After revisiting my first blog entry it was clear I lacked direction. I had a general understanding of where I wanted to go with my cultural reporter blog, but wasn’t quite sure how to study it. Through the comments from Sara as well as revisiting of my post and course materials I was able to refocus my study.
I mentioned several differences in how the media is able to critique one’s appearance or attempt to sell us an alternate identity. I was able to incorporate magazine covers as a basis for difference in portrayal of genders/sexes in the media. I would like to further delve into this topic for the remainder of my study.
It appears that in the media there are very apparent gender/sex differences in how an individual is depicted on the covers of magazines. In my previous post my research led to the conclusion that males appeared to be criticized on the basis of sexuality including sexual orientation and degree of masculinity; while females were judged on their sexual appeal and fashion choices. This can be witnessed in a short video of compiled fashion magazine covers with female images seen here.
Upon searching the internet for bias in magazine covers I found the majority of research focused on females. A piece of research from the University of Iowa analyzing Seventeen magazine found “teen media depict a manipulated and gratuitous sexuality, based on unrealistic body images, constraining gender stereotypes and, all too frequently, the degradation of women” (Durham, 2007, p. 1).
The almost non-existent research on males intrigued me to further examine how male identity is created or criticized through depictions on magazine covers. To study this topic, I will examine magazine covers from the past year from 3 different, predominately male-targeted publications. The 3 I have chosen include GQ, Men’s Fitness and Sports Illustrated. To supplement this research and allow for further analysis I will then ask males of differing ages for their opinions as to what message these publications relay to them, and to what extent they “buy into” the ideology promoted through the cover image and headings.
It is important to note that I am aware that the purpose of such a material is to entertain and that “their front covers always have glossy images designed to catch your attention and are different with each issue” (Beazley, 2012, p.1). These images are confined to a particular space limitation, thus framed. In the text, DeFrancisco & Palczewski describe framing as “how metaphors influence thinking at a nonconscious level...humans can reframe their understanding of a concept, act, or thing by crediting an alternative conceptual metaphor” (p. 111). Therefore, one can consider an individual magazine cover a frame. This frame prompts unconscious thought in the reader in relation to the individual's appearance as well as the larger frame created through the inclusion of headings and subheadings. It is my understanding that the only way to alter the messages portrayed by a given frame or magazine cover would be to either alter the image for factors such as gender/sex, ethnicity, age, clothing, and general appearance, or change the accompanying texts and visuals which help construct the larger meaning. I have and will continue to integrate this into my research through interviewing males of differing ages.
In questioning them I ask for their overall impression from a given cover, prompting them to identify any memorable characteristics of the individual on the cover. I further ask if the text had a profound effect of their interpretation of the image, as well as any accompanying visuals such as color, font, size, and secondary images. I have not gotten very far into my research but have already begun to witness that men do believe that the images convey a specific sexual identity relating to masculinity. One interviewee noted “In GQ, the guys are all done up and wearing sharp, skinny suit outfits. I don't know any guys who would dress that way.” In contrast another noted the strong masculine vibes associated with Sports Illustrated, “these guys go hard. They are sweating on the cover, getting down and dirty”. I expect to see similar results in my continued research.
References:
Beazley, M (2012). Women's & Gender Studies Research Guide. Acadia University Library.
Retrieved from http://libguides.acadiau.ca/content.php?pid=1253&sid=819247.
DeFrancisco, V. P., & Palczewski, C. H. (2007). Communicating gender diversity: A critical approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Durham, M. (2007). Sex and Spectacle in Seventeen Magazine: A Feminist Myth Analysis.
Journalism & Mass Communication Publication. Retrieved from http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=jmc_pubs.
Great! I can’t wait to read the results of your interview given this strong visual comm focus. In terms of your CPP, I think this might lend itself to a video documentary mashing up images with your interviews Dreamworlds style or you could draft up a mock magazine cover that calls out these problematic in men’s magazines.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading the results of your data collection process in next blog. To process that information you will want to gather up all of your data (interview transcripts, observations, field notes, journal, etc) into one large pile of written text. Read through all of the information from start to finish once. Then go back and start to highlight statements that you think are intriguing. Try to group likeminded things together. You will do this several times. What you want to do is start to develop categories related to your concept. You’ve picked media as a social institution and masculinity so think about how you can code for these. Revisit the definitions and descriptors in the text. Then you’ll think about how you can connect these categories to bigger picture themes. What does a discussion of media and masculinity tell us about gender in communication? Try to develop 3 major take aways from your project that can inform us regarding this topic.