Magazine editors, objectivity and neutrality

Abstract

This paper explores notions of objectivity, neutrality and the 'political' in the views of South African magazine editors, and how these views relate to their representations of gender and sexuality. It argues, from a feminist poststructuralist position, that the insistence on the objectivity and neutrality of their publications is in sharp contrast to the ways in which a political position is taken in presenting gender and sexuality in binaristic and unequal terms within the pages of the magazines. The presentation of women and homosexuals in these magazines as 'other' exotic erases any claim of objectivity and neutrality.