Today's Magazine Covers: Gender Expectations and Stereotypes

By looking at both men's and women's magazines of today, we can analyze what types of messages they are sending to men and women. I looked at GQ, MAXIM, Vogue, and O (The Oprah Magazine) magazines.

GQ: As you can see, to the left, the cover of the August 2011 issue of GQ Magazine features Mila Kunis, an actress, wearing a rather skimpy outfit. She is also touching herself and sipping some type of coffee drink. She looks a bit childish, but at the same time, overly sexual. Just this image is saying a lot about how GQ is portraying women. All the things described above were also things that were mentioned in "Codes of Gender," where women are sexualized and made to look like children, even when they're wearing next to nothing. The tagline that goes with this image is "We Make Mila Kunis Laugh With Our (Sexier Than Usual) Comedy Issue," which again makes women sexual objects. Another article (mentioned on the cover) is called "Girls Spanking Girls (nicely)." This portrays women as things to be looked at by men. Another article, called "A Guide to Safe Sexting" makes me think that GQ is playing to the stereotype that men are really sexual people. Of course, the magazine covers men's fashion, since it is a fashion magazine. I think GQ, more than other men's magazines plays to the metrosexual men of the United States. All the men they feature are always extremely well-dressed and very well-groomed.

MAXIM: When it comes to their portrayal of women, MAXIM seems to be all about sex. The cover of their September 2011 issue, seen at right, features a women only known as "Sofia Vergara's Little Sister." I think this in itself says something, perhaps that women aren't even important enough to be called by name. Granted, I don't think many people know who this unnamed woman is, but that doesn't mean that she shouldn't have her name displayed on the cover. This woman is soaking wet and is wearing a white bikini, "covered" by a see-through piece of clothing. Much like GQ, MAXIM plays to the idea that women are just sexual objects. They continue this theme with articles called "100 Girls 99 Bikinis: Math Has Never Been So Fun" and "Great Lake!: get in bed with Lake Bell." On the men's side of things, there are numerous references to sports and alcohol (football, tailgating, hitting a fastball drunk) , as if all men love watching sports and drinking. Once again, like GQ, MAXIM draws on typical stereotypes of men and women throughout their cover.

Vogue: A women's magazine, dedicated to fashion, features Kate Moss on its September 2011 cover. She's wearing a fairly modest (compared to the men's magazine covers above) purple gown. It does, however, shown off her bust, and she has her lips parted, probably to look seductive. I find this interested since it is a magazine geared toward women, who, for the majority, are sexually attracted to men. Moss also has her neck extended, in a vulnerable pose. These are all things that were discussed in "Codes of Gender" that we watched for class as well. I find the tagline of this article very interesting: "An Inside Look At The Most Romantic Wedding Of The Year." I think Vogue is trying to play into the stereotype that all women love weddings and all plan on getting married. Vogue also has an article called "How To Wear Color On Your Face, On Your Body," assuming that women need to know about what makeup to wear and what color clothing to wear. However, even though there are some stereotypical stories on the cover, there is one that seems less stereotypical: "Ten Years Later: A 9/11 Survivor Looks Back," but this is a rare article to find, it seems.

O, The Oprah Magazine: O Magazine's October 2011 issue features both Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell on its cover. This is the most modest cover of all four magazines I analyzed. Both Winfrey and O'Donnell are wearing dresses that don't show too much skin. They're also smiling and laughing like normal people, unlike Kate Moss's pose above. They seem like real women, with real bodies. The cover stories are also much less stereotypical "women" articles. Although there is an article about dieting (which seems to be promoting women going on diets), there are also mental health articles, like "What's Holding You Back?: 9 Ways to Change Old Patterns and Spark New Breakthroughs." There are however, on O Magazine's website, numerous articles in this issue about cooking and baking, which definitely seems to be playing to the stereotype that all women cook and bake. Out of all the magazines I looked at, this one seems to be the least stereotypical when it comes to men and women's roles in society and how they are portrayed in the media.

Although some are better than others, both men's and women's magazines convey gender expectations. Through my analysis, it seems that men's magazines characterize women as just being objects more than women's magazines do, but women's magazines include many more articles that force women into gender roles and stereotypes.

Challenging the Binary Categories of Male and Female

Three advocacy groups, Gender Education and Advocacy (GEA), Intersex Society of North America (ISNA), and Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC), have actively challenged the binary categories of male and female, each in their own way. They each have goals of ameliorating problems that are faced by transgender and intersex people.

