The Image of Man in Women’s Magazines Published in Hungarian

Abstract

Since 1989 there have appeared two kinds of women’s magazines on the Hungarian media market: the Hungarian versions of multilingual global magazines (Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire) and the ones founded in Hungary. The main objective of global magazines, to encourage consumption (of the magazines and the products, services, and values advertised in them) is achieved by representing high-prestige female reference groups who do not have to go along with traditional roles of women but can concentrate on their own career. On the other hand, the magazines published in Hungary target a more diversified socio-cultural stratum, but in each case they are committed to a much more directly patriarchal image of society. In their case the primary strategy is to evoke the reader’s sympathy for a woman centered message; they boost consumption less intrusively than do foreign magazines. At the same time, unlike in the case of the global magazines, there is not a single feminist medium on the Hungarian print media market that would position female readers as autonomous social beings.