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2006:13 The Representation of Parenthood and Childlessness in Selected Women’s and Men’s Magazines |
Hana Hašková (ed.), Jana Pomahačová |
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This study examines whether and in what way parenthood and childlessness are reflected in the gender-specific media targeting men and women in Czech society. The study presents the results of a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of selected women’s magazines and a qualitative study of selected men’s lifestyle magazines published in the Czech Republic after 1989, that is, during a period when important changes in reproductive behaviour have been under way in the population. The analysis identified similarities and differences in the content and style in which the issues of childlessness and parenthood are addressed in media aimed at women and media aimed at men. The selected magazines studied were similar mainly in terms of their use of biological frameworks to explain the reproductive behaviour of men and women and in terms of the implicit expectation that men and women will become parents sometime in their lives. However, while in the world of women’s magazines a woman’s identity is tightly linked to her role as a mother, in men’s magazines the link made between a man’s identity and fatherhood is not that strong. The world of women’s magazines stresses the value of motherhood for the point of motherhood itself, both in the sense of becoming a mother and in the sense of being a mother in practice; but in the world of men’s magazines if fatherhood is emphasised at all it is as part of a man’s relationship with a woman, and it is more the decision to become a father and the biological aspects of doing so (conception, transmitting genetic information) that are stressed than the actual experience of being a father. Paradoxically (or for this very reason) the question of deciding to remain childless is marginalised in women’s magazines, but in men’s magazines is absent altogether.
Keywords
Childlessness, motherhood, fatherhood, media, women’s magazines, men’s magazines
Summary
In this volume of Sociological Studies the authors present the results of a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of selected women’s magazines and a qualitative study of selected men’s lifestyle magazines, dating from the very first date of their publication in the Czech Republic up to the year 2005. The objective of the analysis was to examine whether and in what way childlessness and parenthood are presented in gender-specific media targeting women and men in the Czech Republic, namely in the magazines Katka, Cosmopolitan, Překvapení (Surprise), Zdraví (Health), Men´s Health, Esquire, and Maxim (Quo), during a period when significant changes have been occurring in the population’s reproductive behaviour.
The most important indicators of these changes include the decrease in various fertility indicators, the postponement of parenthood to a later age, the rise in the proportion of (thus far) childless adults in the population, the increasing proportion of children born to partners in consensual unions or to single mothers out of the total number of children born, and the increasing proportion of single-parent families headed by the mother out of all families with children. Sociological data moreover point to a significantly higher proportion of young men than young women who are not (yet) too certain about their reproductive preferences.
The media reflect and shape social reality in a specific way. The study of media content is thus a useful tool for analysing and understanding social changes. In the context of current discussions on the changes to (the timing and value of) parenthood the authors set out to examine the issues connected with parenthood and childlessness that are raised in the world of selected women’s and men’s magazines, what sub-topics surface, how they are addressed, which levels and aspects of motherhood/fatherhood/childlessness are uncovered, and which, conversely, remain absent from the media studied. In this study the authors posed the following basic research questions: How is motherhood/fatherhood/childlessness perceived by men and women in the world of men’s and women’s magazines – what does it mean to them? How do these media construct relationships between motherhood and femininity/femininities or fatherhood and masculinity/masculinities? How do they define the benefits or losses that motherhood/fatherhood/childlessness brings? What role is played in the world of women’s/men’s magazines by emotional, economic, social, or other factors? How are the potential barriers to starting a family articulated in women’s/men’s magazines? In what kind of explanatory frameworks do magazine editors and their solicited experts situate these socio-demographic trends?
