29 J-Lalite: Journal of English Studies Vol.2, No.2, December, 2021 ‘Get in touch with yourself’: The Structure of Relationship Advice in Women’s Magazines Reem Adib Lulu 1 , Sohayle M. Hadji Abdul Racman 2 Universiti Brunei Darussalam 1 , Mindanao State University 2 reemadiblulu@gmail.com 1 Article History: First Received: 05/09/2021 Final Revision: 10/12/2021 Available online: 30/12/2021 Abstract. This study investigates the way sex and relationship advice articles are structured in four English language women’s magazines. Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire were selected from the US, and Female and Her World from Malaysia. Forty articles were selected for the analysis. The study adopts Machin and Van Leeuwen’s (2003) problem-solution structure, besides using discourse pragmatic analysis. By studying this genre in the two different contexts, one of the main things that emerged is that this particular genre is more complex and diverse than what other researchers have found. The writers of the advice resort to various strategies and techniques to attract women to read these articles. They also have to balance social and cultural sensitivities with their message of freedom and liberation for women as appeared in the Malaysian data. Thus, studying this genre gives useful insights on how culture affects the texts and vice-versa. Keywords: Relationships; Culture; Women’s Magazines. INTRODUCTION Women’s magazines have been internationally recognized as one of the most popular media forms for women since they have played a significant role in the production, reproduction of hegemonic cultural norms around class, sexuality, race and gender, in addition to challenges to such norms (Kitsa and Mudra, 2018). Such periodicals focus on female readerships and they cover women’s different social roles being as successful employee, wife, girlfriend, mother, etc. (Mykhailyn, 2013, 61). The majority of women’s magazines’ studies have been carried out on advertisements (Mbure and Aubrey, 2017; Akinro and Mbunyuza-Memani, 2019). Studies on sex and relationship advice articles are underrepresented in the literature as also observed by Alkaff and Lulu (2020). In particular, there are few studies done on how advice articles are constructed in women’s magazines such as Erjavec’s (2006) who states that the structure of sex and relationship advice articles includes the following: ‘the headline’; ‘the lead’; ‘steps/solutions’ and ‘the conclusion’. She points out that the structure of advice articles helps to ‘ reduce the complexity of the sexual ‘solution’ to simple advice and create the illusion that Cosmopolitan can help its readers change their sexual life, if only women follow its advice” (p. 47). It should