Media Representations of Footballers' Wives : A Wag's Life

Representing a detailed analysis of footballers' wives and their role in contemporary British culture, this books explores how the generic and stereotypical 'Wag' has been created by newspaper and magazine coverage, auto/biographies and influential television programmes. Since the FIFA World Cup of 2006, footballers' wives have become a staple part of popular British culture, regularly appearing in glossy magazines, the tabloid press, reality shows and documentaries. Jen Bullen provides an analysis of how the media has created an exaggerated and stereotypical 'wag' (wife and girlfriend) figure. Wags are treated like royalty, living in a glamorous and fairy tale world and offering the aspiration of transformation to young women, while elsewhere they are denigrated as pathological and representative of a short-cut culture - gold-digging bimbos undeserving of their fame and fortune and, as such, subjected to symbolic violence based on their class and taste. Bullen examines such representations in relation to class, gender, celebrity and football "Since the FIFA World Cup of 2006, footballers' wives have become a staple part of popular British culture, regularly appearing in glossy magazines, the tabloid press, reality shows and documentaries. Jen Bullen provides an analysis of how the media has created an exaggerated and stereotypical 'wag' (wife and girlfriend) figure. Wags are treated like royalty, living in a glamorous and fairy tale world and offering the aspiration of transformation to young women, while elsewhere they are denigrated as pathological and representative of a short-cut culture - gold-digging bimbos undeserving of their fame and fortune and, as such, subjected to symbolic violence based on their class and taste. Bullen examines such representations in relation to class, gender, celebrity and football"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of Tables 9 Foreword 10 Acknowledgements 12 1 Introduction 13 2 Framing the Wag 28 3 Methodology 64 4 Wives in Print 83 5 Fact or Fiction 121 6 Auto/biographies – Telling Tales 151 7 Conclusions – What’s in a Name? 191 Appendix A 200 Appendix B 204 Notes 206 Data Sources 208 Bibliography 216 Index 226 Front Matter....Pages i-xi Introduction....Pages 1-15 Framing the Wag....Pages 16-51 Methodology....Pages 52-70 Wives in Print....Pages 71-108 Fact or Fiction....Pages 109-138 Auto/biographies — Telling Tales....Pages 139-178 Conclusions — What’s in a Name?....Pages 179-187 Back Matter....Pages 188-221