MEST 3 Critical Perspectives: May 2011

“Lads Mags” are magazines that are targeted at men from ages sixteen and up. It has been suggested by some that these magazines (like Nuts) should be for adults only as they are notorious for their cover shots and photos of sexually objectified womenand have been “described as soft porn ". Such magazines often show partially naked women on the front cover and are readily available for anyone to buy. It is these photos that are a main factor in asserting the male dominance that is present in these magazines, with women assuming a subordinate position as an object to be looked at. Stereotyping the genders does seem to be a concern because the ideologies presented of women solely existing to be classed as sex objects could be regarded by the target audience as the social norm, having a dangerous effect on society. In comparison, Men’s Health does not stereotype women into the sex object role but does stereotype men much more. For example pictures of an appealing and ideal alpha male is always used, with articles containing mostly gadget information along with “one- month six – pack promises ” clearly address stereotypical male interests.
The content within these magazines is what contributes to the stereotyping of the genders, one of them being the “lifestyle choices” they recommend, whether it be to do with the hobbies men take up, what to wear, tips to stay in shape and even guidelines to having a successful sex life. It is this kind of content which immediately gives shape to the male stereotype; feeding readers the ideologies of a dominant man taking interest in a muscular physique, being trendy and being successful in attracting a women, all associated with being an alpha male. The articles within these Lads Mags “play a part in defining what it means to be a modern man ".
The concept of Lads Mags giving ideas and suggestions to men for spicing up their sex lives suggests two things; sex plays an important part in a man’s life and they are the gender counterparts who are sexually dominant. Giving the reader a brief overlook of what positions and actions please “her” would give the male reader an authority in sexual matters. Whether the reader acts on this advice is up to them, playing either a passive or active role. Men’s Health seems to trivialise sex with a “sex encyclopaedia”; a guide that will “satisfy her urges and get exactly what you want in return ”. The pages that follow act as a sex directory, giving letters of the alphabet a sexual act e.g. R is for restraint, S is for suspenders. This is anchored by medium shots of a women mimicking these acts, expressionless and standing in a robot type state. The mise-en-scene connotes that all women can be controlled like a robot with no free thought and can be used to serve men.
It is safe to say that women in Lads Mags only exist for one specific purpose; sexual gratification, as these are a “set of images that exist solely for the purpose of sexual arousal "and give nothing else to male readers. Having these images so exposed on a centrefold and within the magazines forces a male gaze upon the reader, giving an opportunity for these magazines to purely exploit models as sex objects.Laura Mulvey (a well known film theorist) argues that there are two modes to the male gaze; voyeuristic (seeing women as whores) and fetishistic (seeing women as Madonna’s). In this case it is the voyeuristic male gaze that takes place in these magazines as “The image of woman as (passive) raw material for the (active) gaze of man ” can be seen by how women are portrayed in Lads Mags; sexual playthings.In fact many of these magazines 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 ” which then hints at the ideologies which are held by the ownership of men’s magazines.
When posing for Lads mags, women are there for a source of sexual entertainment, immediately putting them in a submissive role and these images of them in provocative positions only heighten the amount of sexual pleasure they give. However, the models do hold on to a sense of power as we see in these magazines (particularly the centrefolds) that direct address is used.With direct address used they are using self-objectification as a way to gain power as her body parts are “separated out from her person ” and reduced to the status of “mere instruments” to be played with. Giving these women a power would mean giving them the power to reveal what they would want. While this is a form of empowerment, there still are expectations such as “to be slim, wear the right clothes and have certain lifestyles to be beautiful ".
Men’s Health also uses direct address with all their male models but the only difference men here are only posing on the centrefold to accentuate their body in order to set the standard of an alpha male, not being objectified and exploited.Various Men’s Health centrefolds contain medium to long shot poses of health, in-shape men who either have skin tight t-shirts to bring attention to their muscular bodies or topless altogether. There is always a contrast of black and white on the male figure which connotes at a “what you see is what you get” impression. With this impression we see that the portrayal of men in Men’s Health is far less self-objective than the portrayal of women in Nuts. Articles appropriately titled“Blitz Your Hangover” and “Sex Tricks Turn Good Girls Bad ” give us a glimpse at the type of culture this magazine is promoting and tells us what men desire. Advertisements, again, litter the pages as they advertise designer watches, perfume and workout tips which promotes a healthier lifestyle. With this kind of content it’s clear that even Men’s Health stereotypes the alpha male.
Another factor that adds to the alpha male presentation is the models that are used. Fitness models, athletes and actors pose for Men’s Health, giving the readers aspiration to look like these celebrities. Celebrities on the centrefold also create star appeal e.g. True Blood star Ryan Kwantin on the December 2010 issue of Men’s Health.

