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.
I agree that all four of these magazines convey certain gender expectations, especially the four that you picked, and the months you picked. The reason I say months specifically, is because the months that I picked for two of the magazines convey a little less of a stereotype, and did not completely comply with the film on “Codes of Gender.” I also picked a GQ and Vogue. In the issues I picked, the covers conveyed messages did not portray women as overly sexual, as childish, or vulnerable. So, this makes me think that these magazines have issues that do not always follow a stereotype.
ReplyDeleteThe Cover of the Vogue issue had Michelle Williams on the cover posing as Marilyn Monroe. Not childish and not even portrayed as sexual. The article in this issue did have a lot of fashion and make-up articles, but that is what the magazine is know for, fashion. I agree that in the issue you looked at did convey messages that all women love weddings, or make up, but in the one I looked at had articles on ways to become powerful at work, and Adult ADHD. The difference between months tells me that the magazine is not that stereotypical but instead, has issues that are stereotypical.
The cover of GQ that I looked at had Leonardo Dicaprio on it, a man that is largely involved with fashion, and culture. The articles were more focused on food, clothes and culture. Leo looked at the audience in more of a girlish way, like the new focus of metro male magazines, according to “Codes of Gender.” GQ can be looked at as more metro, I agree, most of the men in the magazine are dressed well and are not looked at in a negative connotation. Rather, GQ is a widely known magazine that many men purchase. I agree that the issue you looked at did convey messages of sexualizing women, and portraying them as childish. I however think, like vogue it depends on the issue released.
It interested me that the same magazine could change, and be less stereotypical than just one month before. I think that this could be away to keep up with society, but also expanding on different topics. Both September issues could be eye catching for the perspective buyer, but I also think the October issues are just as eye catching. Showing two different ways, the magazine draws people in.