INTIMITÀ, LINGUAGGIO E FALSE CREDENZE LA SALUTE RIPRODUTTIVA NEI CONSIGLI DI GRAZIA DEGLI ANNI 1950-75
INTIMACY, LANGUAGE, AND FALSE BELIEFS: REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN GRAZIA’S ADVICE COLUMNS FROM 1950 TO 1975

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the mechanisms through which medical knowledge related to sex-uality and reproductive health is transmitted in the advice column of the Italian weekly magazineGrazia. The study’s corpus includes letters from readers, featured in 135 issues of the magazine,published between 1950 and 1975, in a column initially titled “I consigli del medico” and laterrenamed “La salute”. The correspondence published in Grazia reveals not only the state of thereaders’ knowledge concerning their bodies, sexual life and reproductive health, but also the specificnature of the relationship between the senders (the magazine’s readers) and the recipient (the co-lumnist). The findings of the study highlight the presence of prejudices, false beliefs, euphemisms,and infantilisms. Furthermore, the column serves a dual function: it provides solutions to medicalproblems while also educating women according to the conservative norms of the time.

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