The authors note that in women’s magazines motherhood is still accorded a very high value; its significance has not been weakening even as the significance of other values, competing with motherhood, has been increasing. The portrayal of this conflict usually leads to the postponement of motherhood until a woman is older (even though the postponement of parenthood is in these magazines often linked to barriers to becoming parents), but never to the decision to remain childless for life. In the world of women’s magazines motherhood is an expected occurrence in women’s lives. It is depicted as a ‘natural’ part of being a woman, or, more accurately, is associated with concepts that draw on notions of what is ‘natural’ and ‘normal’, such as a woman’s ‘biological clock’ or ‘maternal instinct’. Women who reject motherhood appear in the pages of women’s magazines as socially stigmatised, continuously forced to defend their decision. Conversely, in the case of unwanted pregnancy, the climate of opinion in women’s magazines is fully in favour of a woman’s free will to choose whether she wishes to become a mother or not. The opinion of the man in this regard is seen to be of little importance, and any pressure from his side is viewed in a negative light. In women’s magazines motherhood is something that women want, expect, and that they associate (despite the many problems it may involve) with positive feelings of life fulfilment. It is not however a given. Many women presented in the pages of women’s magazines are dealing with difficulties in their personal relationship or with infertility. Their life stories are filled with substantial personal investment aimed at a single purpose – becoming a mother.
And what is the story of fatherhood, postponed fatherhood, infertility, or the decision for lifelong childlessness portrayed in men’s lifestyle magazines selling in the Czech market? A comparison of articles from these media with the articles collected from women’s magazines suggests that (unsurprisingly) men’s magazines do not address these subjects as individual topics in their own right as often as women’s magazines do. On the contrary, they are marginal topics in men’s magazines. While in women’s magazines the power of personal stories figures prominently – whether it is the stories of mothers, women who have postponed childhood, or women who are trying to become mothers, – the dominant stylistic features of the way these themes are addressed in men’s magazines are irony and hyperbole, which in these media is also present in many other (but not all other) articles. Using these style tools the editorial boards look at (or come to terms with) the explicitly mentioned standard of ‘active fatherhood’. But the subject of starting a family (becoming a father) is addressed much more often than the subject of being a father in practice. Here becoming a parent is often linked to getting married. In men’s magazines getting married and becoming a parent are portrayed as something that men tend to avoid. In men’s magazines it is women, often described as ‘thirty-somethings’, who lead (‘pressure’) men into parenthood. The ideal age for a man to become a parent is not usually discussed, or it is mentioned in relation to the biological age of his partner.
The articles tend to use biological frameworks to explain the approaches of men and women to parenthood, wherein women are the ones with the ‘maternal instinct’ for raising and caring for children, while the ‘instincts’ of men are defined not in terms of raising and caring for children but only in terms of the biological aspect of parenthood – conceiving a child. Biological explanatory frameworks appear in both men’s and women’s magazines. Although the ‘stories’ that biological concepts work with in men’s and women’s magazines are not identical, the explanatory frameworks they use suggest that these ‘narratives’ are essentially two sides of the same coin.
In men’s magazines (like in women’s magazines) the articles discussing these issues maintain the assumption that in the future their readers will get married and become parents. The image of men as domineering, sexually hyperactive, and valiant super-studs who pass time in pursuit of sex with multiple beautiful women and abandon their partners the moment mention is made of marriage or children is often (though not always) accompanied by ironic comments and objections, and is discussed in a hyperbolic tone, making it possible (though not necessary) to interpret the presented images of masculinity in various different ways.
The subject of unplanned pregnancy is not touched on at all in men’s magazines. The absence of this topic in men’s magazines, and the way in which it is dealt with in women’s magazines, so that the position of men in the process of deciding on whether to have the child or not is marginalised, are mutually consistent and create an image of unplanned parenthood as ‘her problem’.
Similarly, while in women’s magazines we can find texts with an emotional tone on the topic of the value of motherhood for women, the value of fatherhood for men is not treated as a separate subject in men’s magazines. While in women’s magazines motherhood is something expected, desired, highly valued, but not necessarily a sure thing, because there are various obstacles that can stand in the way of becoming a mother, some of which can be anticipated (e.g. age), prevented, or by mean’s of various sacrifices overcome, in men’s magazines, though fatherhood is something that is again expected in the future, its value for men is nowhere explicitly stressed, and potential barriers to becoming a father are not discussed; not even the potential case of infertility. Men’s magazines only discuss male infertility, which in all the articles is declared to have been permanently solved through assisted reproduction. But the costs (psychological, emotional, and financial) of participating in assisted reproduction programmes are not discussed in men’s magazines, unlike women’s (which are filled with the personal stories of women experiencing the cycles of expectation and medical interventions in their bodies).
