To date, no study has examined how religiously observant Muslim women represent themselves in media they control. This study examines how openly religiously observant Muslim women represent themselves using both words and images in print. The study contrasts the representations of Muslim women in magazines where religiously observant Muslim women are in the positions of Editor-in-Chief and sub-editors with the content of “mainstream” women’s magazines that do not attract readership by specifically appealing to a religious population. Specifically, I conduct a content analysis of the topics of articles, images presented by the magazine, and advertisers in two Turkish fashion magazines, Ala Dergi, a magazine established in 2011 with the pledge to feature ‘hijab fashion’ in their photos and to offer the perspective of ‘real Muslim women’ in its editorials and commentary, and Elele Dergi, a women’s magazine that appeals to women, purposely excludes women wearing the hijab from its photos, and claims to offer advice and a ‘modern’ perspective on the issues important in women’s lives. This analysis concludes that, among other findings, religiously observant Muslim women’s magazines emphasize consumerism and fashion more than mainstream women’s magazines. This analysis also finds that religiously observant Muslim women’s magazines do not offer commentary and advice on sex, but their feature articles tend to be interviews and photos with men from pop culture, combined with photos demonstrating men’s sexuality. Mainstream women’s magazines, conversely, tend to offer advice on sex, but interviews with men from pop culture tend to be less sexually overt. This paper ends by contrasting the ‘ideal woman’ the magazines portray through their articles and images.
Discipline
Journalism
Geographic Area
None
Sub Area
Modern