Love, sexuality and birth control in Paula magazine during Popular Unity

Abstract

This article focuses its analysis on a dominant publication in the market of women's press during its time, the Chilean magazine Paula, during the period of the Popular Unity. Although women's press has often been interpreted as a tool for reproducing traditional gender roles, Paula challenges this categorization. Founded in 1967, the magazine takes an ambivalent stance during the Popular Unity, belonging to a conservative media group while maintaining a progressive editorial line, although not entirely. The article proposes a qualitative analysis of the articles that addressed the themes of love, sexuality, and birth control in the issues published between 1970 and 1973, revealing a complex "writing of contradiction" that partially and ambiguously recomposes the gender order. The magazine exposes tensions in gender norms and struggles over defining the social legitimacy of certain female identities and behaviors. It acts as a women's public space addressing discussions marginalized from the political agenda. Until the coup that led to changes in the magazine, Paula's commercial success suggests that it reflected societal aspirations for change that did not find a true political echo.