Task 5: Detailed essay plan: How Do Lads Mags such as Zoo and Mens Health perpetuate gender stereotypes? Why Is this? Is it a concern?

Introduction: Lads mags such as Men's Health and Zoo promote gender stereotyping as women are subjected to being viewed as subordinate with men being presented as dominant. This seems to be a concern as these stereotypes seems to be manifesting itself into society where these ideeologies seems to be taking effect.

Paragraph One: The content of these Lads Mags is what contributes the most to the stereotyping.

1) The "lifestyle choices" that are shown in the magazines that are recommended for men.
- Sex life
- Physical health
- Hobbies
- Tips on how to dress

2) The content that is held within the section about sex usually offers ways and tips on how to please women better.

Paragraph Two: Women subjected as only models for sexual gratification. - " There is a general agreement on the view that pornography in film ( or any other text) can be described as any set of images that exist solely for the purpose of sexual arousal"

1) Women posing in these magazines are there to please.
- Male Gaze is forced on readers
- Women in the magazines tend to hold onto some power as they choose what to reveal
- Taps into stereotype of women being viewed as sex objects. - " Another issue is the media's representation of women. The majority of images suggest that women have to look a certain way: be slim, wear the right clothes and have certain lifestyles to be beautiful".

Paragraph Three: These magazines are decentisising a younger audience to ideologies that promote women being subordinate/sex objects with men being quite mysogonistic.

1) Analysis of historical lads mag and modern to highlight the differences in both content and how the women are portrayed.

2) Link to Article found online commenting on age restrictions on lads mags. - " Consider how much impact exposure to sexual images is having on young people. Are lads' mags influencing their sexual behaviour and attitudes?"

3) Link to cultivation theory. How younger readers are being brought up through life with these ideologies.

Paragraph Four: Feminist Perspective

1) Discuss 2nd and 3rd wave feminism and it's effects on women in society today. Is it possible that lads mags are a reaction to feminism? - " It has been argued that men's magazines are not soley responding to gender changes, but are a reaction to feminism and an attempt for men to regain some of the power they lost through this movement".

2) How feminism empowers while the opposite is dcintained within these magazines. - " Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as perminantly, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly avalible".

Conclusion: Lads mags do stereotype genders which could have a harmful effect on society as it could decentise younger audiences to take on ideologies of subordinate and dominant genders. The ownership of these magazines are a big factor into what content is displayed (link to marxism and hedgemony).

MEST 4: Additional web sources

1) http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

"Images of female bodies are everywhere. Women—and their body parts—sell everything from food to cars."

"Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and article"s promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do".

2) http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/MagzineAdverts.htm

"Using our neat stereotypes of men and women, men should guzzle beer followed by spirit chasers whilst women lightly sip on wine or liqueurs".

"FHM, Loaded and Maxim all feature an advert for Jack Daniels whiskey with the tag line “the invite said bring a friend”. The image features no people, just a close up of a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a glass of ice. The “friend” in this case is an alcoholic drink".

3) http://www.theory.org.uk/mensmags.htm

" Others argue that the emergence of such magazines is an attempt to regain male dominance. Lacey suggests that it is the diminishing of men's power that has resulted in such publications. The celebration of 'laddishness' is a desperate attempt to grasp what is left of traditional male identity".

" It has been argued that men's magazines are not solely responding to gender changes, but are a reaction to feminism and an attempt for men to regain some of the power they lost through this movement".

4) http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/your-shout-are-women-treated-the-same-as-men-409811.html

" Another issue is the media's representation of women. The majority of images suggest that women have to look a certain way: be slim, wear the right clothes and have certain lifestyles to be beautiful. This pressure makes some women lose confidence."

5) http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_magazines.cfm

"...the portrayal of masculinity in men’s magazines such as Playboy, Maxim, GQ, and Esquire. These magazines, which focus on matters such as health, fashion, sex, relationships, and lifestyle, play a part in defining what it means to be a modern man".

6) http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/lad-magazines-criticised-for-negative-portrayal-of-women_10079838.html

"Titles such as Nuts and Zoo paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available".

" The images they use and project reinforce a very narrow conception of beauty and a shallow approach towards women".

Xmas task 3: Historical textual analysis and research:

For my historical analysis I have decided to analyse the very first issue of Playboy (made in 1953). Why I've decided to analyse a Playboy magazine is mainly becuase it was seen as an innovator of lads mags and also the period in which it was produced is interesting. In 1953, women still did not have such a unique position they have in society today. This was also before second and third wave feminism which would mean that women were seen as not having many rights compared to a man, rather an asset to a man.

Looking at the playboy cover (image left) we can see that Marilyn Monroe is posing. Being an iconic sex symbol, her star appeal would draw in many readers, giving the magazine a chance to gain a readership. The image of her seems inviting as she seems to be waving to the reader, granting them entrance into the magazine. In 1953, the demographic would be ages 18-65 as the magazine would satisfy sexual, safety and (on some degree) social needs.

