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It's Sociobiology, Hon!
Genetic gender determinism in Cosmopolitan magazine
Author:
Amy Adele Hasinoff
(Show Biography)
DOI:
10.1080/14680770903068233
Publication Frequency:
4 issues per year
Subjects:
Feminist Theory;
Media Studies;
Formats available:
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Abstract
Though the heated scientific debate that sociobiology initially generated has largely subsided, speculation on the genetic basis of social behaviors remains a thriving academic discipline and provides valuable content that can be easily translated into compelling newspaper articles, popular magazines, and self-help mass market paperbacks. In Cosmopolitan magazine, statements reflecting the genetic gender-determinism of sociobiology appear in offhand remarks, personal anecdotes, and in lengthy quotations attributed to experts with PhDs. My textual analysis of this sociobiological common sense in Cosmopolitan articles from 1995-2005 represents an in-depth case study of the migration of gender-related science to a popular culture venue for women. I examine the sociobiological theory that norms of female attractiveness advertise reproductive capacity, drawing connections between scholarly works, popular self-help literature, and Cosmopolitan articles. The magazine invokes sociobiological logic to explain and legitimate the laborious techniques of femininity, positioning the female body as a commodity in the marketplace of evolved male desire and reducing it to the signs—real or cosmetically simulated—that reveal the body's underlying reproductive value. I also investigate how Cosmopolitan uses sociobiological common sense about men to construct, exaggerate, and excuse their bad behavior, requiring women to solve or tolerate it. Sociobiology responds to gender inequalities by offering a seemingly rational scientific model asserting that existing gender norms and differences are natural and inevitable.
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| Keywords: women's magazines; sociobiology; femininity; media studies; Cosmopolitan; gender roles |
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