Desperately Seeking Women Readers considers explicitly named women's pages in U.S. newspapers to understand how the newspaper industry has constructed women readers. Special pages for women developed in the 1890s but by the 1960s had disappeared. The book investigates the creation and collapse of these pages before considering contemporary case studies to articulate why newspapers during the 1990s recreated sex-specific pages. The author argues that women's sections reinforce women as consumers and men as citizens.

Desperately Seeking Women Readers delves into the history of U.S. newspapers to examine the construction of female readership. Pages designed specifically for women transformed over time as the newspaper industry looked for ways to capture women readers. Harp investigates the creation and collapse of these pages before considering contemporary case studies to explore the recent revival of sex-specific pages. Interviews with professional journalists reveal the difficulties with defining news for women and the problems inherent in constructing newspapers in a sex-specific way. With a clear and...