While in the world of women’s magazines a woman’s identity is firmly tied to the role of being a mother, in men’s magazines this link between fatherhood and a man’s identity is not made. The world of women’s magazines emphasises the value of motherhood in itself, both in terms of becoming a mother and in terms of being a mother in practice, while the world of men’s magazines stresses (if at all) parenthood as part of a relationship with a woman and fatherhood more in the sense of the decision to become a father and the biological aspect of that (conception, transmitting genetic information), rather than in the sense of actually being a father.
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2008:4 Social Distances and Stratification: Social Space in the Czech Republic |
2008:3 Evolution and Determination of Educational Inequalities in the Czech Republic between 1955 and 2002 in the European Context |
2008:2 Actors of Local Development - Orlicko |
2008:1 The Political Awareness of Citizens: Theories, Measurements and the Role of Political Awareness in the Study of Political Attitudes |
2007:11 A Permanent or Temporary Change? The Arrangement of Gender Roles in Families with Fathers Participating in Childcare |
2007:10 Participation and Partnership in Local Public Administration |
2007:9 Family Friendly Working Conditions in an International Comparison |
2007:8 The Political Impact of Suburbanisation |
2007:7 Fathers, Mothers and Caring for Children after Divorce |
2007:6 The Foreign Migration of Scientists and Researchers and the Tools for Influencing Migration |
2007:5 The Representation of Different Forms of Family and Working Life in Women’s and Men’s Magazines |
2007:4 Czech Labour Market: Changing Structures and Work Orientations |
2007:3 The Relationship between Changes in the Labour Market and Private, Family and Partnership Life |
2007:2 The Institutional Background of Czech Sociology before the Onset of Marxism |
2007:1 Educational Aspirations in a Comparative Perspective. The role of individual, contextual and structural factors in the formation of educational aspirations in OECD countries |
2006:14 Work and Family Roles and How They Are Combined in the Lives of Czech Parents: Plans versus Reality |
2006:13 The Representation of Parenthood and Childlessness in Selected Women’s and Men’s Magazines |
2006:12 Social Solidarity from the Perspective of the Czech Public |
2006:11 Science as a public matter: science policies and the media |
2006:10 The Issue of Minorities in the Czech Republic: Community Life and the Representation of Collective Interests (Slovaks, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Roma) |
2006:9 Social Standing and Lifestyle in Czech Society |
2006:8 The Image of Science in Czech Public Opinion |
2006:7 Social Capital. Concepts, Theories, and Methods of Measurement |
2006:6 Basic Features of the Membership Base of KDU-ČSL |
2006:5 Non-Marital Fertility in the Czech Republic after 1989: The Social and Economic Context |
2006:4 The Phenomenon of Childlessness in a Sociological and Demographic Perspective |
2006:3 Participation, Democracy and Citizenship in a European Context |
2006:2 Autonomy and Cooperation: Effect of the Municipal System Established in 1990 |
2006:1 Socio-economic Values, Policies, and Institutions in the Period of the Czech Republic’s Accession to the European Union |
2005:06 Civil Society in the Regions of the Czech Republic |
2005:05 Civil Society and Civic Participation in the Czech Republic |
2005:04 Work/Life Balance in the Czech Republic: Policy, Time, Money, and Individual, Family, and Company Practices |
2005:03 Regional Elites 2004 |
2005:02 Political Behavior in Metropolitan Areas in the Czech Republic between 1990 and 2002 – Patterns, Trends and the Relation to Suburbanization and Its Socio-Spatial Patterns |
2005:01 Measuring Value Orientations with the Use of S.H. Schwartz’s Value Portraits |
2004:11 The Formation of Group Mentalities in the Czech Republic after 1989 |