GEA’s main goal is to help those who suffer from gender-based oppression by educating others and advocating for these people (gender.org). One of the many problems that transgender and intersex people face is stigmatization and misunderstanding: many people don’t understand transgenderism because they have never experienced it themselves. GEA has dealt with this problem by setting of a “Gender Variance Model,” in which it shows those who do not believe they are gender variant that they indeed might be (gender.org). For example, the model shows that those who do not show the so-called “normal” mannerisms for their gender are gender variant. Men who have high-pitched voices or women who are aggressive are gender variant (gender.org). I think this is a great way to advocate for transgender people. Showing people that most of us are gender variant helps those who are not transgender or intersex relate to those who are. This helps create an understanding of transgender and intersex people by others, hopefully alleviating some of the stigmatization that transgender and intersex people face every day.

ISNA’s purpose, from their website (isna.org) is “advocating systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female” (isna.org). Another huge problem that intersex people face is the idea from society, especially the health care system, that it is somehow wrong for them to be intersex: that they must undergo surgery, which can cause both physical and emotional damage, in order to conform to society’s idea of what is normal. I think this societal belief is quite wrong. How can something that 1 in 1666 people face be considered something that absolutely must be “fixed” immediately? ISNA works to ameliorate these problems by providing information and resources to intersex people and their families, and showing that surgery should not be used on intersex people (isna.org). ISNA has been able to inform health care professionals of this as well. Because of ISNA’s efforts, many health professionals now acknowledge that surgery is not a “solution” for “fixing” intersex people (isna.org); there is no solution, as there is no problem.

GenderPAC’s early challenges included recognition of issues of gender in the workplace, on campus, and in the halls of Congress. This is what I wish to focus on.  GenderPAC advocated for non-discrimination based on gender identity and expression in the workplace (gpac.org). They also advocated adding gender protections to the Matthew Shepherd Act, a federal hate crime bill. With their advocation, gender protections were added to the bill (gpac.org). Finally, GenderPAC has supported students at colleges who wished to add gender identity and expression to their school’s anti-bullying policies (gpac.org). They have been supporting students for the past four years. GenderPAC’s mission has reminded me that not only do intersex and transgender people face misunderstandings and stigmatization, but they also face discrimination in the workplace, as well as on school campuses. In fact, right here in South Bend, there is no law saying that an employer cannot discriminate based on gender identity or expression. I think this is absolutely ridiculous, and I think it’s great that GenderPAC, as well as other organizations, such as South Bend Equality, are working to end this discrimination.

White Privilege

The effects of white privilege listed by McIntosh that stand out the most to me are the ones that include the idea that the white race never has to be concerned that race is a factor in the way people judge them. Regardless of whether they are seen in good light or bad, the white race doesn’t have to question whether this judgment was made about them just because of their race. These effects of white privilege make it seem like the only people who can do something well without their race’s help, or act in a certain way without it being attributed to their race, are those who are white.

For example, number 18 on McIntosh’s list shows what I am talking about: “I can swear, or dress in secondhand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race” (FF, 14). If you were black and you did any of these things, some would write off your attitude and appearance to the fact that you are black. But someone who is white and does these things is most of the time just seen as rude or poor. I have never heard anyone say, “Oh, she just does that because she’s white.” This is something I had never thought about before.

Number 20 on McIntosh’s list also deals with this same issue, but this time, the judgment is positive: “I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race” (FF, 14). There are two instances of this effect of white privilege that come to my mind. First, the stereotype that black people are better at sports. I have heard people say, “He’s good at basketball, but he’s black, so that’s expected.” On the other hand, I have never heard anyone say, “She’s really good at soccer, and that’s probably because she’s white.” There is also the stereotype that Asian students are better at math and science, and more generally just better students, simply because they are Asian. When a white person is praised for her great test scores, it is simply because she is an excellent student and intelligent individual, not because she is white. When an Asian student does well in a class, she is likely to hear from someone that her race has helped her succeed in school.

McIntosh does include the fact that she, as a white woman, “can easily find academic courses and institutions that give attention only to people of [her] race (FF, 15),” but I would also add to this, that even when attention is given to people of all races, I can be assured that I can attend an institution in the United States for which the majority of its students and faculty members are my race. Although this is not something I would ever consider looking for in a college choice, it is available to me, so I would consider this an effect of white privilege.