Category: Media

All societies have certain expectations of how males and females should behave, what they can achieve and what their purpose is within that society. These usual expectations are the dominant ideological views. Over the years expectations have changed, as have the ways in which men and women are represented but the question is to what extent do magazines reinforce these views?

 

The first magazine was published for men entitled The Gentleman’s Magazine and was all about hunting, shooting and fishing, the traditional pursuits of a gentleman, while the first for women was Vogue published in 1897. Within its pages the formula was simple – the 3 Rs – Romance, Royalty, Recipes – a formula that has changed little in some magazines. The Victorian woman was expected to be in charge of the household but had no independence of her own: status or financially, and all women were expected to have a husband and want children.

 

Some things have changed but, sometimes it seems, not that much. Women’s magazines increased in number until the 1960s but mainly confined themselves to reinforcing the dominant views of women as homemakers, wives and mothers; apart from a brief period when first of all women were encouraged into the workplace to replace the men gone to war, and then immediately after the war when they were enticed back into the home to allow the men ‘their’ jobs back. Betty Friedan criticises how she felt society discouraged women from making careers away from home and family.

 

Falling sales in the 1960s caused Vogue’s change of direction and the ensuing emphasis on body image and appearance created the current climate of obsession about our looks while generating whole new industries based on looking our best.

 

Cosmopolitan in the 1970s was the first women’s magazine to dare to suggest that women could be unconventional, could challenge the stereotypes and have a career and a man and even their own sex life! Sadly this too created a whole new set of neuroses.

 

We in Britain have lived in a patriarchal society for so long we no longer realise the effect that its views have had on the way we see ourselves. According to Laura Mulvey, the patriarchal society is a phallocentric society; one in which women are displayed as sexual objects and also where the male gaze is active and the female gaze is passive. Women see themselves through the eyes of men and are continually measuring themselves against male standards of beauty and femininity. While another theorist, Fiske said that magazines ‘reveal just how insistently and insidiously the ideological forces of domination are at work in tall the products of patriarchal consumer capitalism.’ We can best see these points in the front covers of both men’s and women’s magazines. On both there is almost always a woman; on a men’s her gaze will be ‘invitational’, ‘romantic’ or ‘sexual’ (as identified by Marjorie Ferguson) while on a woman’s magazine she will be either a ‘super-smiler’ or a ‘chocolate box’.
Janice Winship suggested that magazines were ‘like a club…the soaps of journalism‘ and again, look at the titles and it is immediately obvious: FHM, just the initial letters and often one is blocked by the model’s head.

 

Basically magazines divide not just down gender lines, as in the binary conflict theory, but women’s can be labelled aspirational (women should want to look like the model on the front and have the lifestyle displayed within) and men’s are accepting of what men are like and don’t encourage them to be any different. One recent modern exception to this is the magazine ‘Men’s Health’ where the model on the front is male, always muscular and this magazine, atypically, is very much like women’s in that it promotes lifestyles and appearance as things to work towards and that in buying the magazine you are one step closer to achieving. Even the titles of women’s magazines allude to the ‘More‘ culture, the idea that all women can be the ‘Best‘ and aspire to be such archetypes as ‘Eve‘ and ‘Elle‘.

 

In modern lifestyle magazines it could certainly be said that this medium generally reinforces the dominant ideologies of society and the exceptions to that stand out distinctively. But what has happened is that women end up confused by the variety of images or representations available to them. ‘Red’ magazine probably best illustrates this because within its pages we have the clash of executive woman with successful mother. Its own mission statement promotes it as for the woman who wants a life but has probably also got a home and family and aims to enable women to have it all but somewhat inevitably ends up making the reader feel inadequate because she can’t do it all and feeling dissatisfied with her lifestyle choices!

The Face

Connotations of boldness, daring to ask the questions no one else does, also the Face of, i.e. what’s hip in….. pop, culture, art, fashion etc.

White on Red, bold, large block capitals; neither masculine nor feminine specifically.

 

Strap lines

Across the bottom in large stencil font in Fluorescent pink – just the name PINK!

 

Advertising

Fragrances

Yves Saint Laurent for Men – picture full page, naked male full frontal, black and white, bottle of fragrance is only colour orange.

Givenchy pour homme – picture full page male in foreground no shirt because he’s stretched it out on ground for young lady to step out of car onto, woman, looking at him, long legs stylish shoes, beautiful.

Joop! Rococo for men – caption ‘the new male fragrance for the modern hero’ – double page back to back features blond, spiked haired male in mid shot behind the wheel of an open topped car sunset colours in background, car silver, he’s wearing a red unzipped sleeveless ruffled leather jacket and has a rose attached to his, out of the car, hand by a metal twist. He looks much worked over by the graphic artist, his parted lips have a definite black line between them and his skin looks airbrushed. In lower right hand corner a small bottle of scent with tear off sample. On back of page is full size bottle of fragrance

Joop! Homme – close up of dark skinned, hirsute male torso, arm clenched across chest, tanned, smooth and skin has a sheen to it. On upper right bicep is one dewdrop of pink fluid, obviously from bottle lying on its side at bottom right corner. Colour photo with small amount of pink background visible.

