AustLit

'In the early twentieth century, a preoccupation with ensuring the strength, morality, and whiteness of the new Australian nation heightened anxieties around female sexuality and the single woman. However, women did not passively accept these ideals. Instead, they utilised the periodical press to voice their opinions and experiences. The 'Weekly' welcomed reader contributions and offers a rich archive through which to consider changing Australian attitudes towards sexuality, single women, and marriage in the early twentieth century. This paper explores the ways that readers perceived and engaged with the values and ideals that affected their lives. Histories of Australian women's magazines that did not claim a feminist political affiliation, especially in the years prior to and including WWI are largely missing from the literature. This paper begins to fill this gap through analysing the articles and humour pieces in the Australian Woman's Weekly, not its more famous namesake, the Australian Women's Weekly (1933- present). It discusses how the magazine used both humour and serious discussion to challenge and negotiate mainstream values. Through the Weekly, women asserted that single women's sexuality was not a 'problem' to be dealt with and argued that they could be valuable and happy members of society.'  (Publication abstract)