| Abstract: | The socialization of teenage girls throughmagazines aimed at this specific group is a well-studiedphenomenon. In general, magazines for teenage girls arevery gender stereotypic. The appearance of a publication for teenage boys allowed us to study whetherthis magazine is also gender stereotypic or whether manyfeatures are simply age specific. Six issues each of agirls' and a boys' magazine from the Netherlands were analyzed. The content of the issues andlanguage use in the introductory sections of articles onsex and relationships were studied. Results showed thatthe global content of the magazines is similar: both pay attention to physical appearance andrelationships with the opposite sex, although todifferent degrees. However, the specific content of theitems is often gender stereotypic. The language use in the two types of magazines is alsodifferent, with the girls' magazine using more emotionwords and the boys' magazine using more cool, toughwords. |