We see that Marilyn isnt exposing much on this cover (as compared to today's lads mags where models are bare-breasted). By not exposing much, it is mainly her body that is outlined for attraction and not her breasts. This being the case, she is still on that cover for male attraction and being objectified as only a sex object. Being 1953, not many women would object this cover as their complaints would be unheard.

Over the years Playboy has built a dedicated readership due to the girls (or playboy girls) featured and its content (interviews, photoes, reviews etc.). The ideologies held behind this magazine is mainly reflected in the magazine content. On the covers, the women on the magazine are covered, only exposing that which is necessary to draw attraction and choosing what to expose, showing that Playboy does not fully exploit their women to attract male audiences.

Looking at the Nuts magazine (top right corner) we see a much more revealing shot of a model compared to the Playboy magazine. Being first published in 2004, Nuts was one of the first lads mags to exist in the UK. Taking into account the age difference between the two magazines, Nuts has a much more revealing cover with many more revealing pictures inside as as opposed to Playboy. Though from the 1950's onward, women had gained more rights and freedom (through 2nd and 3rd wave feminism, key events such as new forms of contreception) it seems women in lads mags are even more sexually objectified now.

Biblliography:

1)Author: Gauntlett, David

Publication Date: (Sep 2002)

Title: Media, Gender and Identity

Publisher: Routledge

"Magazines aimed at women, and increasingly those for men, contains all kind of advice on how to live, look and interact. Even if we only read these items in an ironic state of mind, it must all sink in somewhere".(Page 3) - This quote links to my critical investigation because as im investigating lads mags, the content inside is cruicial to understanding how both genders are stereotyped.

" However many FHM articles get excited about the idea of women as sexual tornados, and love the idea that the women included in their photo shoots would be sexually assertive and enthusiastic". (page 165-166) - This quote explains how women are treated as subordinate in lads mags, only being included in photoshoots to please men.

2) Author: Faludi, Susan

Publication date: (1999)

Title: Stiffed The Betrayal of American Man

Publisher: Harper Perennial

" Women were regelated there as a sop for their exclusion from the realm of power-striving men. Men arrived there as a result of their power-striving...ruled by commercial values that revolve around who has the most, the best, the biggest, the fastest". - This quote reinforces the ideologies behind the stereotypical, dominant man, always striving to be the alpha male.

3) Author: Nick Lacey

Publication date: (2009)

Title: Image and Representation: Key Concepts In Media Studies

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

" Stereotypes are an invaluable aid to understanding the world and all stereotypes must have, in Perkins terms, "a kernal of truth" or they would not have such an influence on our lives". (page 135) - This quote holds a lot of truth as the stereotypes of men and women does gives an idea of the positions of both genders in the media.

" Although the media has a very strong influence on the dissemination of stereotypes, it must be remembered that they were not created by the media, they are concepts which are part of everyday life". (page 135) - This quote tells us that the stereotypes of women and men was created throughout society, with only media exemplifying these ideas (in this case magazines).

4) Author: Tasker, Yvonne

Publication date: (1998)

Title: Working Girls : Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema

Publisher: Routledge

" The contemporary articulation of "strong women" in terms of an agressive sexuality involves a particular kind of objectification and display, one that also picks up on mainstream "post-feminist" discourses". (page 12) - This quote explains that even when women break the stereotype band, they are still objectified in mainstream media.

5) Author: Susan Hayward

Publication date: (2006)

Title: Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts: Second edition:

Publisher: Routledge

" There is a general agreement on the view that pornography in film ( or any other text) can be described as any set of images that exist solely for the purpose of sexual arousal". (page 266) - In my investigation, this quote could mean that the images of both men and women in the magazines are there only to satisfy sexual needs, even if its an advertisement.

" The "pro-pornography" camps takes care to establish differences between various forms of pornography...some versions are unacceptable...other forms can be liberating". (page 266/267) - It's debatable whether images of women in lads mags are liberating or images of men are liberating.

6) Author: Theo Sweeting

Publication date: (2006)

Title: Stereotypes In Gender - representing gender

Title of site: www.englishandmedia.co.uk

Full URL: http://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/mm/subscribers/downloads/archive_mm/_mmagpast/stereotyp_mags.html

" Loaded is an example that many readers believe has become increasingly pornographic in its content; as such it has increased the use of female stereotypes, namely as sex objects, the ‘all-looks-and-no-brains’ chauvinistic dream" - This quote exemplifies lads mags using women solely as sex objects, serving the male reader.

" Technology magazines such as T3 often present a semi-nude female model on the front as a sex object to entice a male readership to buy the magazine. Such representations are entirely misleading as to the content of the magazine and are constructed in an entirely cynical way simply in order to sell, thereby proving once again the old adage: sex sells. - This quote explains that in lads mags sex sells. What is displayed on the front cover may not reflect the content provided in the magazine. This relates to my investigation because the lads mags im investigating have covers that show attrative women but sometimes have content that has nothing to do with women.

