The practical true woman: Reconciling women and work in popular mail‐order magazines, 1900–1920

This article examines the rhetorical strategies of 1900–1920 popular mail‐order magazines, focusing on the ways in which these magazines attempted to reconcile the contradictions between gender norms and material reality for working class readers. Towards this end, a narrative of the “practical true woman”; was constructed. The image of a practical true woman was cultivated through three rhetorical strategies, appeals to tradition, recognition, and negation. Additionally, this essay challenges previous cultural studies that celebrate popular texts as sites of resistance for subordinate groups. In contrast, this study underscores the importance of understanding popular culture texts within specific historical contexts that shape and constrain cultural interpretations as well as the nature of struggles for social change.