2004:10 Hierarchy as the Strength and the Weakness of Communist Rule. The Legacy of Communist Rule IV: A Volume of Papers from the Seminar Held in Prague on September 11-12, 2003 |
2004:9 Czech National Identity after the Break Up Czechoslovakia and before Accession to the European Union |
2004:8 Life Strategies of Businesswomen and Businessmen at the Turn of the Millennium |
2004:7 Attitudes towards Marriage, Parenthood and Family Roles in the Czech Republic and in Europe |
2004:6 Life Satisfaction: Family,Work, and Other Factors |
2004:5 What Faith? Contemporary Czech Religiosity/Spirituality in the Perspective of Qualitative Sociology of Religion |
2004:4 Structural Tensions in the Interface between the Labour Market and Social Policy in the Czech Republic |
2004:3 Metropolitan Areas in the Czech Republic – Definitions, Basic Characteristics, Patterns of Suburbanisation and Their Impact on Political Behaviour |
2004:2 International Violence Against Women Survey – Czech Republic/2003: Sociological Research on Domestic Violence |
2004:1 Elections to the European Parliament in 2004 – An Analysis of Electoral Participation and Party Support in the Czech Republic |
2003:12 Hierarchy as a Strength and Weakness of Communist Rule |
2003:11 How the Czech Public Views the Elites the Political and Economic Elites |
2003:10 The Reconstruction of Communist Rule at the End of the 1980s |
2003:9 Women’s Civic and Political Participation in the Czech Republic and the Role of European Union Gender Equality and Accession Policies |
2003:8 Pre-election polls, election results, and validity of measurement before the 2002 elections |
2003:7 Party Preference Surveys, Their Application in Society and the Issue of Quality |
2003:6 The Transformations of Czech Socio-economic Values at the Turn of the Century |
2003:5 Objective and Subjective Assessments of the Financial Accessibility of Housing in the Czech Republic during the 1990s |
2003:4 Entry into Marriage and Unmarried Cohabitation in the Czech Republic since 1989 in Connection with Education |
2003:3 Work and Job Values in CEE and EU countries |
2003:2 Intergenerational Biographic Configurations of the Inhabitants of the NISA Euroregion |
2003:1 Structurally Generated Growth of Inequality |
2002:13 Public Opinion Surveys – Theoretical Aspects and Practical Application |
2002:12 Group Mentalities |
2002:11 The World of Hierarchies and Real Socialism. The legacy of communist rule II: volume of contributions investigating of social hierarchies |
2002:10 Social Context of the Lives of Women Working in Management Positions |
2002:09 Parties in the Parliament. Why, When and How do Parties act in Unity? |
2002:08 Life strategies of women managers: case study |
2002:07 Region and Politics |
2002:06 The World of Hierarchies and Really Existing Socialism |
2002:05 Housing Careers in the Czech Republic 1960 - 2001 |
2002:04 Re-emigrants and Socially Shared Values |
2002:03 Satisfaction with Housing among the Czech Population |
2002:02 The Family Origin on the Evolution of Educational Inequalities in the Czech Republic after 1989 |
2002:01 The Rise and Evolution of the New Elites in the Czech Republic (from the end of the 1980´s to the spring of 2002) |
2001:12 Who´s afraid of Hierarchies? The Legacy of the Communist Government |
2001:11 11th September. International On-line Communication Research |
2001:10 Fertility and Family Differentiation in Europe |
2001:09 The rise or decline of political regionalism? Changes of voting patterns in period 1992 to 1998 - the comparison of the Czech Republic and Slovakia |
2001:08 Cross-cutting Cleavages in the Czech Republic. A Comparison of the National Level with a Specific Regional Example |
2001:07 Roma Issues: An Obstacle to Entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union? |
2001:06 ISSP- The Environment |
2001:05 Distribution of Earnings and Income in Transitional Czech Republic |