7) Author: Mee-eun kang

Published date: (1997)

Title: The portrayal of Women's Images In Magazine Advertisements

Publisher: ?

" It has been established in previous research that advertising messages about
women are often stereotypical (e.g., a woman's place is in the home, women
do not make important decisions or do important things, women are dependent
and need men's protection, and men regard women primarily as
sexual objects). - This quote futher reinfoirces the idea of women as sex objects.

" Among the stereotypes typically employed in advertising by the media
are the ideas that women do unimportant things and a woman's place is
in the home".

8) Myra Macdonald

Publisher date: (1995)

Title: Representing Women: Myths of Femininity in the Popular Media

Publisher: Hodder Arnold

" The concept of the stereotype is used to criticize the reduction of the three-dimentional quality of the real to a one-dimentional and distorted form".

Xmas Task 1: Textual analysis:

This cover is from a magazine called Men's Health, a well respected magazine among the young men that read it (the demographic being ages 16-40). Why the readership ranges from these ages is because men both young and old would feel a desire to stay in shape and the words "from flab to abs" connotes this as young men would desire abs and old men would wish to get rid of their "flab" and look attractive. This magazine aims at the C2 to A demographic as this magazine aims to improve and benefit it's readers lives but improving certain aspects of it such as their social needs, sexual needs and psychological needs (highlighted in Maslow's hierarchy of needs).

The cover shows a still shot a built young man covering most of the page, giving the readers an idea of what to expect within this magazine and reinforcing the idea of an alpha male who is physically superior. Commenting on the mise-en-scene, we can see that the young man in the center is topless, an obvious decision seeeing as removing the clothing would accentuate the details on his body, further anchoring the "flab to abs" message this magazine is bringing across. Taking a pose that would showcase his body would draw more of a female audience, as they would desire physically fit male or alpha male. His facial expression would suggest that he happy to display himself, not being subjected to voyeurism, as he has a certain power of what to expose.

Mostly all Men's Health magazine covers feature a physically fit young man posing featuring buzz words around the model such as "fight fat", "strength", "sex" and "live". These words reinforce the ideologies a stereotypical man is supposed to hold such as being the best, sex being the ultimate goal and aspiring to have a perfect body. Stereotyping the male persona like this emphasises the ideologies this magazine holds on gender such as men pursuing a goal to become dominant. Women on the other hand are being representated as sex objects as they are only being mentioned on the magazine to be pleased by men through means of sex.

Audience Theories and it's relevence:

Here are the following theories and an explanation as to why they apply to my critical investigation:

1) The hypodermic model: This theory suggests that messages in the media are "injected" into the audience. These messages can be a number of things such as representations of groups, ideologies etc. Why this would be applied to my critical investigation question is becuase exposing pictures of women in lads mags can "inject" both thoughts and ideologies into the youth of today. Ideologies such as the subvertive women role could be one of them as these wommen are offfering themselves.

2) Desensitisation: This theory mentions that violence and blaintent sexuality become "less sensitive" as its exposed more and more. Behaviour towards these subjects also become more accepting. This theory would definatly apply to my investigation as lads mags are covered with sexual images. These images would desensitise youth's society into believing that women are sex objects, only existing to please men. This ideology could have a dangerous effect as young boys/men would grow up with patriartic ideologies.

Issues/ Theories that relate to my Critical investigation:

1) Issue: Media Effects:
This issues measure just how much the media effects society and how it is so vital in today's society. Under this issue, there can be many topics that can effect its audience, which in my case is sexual imagery. Analysing how Lads mags effect the youth of today, a media effect is taking place.

2) Issue: Regulation and censorship:
Regulation is monitoring and controlling behaviour while censorship is a suppression of certain things within society, which in this case is sexual images being displayed to youth. Why this issue is interesting to me and my critical investigation is becuase I can study both the regulation and the censorship Lads mags hold and what is being done so far to prevent this magazines being displayed to a younger, unintended target audience.

3) Issue: Ownership and control:
This issue plays a big part in my ciritical investigation as the ownership of lads mags can be explored and the control of how explicit the images are can also be analysed. Analysing this issue can also tie in with regulation and censorship issue as I can explore how big a part censorship plays within the ownership of lads mags.


4) Theory: Gender/ethnicity:
The gender and ethnicity involved with the mags can also relate to my investigation as the women being displayed can have a big effect on reader consumption can could also reflect reader's views on women of different race groups and women in general. Also with this theory I can bring in the hegemony issue and also ownership as I can explore what women are displayed and see if there is a specific reason behind it.


5) Theory: Marxism and hegemony:
Marxism and hegemony both hold the idea that one social class is superior to another, making the higher social class be able to influence social and media control. How I can relate this to my investigation is I can explore how these values both influence and reflect Lads Mags. Being linked to ownership, a person in a position of power can influence what is shown on these magazines.