Introduction

In the introduction, I begin by interrogating social understandings of contemporary womanhood and disrupting stereotypical representations of the feminist project. In querying taken-for-granted dominant cultural assumptions of a linear progression of feminist achievements, I set the scene for a more complicated analysis of the relationship between sex and feminism in women’s magazines. The media are identified as a key crossbeam in the scaffolding of social constructions of sexuality, and a brief tour of the field of magazine studies is undertaken. Several key concepts which traverse the book—such as intersectionality and a social constructivist approach—are explored and defined. Lastly, the introduction provides an overview of the book and emphasises the potential for Australian and US media discourses to construct and reify harmful gender norms.