Research Report

Drinking in Swedish women's magazines’ advertisements from the 1960s to the 2000s AIMS The article focuses on what kind of drinking-related subject positions have appeared as acceptable and desirable in women's magazine advertisements over the past few decades, how those positions have changed and shifted as we move closer to the present day, and how these changes reflect the shifting borderline between the private and public domain.MATERIAL The material consists of alcohol-related advertisements published in Swedish women's magazines from the 1960s to the 2000s (n=1,079).METHOD The advertisements are approached and analysed as performances in which gender is made visible “here and now” by placing women in particular subject positions. The analysis draws attention to how the subject positions appearing in the advertisements are repeatedly attached to pleasure (desire), the physical body (sex) and social roles, norms and lifestyles (gender).Results The analysis reveals both continuity and variability in alcohol-related advertising in Swedish women's magazines. In the 1960s alcohol-related advertisements repeatedly positioned women in the private domain to represent the traditional norms of the “housewife contract”, or outside the home to represent the new gender expectations of the “equality contract”. As we draw closer to the present day, the nature of these subject positions begins to change.Conclusions Women's equality, freedom and independence do not increase linearly, nor does the home or the private domain become gender neutral. On the contrary, it seems that the traditional gender system is persistently reproduced. A comparison of the Swedish and Finnish material reveals some intriguing similarities and differences in women's subject positions.