Dolce and Gabbana parfum – male and female both in undergarments tanned and fit, possession indicated by his hand on her thigh and lips on her throat; he has close shaven head and she has long dark hair head thrown back so that hair swings free; both have eyes closed.

Higher Dior – eau de toilette pour Homme

Jean Paul Gaultier “Le Male” – a very feminine male model sailor with puckered lips and heart tattoo; even the bottle is suggestive, a well-muscled male torso with a self-striped top, in tones of blue.

 

Clothes

Wrangler – 2 page ad left is wild west prob sherrif’s office scene and right side is modern male in jeans and denim jacket holding them at …banana point!

Diadoro – trainers low angle shot of male from waist down face up against a wall feet spread and arms handcuffed behind his back. Pun on caption ‘a trainer with more history than you’ implying a history of rebellion and breaking the law or rules (the trainers that break the rules?)

Lambretta – full page male and female, her positioned in front of him, she’s ion mid shot looking to her left away from camera, him in longer shot arms clasped behind head looking up away from camera. Black and white.

Fred Perry – page divided into 9 boxes; 8 cgi’s of males, mid shots each sporting different colour way of classic Fred Perry sports shirts, all hands on hips and looking at camera in challenging pose. In centre blue on white FP logo the laurel wreath.

Schuh – Reebok Casoni – leather shoes available exclusively at Schuh. 13 single shiny boots and shoes, light glinting off polished leather on black background.

Soletrader – the home of designer footwear.

Ben Sherman – 2 pages, mixed models.

Skechers – collection footwear; celebrity model (can’t remember who he is though! Unless it’s Robert Downey Jr?) Caption, ‘redefining style.’

 

Games ,dvd, video, cd

Grand theft auto vice City for the Playstation 2 –certificate 18

Minority Report – available to own soon.

Lord of the Rings

Twin Peaks

 

Miscellaneous

Fuji Digital camera – caption ‘sorted’ and long mid shot of bald headed man playing with the cuffs of the shirt sticking out of his long black jacket, wearing shades, implying the bouncer type.

Samsung – flat screen monitor – full page overall colour scheme grey and dark lilac, long dark-haired girl looking directly into camera though with back in forefront of picture, holding monitor under arm wearing maroon low backed top and ribbon lace up shoes; caption ‘digital temptation.’

Davidoff Classic – double page spread ad for cigarettes; lower fifth of page is the health warning; caption ‘ you know the difference’, close up shot of side of male face hand up to face with cigarette in fingers far left and far right an open pack showing snowy white sticks with silver scroll work and silver autograph ‘Davidoff’.

Marlboro – double page spread, photo at night of a man and his quad bike, he’s having a break at a picnic table under a floodlight.

Sony Ericsson mobile phone – with picture phone book, male hand holding it, message in screen is from Jane and has a cartoon witch picture.

Panasonic – customisable mobile phones; mixed group of young 20’s 2 female and 3 male all holding their phones out for our inspection.

Swatch diaphane transparent irony – an 8 page fold out for swatch watches, theme is transparency, so pages have misty shots of the internal workings, the only pictures in focus and clear are of the whole watch and the swatch logo; lots of numbers and technical specifications and even a diagram; mostly black and white and grey, yellow on inside pages for names of watches and details overlaid in black, and white cross on red background. (Do the words actually mean anything or are they just meant to intrigue or impress?)

Pulsar by Seiko – black and white except for a red banner across bottom with important technical details and blue face of metal watch itself. All writing in white; model is male, out of focus hot of gym equipment, he’s sweaty, hair wet and straggly, has towel round his neck and tattoo on his knee, not looking at camera but away to his right.

Tiger – beer, full page, oriental night scene, caption ‘Discover the Tiger.’

Beck’s – 3 pages, but following each other on right hand side so that you could flip them; different captions: cosmetic surgeon, fashion victim and blessed, perhaps implying that this beer is all things to all people but the last one with a metal ruler next to it implies ‘size matters.’

Absolut – by ~Jean Paul Gaultier; vodka.

 

Language

‘Complete your slightly sad Granny-chic ensemble with an absurd purse. Now you’re, like, kooky.‘

‘Waste of time, mate.‘

‘OK, Jen we get it.‘ (of Jennifer Lopez)

Language is varied, from jargon full: “Retro-revivalism is like a spotlight that sweeps….“, to quite sophisticated: “We know where our TV’s gone in the past ten years – cruelty based reality shows spawning countless just-add-water instant celebs……..“, to basic and obvious; not to mention sarcastic and derogatory: “Are you done strutting around like some kind of jerky-chewing Texan redneck in your perilously perched trucker’s headpiece?” ! Including clear opinions like: “…the Church might move on to the ….issue of the world’s biggest-ever child abuse scandal. But, hey – no hurry!”

