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Bridal magazines have become increasingly popular in Western society, proliferating the idea of a ´princess bride´ on her ´big day´. Yet little has been written on how the ever-expanding wedding media and the popular wedding culture constructs gender and affects the ways women live and experience their weddings. Offering a critique of contemporary wedding discourse, this book marries together analyses of media texts and their reception to propose a new approach to media discourse. The analysis richly illustrates how women are invited to embrace not only the stereotypical idea of bridal femininity but also a consumptive way of experiencing it. Through examination of brides´ accounts of their ´big days´, the book observes the imprints of the popular gender imagery on their self-portraits and self-narratives, and describes the women´s diverse approaches to them. Based on insights from gender and critical discourse studies, sociology and audience research, this exploration illuminates the ongoing debate on ´media and gender´ and its methodological approaches.

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Introduction 1. Discourse and Power 2. Women as Subjects of Discourse 3. Bridal Femininity in Wedding Magazines 4. Reading a Magazine: Methodological Considerations 5. Reading a Magazine: The Interviews 6. Reading a Magazine: Discussion Conclusions

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Ewa Glapka is a research fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Free State, South Africa. She has published on the topics of language and gender, discourse analysis, discursive psychology (Critical Discourse Analysis, Critical Discursive Psychology), media reception, sociolinguistics and narrative analysis.

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