Corey Hessinger
March 14, 2002
American Pop
CultureAnalysis of Magazine Articles 

Cult of True Womanhood: Alive and Well In Cosmopolitan Magazine 

The Cult of True Womanhood was an ideology developed in the middle of the nineteenth century to teach women their place in American society. According to this ideology, women had four main objectives for how to live their lives. Women were taught to be pure, pious, domestic and submissive. The Cult of True Womanhood is an outdated ideology according to many. However an interesting phenomenon occurs in the ads in Cosmopolitan Magazine. The ideas domesticity, submissiveness, and piety are all alive and well among the ads. The definition of purity has changed somewhat since the original definition in the mid 1800’s. Currently, women are supposed to be pure on the inside, but have a bad girl streak on the inside.

A Dryel ad shows that the women’s movement has not gone as far as many of us had hoped. The slogan for the ad says “Fresh and clean with steam. Just your cup of tea!” The domestic images implicit in that statement are numerous. First of all the ad promotes women being responsible for all domestic work, such as laundry. Then there is the image of a woman drinking a cup of tea. The image of the perfect hostess of the turn of the century serving tea in her parlor is immediately brought to mind. Despite the fact that many of the articles in the magazine talk about women in high power professional positions, the ads are placing women right back into the home. Cosmopolitan is a magazine supposedly designed to promote the independence of women. Apparently women can be independent, as long as they have finished all their chores.

Domesticity:  Dryel Advertisement

I had thought that the idea of submissive women had finally been removed from American Culture. Cosmopolitan has numerous articles about how women should take charge of their lives, and get their man. However the messages in the ads contradict this statement. A slogan for Avon lipstick says “Let’s talk about making a statement without saying a word.” That slogan just sent society back a hundred years. According to Avon, women should not speak their mind. Everything that needs to be said can be said with silence or with the right lipstick.

Submissiveness: Avon Advertisement

For a society that is supposed to advocate separation of church and state, there are many ads that encourage women to be pious. In the 1800’s it was said that women had a closer connection with god and were thus required to be more moral than men. This image of pious women is still shown today thru such companies as Victoria’s Secret. There is am image of a woman as an angel and the caption is “experience heaven on earth.” Thus women are still portrayed as having a closer connection to God.

Piety: Victoria's Secret Advertisement

With the idea of purity, there has only been a slight change since the 1800’s. Where as women were supposed to be asexual, only having sex to fulfill their husband’s needs, now they are supposed to secretly enjoy it. Women are supposed to be angels on the outside and naughty on the inside. An ad describing cherry lifesavers summarizes the new view on women’s purity. “Cherry has taste and beauty and she knows it. tends to act innocent. she isn’t.” Cosmopolitan has been one of the biggest promoters of women’s sexuality with numerous articles about females becoming sexually liberated. However this liberation is only allowed to take place on the inside. Outwardly women must still be as pure as they were one hundred years ago

.

Purity: Lifesavers Advertisement

Cosmopolitan is a magazine that proclaims to promote the modern women. Its articles revolve around beauty, sexual independence and achievements in the workplace. However its ads paint a different picture of the ideal woman. The ads among the articles promote an ideology that was created over a hundred years ago to keep women confined to the home and family.