‘A well-practised teenager can hot-wire one in little under a minute…And the worst thing is that, rather than selling the scooters for crack, they just crash them into a wall and the come back for another one.‘

 

Odds and ends

Barometer is a section devoted to what is up and what is down e.g. Pictures of men ‘imitating Christ’, bearded celeb wonders, but they’re not hip apparently! Down arrow! And the Pope testing Catholic priests to find out if they are gay. Also down Review of a Miami resort with details, and a swinger’s convention! But Brazil is up because of a new film and its thriving dance scene. So is London’s women only R&B club scene where the action’s hot.

Christian hip hop magazine rather dismissive but at least it’s here!

Another with common ground is the review of right wing Christians invading pop culture and the Greenbelt festival.

Fashion advertorials – Issey Miyake 10 pages full gloss treatment.

Y3, Yohji Yamamoto’s first collection for Adidas. 8 pages male and female models.

Cut out an keep guide to New York’s clubs. Emphasis on gay and transsexual scene.

Other promotions for Orange, Media Messaging.

Showcases on very new designers e.g. Way Perry.

A clubs section; film review section; bands; games; and one item of concern in this case on ‘data mining.’

Photo of male lap with semen! In a section devoted to real photos of celebs and friends.

Loyalty card shopping and the scam!

 

Major article

The life and trials of PINK complete with fashion shots in sheer tops; caption ‘what’s my appeal to gay girls? Because I’m strong, assertive, cool, hot. I’m a girl’s girl. And my assistant likes my nipples.‘ 10 pages, photos b/w; Fuji, Samsung and Minority Report ads between. Lots of detail about her misdemeanours, drug taking, abuse of all sorts, tattoos. And no she’s not gay!

Natalia Vodianova – a new Russian Supermodel a fairy tale story; from abject poverty to superstardom.

Interview with who makes TV in UK today.

Kidnap experiences.

 

Gender construction

No hang ups about private parts, but not salacious, merely there.

Men drink beer,

Women drink vodka

Both smoke though in the ads only men are shown doing it.

Alternative lifestyles pretty much the norm within these pages.

Men like shoes and designer sports gear.

Women like fashion but much of what is profiled here is not really for buying.

Women like purses, jewellery and fragrances though these all come in the form of tiny ads.

Men like quality in Soundsystems, Computer technology, cameras etc

Both like mobile phones.

Both like the look of the thing not necessarily for itself. (Of perfume: ‘Well, it all smells more or less the same. But check those bottles.‘)

 

What is the magazine selling?

A lifestyle: what is expected of a person of a reasonable disposable income, probably no family ties; here you can learn what to wear as well as what to do with your spare time. How to enjoy whatever your scene is but how to do it safely. Life is about having fun and a bit of experimenting along the way.

‘You shop therefore you are.‘ Quote from the editorial staff is a parody of the philosopher Descartes’ famous expression: ‘I think therefore I am.’

The editorial seems to be jeering at the modern stars of the music world that they wouldn’t know how to misbehave if someone gave them directions! Yet our respected leaders of TV can do it! Ironic isn’t it!

The editor’s letter this month refers obviously to a barrage of mail when he says “You were still having trouble reading our mag in polite company but were mostly unhappy about seeing Justin Timberlake…among the rebels , visionaries and superstars of our heroes list…Get over it!” Pretty much sums up the mags intentions: to be different, to feature new people and new things but also more established stars in a new light. And since it makes no apologies it intends to shock! And judging by one e-mail the new direction of The Face is good though some obviously do read it for the fashion rather than the gratuitous nakedness!

The downturn in sales of the more traditional lads mags that may or may not herald a wiser understanding of what is and isn’t really acceptable exposure of women in today’s society has led to the post-lad-mag popularity of ‘Jack’ for example

Audience

Since the intended audience is both male and female there is plenty of stuff about dance and club scenes, music and what’s going on and where. But I would think this mag could have an appeal for anybody with an interest in the less mainstream music scenes since there is pretty thorough coverage of: electroclash, Scandi-garage, beat-mix, R&B, indie-rock, bhangra, hip hop etc.

“The Face crosses the boundaries of youth culture, fashion and music. It is the UK’s first and foremost style title, documenting a moment in time. Keep your finger on the pulse by taking out a subscription” From www.emap.com

 

The Male Gaze and Objectification of women

Normally the male gaze is the concept that even women see themselves through men’s eyes, that what men have over centuries come to accept as ideals for women’s looks, behaviour and attitudes are actually what is best for women and this myth often goes unchallenged.

Objectification is the forcing of women to be viewed as objects and not as persons in their own right. For example the use of female bodies to sell any kind of product.

In the vast majority of magazines for women or for men the myth is perpetuated, with blonde blue-eyed long legged stick thin women adorning front covers and pouting at the potential purchaser. Women buy the magazine on the mistaken assumption that we want to look like this and be like this, have this perfect lifestyle and that the magazine holds the key to finding this ‘perfection’, this woman is destined to be unfulfilled!

The traditional lads magazine panders to the child inside that men are used to suppressing but through the pages of these they are allowed to be free from their usual restraints. Here it is alright to drink too much, to fart in public, to ogle women’s naked bodies and indulge in excessive behaviour that in reality would be considered at the very least impolite. In this way these magazines are as much catering to personal fantasy as women’s own magazines.