Mens Magazines and their relation to the crisis of Masculinity

The issue of masculinity is a fairly new to the general public. This issue came to the main stream surface in the early nineties with the explosion of men's and men's health types of magazines. Using the power of the media these magazines give readers a picture of what is suppose to be ideal for men to look like and other types of things men are suppose to be doing. I will be using several images from men's magazines to help further develop this topic.




Guys growing up in the days before the crisis of masculinity didn't have images coming at you from every direction telling you that you need to look like this or have have these kinds of things to make you manly and if you didn't have these things or didn't fit the ideal image of a masculine man you were considered to be less manly or masculine. The pictures of guys on these magazine covers are of men you have spent countless hours in the gym working out to obtain these muscular bodies. These magazines dont give an accurate portrayal of the average american man. I probably know only one or two people that have bodies anywhere even close to as muscular as the ones portrayed in these magazines. the media is basically saying to the ameican public that unless a man looks like this they are not attractive or good looking. There are many things that come into account when I tend to view someon as beautiful, it is not just the way their body looks their are much more important things than just having a rock hard body.



These magazines also have all kinds of how to or help kinds of articles. These articles are usually about sex or sex related things. They give the readers the thought that if they arent doing these type of thingd in the bedroom then they are doing things incorrectly or the wrong way. These articles I think almost breed insecurities in male readers. When reading these magazines I feel that people are using these magazines for consultations and help regarding dating and sex. Muscles and sex moves arent going to make you a better person, they might make you stronger and possibly better in the bed room but it doesnt help you at all in other aspects of life. Theres much more to people than muscles and sex These magazines stress the physical aspects rather then intellecutal aspects. It seems to me that these magazines are trying to turn the american male into a muscle bound sex crazed monster. These types of magazines and images are how other cultures view us through our media and films. I wish these magazines would offer some advice on stuff other than muscles and sex.

Gender Representations in Todays Media

Gender and Television.

Gender is shown and represented on many different television shows and in each show gender is represented differently. We talked about ensemble casts in class where male and female characters are involved and shown as equals working along side one another but in the same sense in the example in west wing the women were still outnumbered three to one. I believe television shows still hold stereotypes for workplaces where women in the past were considered not be allowed in or considered a mans place of work or no place for a woman to be. The in class example of west wing is based in the white house and it showed that the white house is still a very male dominated workplace. the photo in class showed six men and three women. Although they were considered equals as co workers the men still had the upper hand with numbers on there side. In male dominated work fields women can tend to be harassed or made to feel unwelcome or unwanted. a great example of this would be the show Rescue me on the FX station.



This show follows a group of firemen in New York city and they follow along with their daily lives and all the macho life saving things they do. The macho things like; basketball playing hockey and very course language and a very male dominated cast. The only women in the show are the men's wives and girlfriends and they don't play very prominent roles and when they do have significant roles its all about drama and stuff of that nature. The male dominated workplace such as this New York City fire house eventually has a woman come to work for them and when she arrives the place goes nuts. They harass her constantly and they just never see her as equal to them because she is a woman. Even though she is very qualified and can hold her own when fighting fires. The gender stereotypes are out there and still are very prominent in mainstream Television.





Gender and Magazines


Magazines geared for men have changed with the times and you can see the cultural change through the years by what the magazines talk about and what they are portraying on the front cover. The magazines of the past were mostly geared to politics and other general interest stuff. the Men's magazines of today are all about looks and sex and trying to be as manly and good looking as possible. The magazines change with the times and are doing what they have to to make their product appeal to the consumer and the consumer wants to but what is popular. In woman's magazines in the previous years have focused on being able to make the home a place of happiness and how the wives need to be the one to be the homemaker to make the home a lovable place. the magazines change with the changes in culture women aren't always the homemaker any more. Many women work instead of being that homemaker or stay at home mom. The media shows that with the changes in culture they have to change as well to still target an audience that will pay attention to their product that they put out.


Gender in Advertising.


In ads most men are viewed as macho or as authority figures when run on television. Women didnt even show up in the advertising world until the 1970's. Mens advertising shows men as being very manly the big muscles the beard or being dirty and greasy and working on cars and engines. the woman in adevertising are usually very skinny and very beautiful and they dont dipict the average american woman. The same goes for men, were all not tall muscle bound or can grow facial hair. the ads dipict the image of what the media wants us to look like or to aspire to be like. If you dont look like this certain person your wrong. Or if you use this product you will end up looking like this person of pure beauty and perfection. and in all likelyness none of us will ever look like this. Here is a example of a ad from a magazine.