Women's "beach body" in Australian women's magazines. (March 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Small, Jennie
• Is Part Of: Annals of tourism research. Volume 63(2017)
• Page Start: 23
• Page End: 33
• Publication Date: 2017-03
• Subjects: Women -- Magazines -- Images -- Beach body -- Feminism -- Gender; Tourism -- Periodicals
• DOI: 10.1016/j.annals.2016.12.006
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0160-7383

Abstract

Highlights: Women's swimsuit body in Australian magazines reflects the Western normative body. The beach is a space for sexualized bodies to be gazed upon and to gaze. The beach is not necessarily a place of "delicious abandonment" for women. The discourse on women's "beach body" is in many ways contested. Viewing the body as becoming, not static, offers possibility for change for women. Abstract: Representations of tourism subjects, both people and places, extend beyond specifically tourism media. This paper explores the presummer images of swimwear and beach bodies in Australian women's lifestyle magazines. A content analysis of swimwear images confirmed British findings that there was a general uniformity in the characteristics of the women modelling the swimsuits: young, slim, white ethnicity (but tanned) and able-bodied. Critical Discourse Analysis highlighted that the beach body discourse is in many ways contested. On the one hand the beach is a place of abandonment, but women need to work hard to achieve the required normative image. Women's agency and choice is questioned due to the narrow normative image and the neo-liberal, consumerist systems underlying the discourse.