Female sexuality in magazines

This paper results from an investigation on the discourse of female sexuality carried by women's magazines in the years 2005 and 2006. 'Claudia' and 'Mulher dia-a-dia' were the documents analyzed through a qualitative investigative approach. The data construction was undertaken through critical discourse analysis, and female sexuality was approached from a constructivist perspective. The main results showed that the discursive conventions present in the reports gave shape to dual positions on contemporary Western sexual dynamics, such as: adoption of symmetrical sexual practices versus continuation of asymmetrical sexual practices; female sexual autonomy versus female sexual dependency; activeness versus passiveness; female pleasure versus male pleasure. Thus, we argue that sexuality remains doubly informed by hegemonic standards in force within society.