2001:04 The Bearers of Development of the Cross-Border Community on Czech-German Border |
2001:03 Rent Subsidies in the Czech Republic: A Comparison of Selected Models |
2001:02 The Role Of Political, Social and Cultural Capital in Secondary School Selection in Socialist Czechoslovakia, 1948-1989 |
2001:01 Income maintenance policies, houshold characteristics and work incentives in the Czech republic |
2000:07 Work and Family Experience of Young Female Doctors |
2000:06 Development of the Czech Social Structure in the Years 1988-1999 |
2000:05 Party identifikation in the Czech republic |
2000:04 What makes inequalities legitimate? An International Comparison |
2000:03 Religion and Supernature in Society |
2000:02 Transformation and Modernization of Society on Examples of Selected Institutions |
2000:01 The Housing Policy Changes and Housing Expenditures in the Czech Republic |
1999:11 Geografic Analysis of the Czech Republic Borderland. |
1999:10 Rise and Decline of Right-Wing Extremism in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. |
1999:09 Perceived and fair inequalities: development in the nineties and further coherences |
1999:08 The Czechoslovak citizens' attitudes towards democracy in 1968 |
1999:07 The Czech Middletown Citizens |
1999:06 A Man in a Family – Democratisation of Private Sphere |
1999:05 Development of the Policy of Equal Opportunities of Men and Women in the Czech Republic within the European Integration Context |
1999:04 Actors of Over-frontier Community Development in the Czech - German Borderland |
1999:03 Acquaintances of Local Political Leaders |
1999:02 Housing Market, its Regional Differences and Relations to Social Structure |
1999:01 The Fluctuation of Public Opinion between Years 1990 and 1998 |
1998:06 Modernizační kontext transformace, strukturní a institucionální aspekty |
1998:05 Deputies of the First Czech Parliament (1992-1996) |
1998:04 |
1998:03 Transformation of Czech Family |
1998:02 Results of a Czech-Slovak Comparison: Actors of Social Transformation and Modernisation. Attitudes of Individuals an Institutions to Social Transformation |
1998:01 Trh s bydlením a jeho sociální souvislosti - situace v Praze a Brně |
1997:08 The Family and Change of Gender Roles |
1997:07 The territorial dimension of public administration reforms in East Central Europe |
1997:06 Czech Women in the Labor Market Work and Family in a Transition Economy |
1997:05 |
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1997:03 |
1997:02 |
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1996:12 Osidlování českého pohraničí od května 1945 |
1996:11 Individuální kontakty obyvatel na česko-německé hranici |
1996:10 Socio-Economic Changes in the Czech Republic with an Appendix concerning the 1996 Elections´ Results |
1996:09 Národní identita |
1996:08 Politics, Skills and Industrial Restructuring. Introductory Findings on Local Institutions of Human Resources Development in Czech Machinery Indrustry |
1996:07 Subjective Mobility and Perception of Life Chances in Eastern Europe. Empirical evidence against a Marxist view of relationships between subjective and objective mobility |
1996:06 Zpráva o vývoji sociální struktury české a slovenské společnosti 1945-1993 |
1996:05 Tripartita jako model prostředkování zájmů v politickém systému České republiky |
1996:04 Národnostní a etnické vztahy v českém pohraničí - obraz Čecha, Němce, Rakušana a Roma ve vědomí obyvatel |
1996:03 The Making of Post-Communist Elites in Eastern Europe. A comparison of political and economic elites in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland |
1996:02 Sudetoněmecká otázka v názorech a postojích obyvatel českého pohraničí |
1996:01 Demografické chování obyvatelstva České republiky během přeměny společnosti po roce 1989 |
1995:08 Česká republika v roce 1994. Politická ročenka |
1995:07 Problém normativity a policejní represe v předlistopadovém Československu |
1995:06 Industriální vztahy a sociálně politické orientace českých dělníků a manažerů |
