The Construction of Beauty and Self-Perception in Fashion Magazines: A Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA)

Abstract

The Study highlights the depiction of beauty in fashion publications, especially “MAG” the Weekly. It attempts to analyze the impact that words and images printed in these publications have upon the understanding of beauty and confidence among readers. Using Lazar’s Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA), the study illustrates how Asian traditional concepts of beauty are westernized and how that blend impacts women’s perception of self-image. The research employed a qualitative approach, drawing on content from three months’ worth of MAG Weekly. It explored the texts for pictorial representations of beauty as well as visuals and their consequent effects on women’s self-esteem. The results indicate that this magazine endorses unattainable standards of beauty that are seldom achievable. Such standards impose immense psychological stress on women, compelling them to standards defined by youth, light skin, and fashion obsession, which either causes social exclusion or deep-rooted insecurity. This also shows how culturally feminine contexts worsen these ideas. In settings where competing forces of tradition and modernity coexist equally in society, women find themselves torn between antiquated ideals and contemporary trends. This poses an argument that is widely accepted, which stipulates that fashion magazines largely influence societal definitions and perceptions of beauty for women.