The construct of mature woman in media discourse — a critical analysis

Abstract

A woman’s maturity places her somewhere between youth and old age. A woman trapped between the two receives advice to help her break free. The aim of the study was to reconstruct the linguistic ways of understanding a woman’s maturity and its social implications. The analysis was performed with the use of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a research concept that allows the visualising of inequalities and relations of power. The definition of the concept as well as linguistic strategies representing various ways of striving for youth (reversing, lying, avoiding, fighting) and categories of disciplining such as appropriate appearance, sexuality and fi nancial position, were specified during this analysis.