“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 ". This quote brings a thought – provoking message of the power women hold over men and how this power can be lost within an instant through sexual objectification. To say that Lads Mags are a medium through which men can be seen as dominant over their gender counterparts is to suggest that women can break free of the submissive sex slave image.The 1960’s gave way to the sexual revolution which caused a dramatic shift in values towards sexuality; sex became more socially acceptable. As second-wave feminism was gaining more and more publicity during this decade, the idea of sexually objectified women in the media would have had major backlash. Yet photographers such as Peter Gowland had shot partially nude images for Playboy and Rolling Stones (popular Lads Mags at the time), adding to the permissiveness of sex in a changing society. Using his self- made Gowlandflex camera, pornographic images had become even more popular, creating a more relaxed approach to sex for the “firm British reserve ”. During the 3rd wave “influence of feminism gave rise to the New Man, the male who was in favour of sexual equality, sympathetic to female-only solutions ” telling us that gender equality was closer to being achieved. Furthermore through this historic movement suggestive images and soft porn within men’s magazines were deemed to be the “preserve of the misogynist, the sexist pig ”.
Despite Feminism working in favour of female’s rights, renowned media theorist Judith Butler disagrees with the concept of Feminism altogether. She argues that “identity is performativity constituted by the very expressions that are said to be its results ” meaning its people’s actions that determine the “gender” of human beings. In this case women are exposing themselves for men, automatically perpetuating their gender stereotype.
Why then is it still acceptable for men (young and old) to carry on buying these magazines that clearly present women as objects “which can sell everything from food to cars "? One reason can relate to the ownership and control of these magazines and how these owners make it acceptable for women to be purely sexualised whether it is subtle or not.Institutions use stereotypes to encourage identification with its male audience i.e. displaying young women that are seen as easy access. From centrefold to the last page, women are shown from medium to close-up shots with little to no clothes on. While using direct address their facial expressions are suggestive towards the reader, inviting them to take a voyeuristic position and watch. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs highlights the basic need for sexual gratification which is why men would find the stereotype of a subservient woman appealing. What better way to undermine the power of women than to sexually objectify them? It seems that the “all-looks-and-no-brains’ chauvinistic dream ” is quite appealing to men as these magazines continue to thrive within the market.

Another concern of these magazines perpetuating gender stereotypes is the effect it will have on a younger, more impressionable audience and how these ideologies of a submissive women and a dominant male would be slowly fed into these young minds. Why this could be harmful is because these thoughts could breed a lack of respect for women as a whole, taking place at a young age this sets a series of cultural beliefs or values that highlights the cultivation theory. This theory suggests that certain values and ideologies received within a text can begin to take effect within the receiver’s mind as these thoughts grow or “sprout”, being left there which could have dangerous consequences.
Looking back on historical Lads Mags compared to contemporary magazines, we can see that a change has taken place in terms of the exposure of the women on the covers, the permissiveness of exposing women like this and the content within. The content found within Playboy, of the non-sexual, seems to be both sophisticated and intellectually stimulating in both old and new issues (such as interviews with historic figures, reviews of gadgets and movies, text- heavy articles on a range of subjects). Hugh Hefner himself has said that he’s wanted his magazines to become a “prime source of academic discussion in the future ." Playboy centrefolds have always displayed women with concealed genitals, usually connoting the nature of women as both bold and elegant, keeping the exposed parts inside.
One prime example is the October 1971 issue of Playboy with the iconic rabbit-head chair. Readers can see this chair was specifically designed to cover parts of the model’s body, showing only thee head and legs in the shot. As the model is of black ethnicity with the chair being white against a black background, the image seems to stand out more boldly with the cover sorely relying on a black and white image. It should also be note that models for contemporary British Lads Mags (Nuts, Zoo) are only of white ethnicity, no other colour. Perhaps this is to appeal to a broader audience rather than an audience belonging to one ethnic group.
Contemporary men’s magazines on the other hand lack the class and “power” women seem to hold on the centrefolds as genitals are partially exposed with “mindless entertainment with all the artistic or educational values of a turnip ”inside the magazine. Nuts for example is littered with advertising and nude women coupled with many pages dedicated to football and gadgets men are interested in and this is what defines the male – alpha stereotype. On the centrefold on these women naked only covered by censor strips, revealing as much flesh as possible. The articles contain mainly model interviews, fan mail and light texted pages on men – specific gadgets, further giving the impression that these are the essentials in a man’s life.
An article I had found on The Guardian website had stressed the importance of youths being desensitised to explicit photos, saying that these magazines have changed society, making it “radically more sexualised ” with even sex itself becoming “much more explicit commodity ”. This article suggests that these magazines have the effect of the Hypodermic Syringe Theory, where consumers (both young men and adults) are injected with the messages these magazines which are bringing across their misogynistic ideologies. Assuming their readership is a passive audience these messages will continue to penetrate reader’s minds. However with rapidly changing media in modern society, audiences take a more active role in what they read and watch. This is where the uses and gratifications theory comes into play as the readership of Lads Mags are most likely looking for sexual gratification. Therefore the ideologies inputted into these magazines are less likely to take effect on both old and young audiences, having a less harmful effect on society.
To conclude, Lads Mags do perpetuate gender stereotypes as the content within them do suggest that women, gadgets, money and a healthy lifestyle are all a man needs to be successful while being a subordinate towards men only to pleasure them sexually is the main goal for women. It is obvious how these representations could have a harmful effect on readers, especially those at a young age who are desensitised and take on board these stereotypical ideologies. Men’s Health pales in comparison to Nuts magazine in terms of how stereotyped and objectified women are. Being seen as a reaction to feminism, it can be argued that magazines like Nuts are attempting to regain a status quo of society with a dominant /submissive dynamic between the sexes. I believe that in terms of whether an audience can identify with the stereotypes given in these magazines, both male and female audiences can gain gratification from these magazines as men can receive sexual gratification. Females will aspire to be like these representations if these women in Lads Mags are presented as “beautiful”.The content, covered in Lads Mags on the other hand seems inclusive to males only which would leave female audiences excluded from these magazines.Moreover it does seem as though these ideologies are representative of hegemonic values, attempting to ease society as a whole into believing that women should be the submissive ones, reducing them to a “one-dimensional and distorted form" .

MEST 3 Critical Perspectives

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

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How do Lads Mags such as Nuts and Men’s Health perpetuate gender stereotypes? Why is this? Is it a concern?