1995:05 Rozdíly v chování regionálních populací a jejich příčiny |
1995:04 Women, Work and Society |
1995:03 Trh práce a jeho potenciál |
1995:02 Etnické a národnostní vztahy v pánevní oblasti severních Čech (s důrazem na romskou problematiku) |
1995:01 In Search of Explanations for Recent Left-Turns in Post-Communist Coutries |
1994:09 Česká republika v roce 1993. Politická ročenka |
1994:08 Large-Scale Privatization: Social Conflict and Consensus |
1994:07 Economic Inequalities Old and New: The Czech Case |
1994:06 Prostředky kauzálního modelování v sociologii. Shrnující pojednání o postupech a přehled základních pojmů |
1994:05 Regionální diferenciace sociálních problémů v České republice |
1994:04 A Historical Comparison of Social Structures in the Czech Republic in 1984 and 1993 |
1994:03 Přeshraniční souvislosti sociálních změn v oblasti české části euroregionu Chebsko |
1994:02 Social and Political Transformation in the Czech Republic |
1994:01 Lotus Organizátor. Uživatelská příručka |
1993:09 Sociální a mzdové problémy zaměstnanců malých a středních soukromých podniků |
1993:08 Sociální postavení rodiny jako základního činitele a adresáta sociální pomoci |
1993:07 Changing Conditions - Changing Values? Changes in the position and perception of education during the post-communist transformation: the case of the Czech Republic |
1993:06 Perceptions of Justice. Principles of Distributive Justice in Comparative Perspective |
1993:04 Revolution for Whom? Analysis of selected patterns of intragenerational mobility in the Czech Republic |
1993:04 Revolution for Whom? Analysis of selected patterns of intragenerational mobility in the Czech Republic |
1993:03 RODINA ´89. Determinanty ekonomického úspěchu v první fázi postkomunistické transformace. Česká republika 1989-1992 |
1993:02 RODINA '89. Determinanty ekonomického úspěchu v první fázi post-komunistické transformace. Česká republika 1989-1992 |
1993:01 Microsoft Word verze 5.5. Uživatelská příručka |
1992:09 Historical Comparison of Social Stratification Types in Czechoslovakia 1967-1991 |
1992:08 Rodina '89. Úloha mentálních schopností a sociálního původu ve formování vzdělanostních aspirací |
1992:07 The Zero Generation of Small Business Owners in Czechoslovakia |
1992:06 Time Use of Small Business Owners. Results and Methodological Comments |
1992:05 Perception of Changing Inequality in Czechoslovakia |
1992:04 Vybrané kapitoly z uživatelské příručky Microsoft Word verze 5.0 |
1992:03 Politické strany a hnutí v Československu |
1992:02 Politische Partien und Bewegungen in der Tschechoslowakei |
Prague in the New Central Europe. International conference 2-4 June 1990 |
1991:09 Vybrané kapitoly z uživatelské příručky Microsoft Word verze 5.0 |
1991:08 Nultá podnikatelská generace |
1991:07 Rodina '89. Zdroje vzdělanostních nerovností |
1991:06 Hodnotové orientace československé mužské mládeže a jejich vztah k obraně vlasti |
1991:05 Gender and the Employment of Higher Education Graduates in Czechoslovakia |
1991:04 Územní vztahy, územní a státoprávní uspořádání České republiky v názorech obyvatel |
1991:03 Social Problems of Participation in the Changing Czechoslovak Economy |
1991:02 K postavení žen v československé společnosti |
1991:01 Socialist Czechoslovakia - System Error and Premises for Change |
1990:06 Názory na rozvoj soukromého podnikání |
1990:05 Growing interest in informal work - consequences for time use research. XIIth World Congress of Sociology, Madrid 1990, Thematic Group 1, Time Use Research |
1990:04 Value-satisfaction Model and the Value of Innovation |
1990:03 Who Gains and Who Loses in a Socialist Redistribution |
1990:02 Ženy a volby '90 |
1990:01 Beyond Educational Inequality in Czechoslovakia |
1989:02 Československá varianta Mezinárodní standardní klasifikace zaměstnání (ISCO) |
1989:01 Family Effect on Educational Attainment in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Netherlands |
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