What We'll Do in Class:
Discussion about "Tough Guise"
Discuss Jacson et. al. Ch3
What to Bring:
Please bring a men's magazine or an advertisement for men and analyze how masculinity is depicted
(e.g., the body size, emphasis in certain body parts, costume, gesture, gaze, relationships to other
objects such as a coommodity and a woman/man, sexualized, racially-marked images, class
association, etc.).
What to Prepare:
Tough Guise (">Click here)
Please go over your notes on the film, "Tough Guise," we watched last Tuesday and answer below
questions:
Q1: What is the "real man"? What does it take to be a man in the U.S.?
Q2: How is hegemonic masculinity associated with violence? What is the cause of the violent
masculinity?
Q3: How is the hyper-masculinity constituted in relation to women, race, class, and sexuality?
Q4. Has your thought on the question, "Can men be feminist?," evolved? How so or why not?
Reading Guide Questions:
1. The authors state that the "laddish" magazines emphasize a single lifestyle. "The great prize of
bachelorhood is represented as a life where one has little responsibility for others and where one is
truly free to do as one chooses." (81). Do men really have a choice to embrace the single life if all
the "laddish" magazines are promoting it. Doesn't it really mean there is a hegemonic shift from
married life as a cultural norm to single life as a cultural norm?
2. How does capitalism influence the construction of a new masculine identity? What does the
availability and consumption of male beauty products say about changes in masculine identity?
3. How do the self–help and advice columns about relationships differ in male and female
magazines?
4. The focus on "speed and performance" in men's health magazine is what is "draining the
intimacy and sense of connection" in sexual relationships (99). But is this merely a masculine
problem? Don't women have an active part in the negotiation of sexual relationships?
Reading Guide Questions:
Factual
1. What year did these interviews take place? Hint…This was the same time Lifestyle Magazine
was at its 'height'? (page 52)
2. What is the 'balancing act' that the editors must partake in order for the magazine to sell
successfully? (page 53)
3. From whose point of view is this essay written? Is it English or American? (Page 58)
Theoretical
1. Who has power? In other words, do the editors or advertisers have the control? (Page 63)
2. Was it better to sell a magazine based on 'gut instint' or through 'market research' and why? For
instance, some magazines using either strategy can be considered successful, but which one do you
think has a better impact? (page 62)
3. Are magazines like, Loaded, Maxim, FHM, Escape, or GQ considered sexist? (page 69)
Discussion Agenda:
Main Points: The authors build the idea of masculinity through the constructs of "sexual politics,
personal relations, and men's health issues" represented in men's magazines (74). Their discourse
focuses on the text of the articles in the magazines instead of the symbolic imagery of the picture in
magazines. A division is made by age and type of magazine. Younger men's magazines promote an
ironic interpretation of an autonomous and hedonistic lifestyle, and older men's health magazines
promote exercise as way to become self sufficient and successful in controlling their public and
private lives.
Criticism: What I liked about this article is how it showed a paradox in what is expected from
younger men and older men. When men are in their early 20's they are not supposed to take
anything too seriously. They do this by using an ironic point of view especially when
understanding gender relations. Younger men are supposed to feel a freedom of choice in the
lifestyles available in a capitalistic society. When men reach their 30's and 40's they are supposed to
take life very seriously. They have to manage the stress from the burden of trying to "have it all" in
a capitalistic society. In discussions on femininity we talked about the idea of the "double burden"
women face when trying to work and still be the domestic caretakers at home. I think this article
points out a similar idea in relation to men's inability to live up to the masculine ideal of managing
their relationships successfully, having the perfect body, and being successful in the work place.
Discussion Questions:
1. In the new lad magazines female sexuality is something that needs to be "controlled" and men
and women are represented as having different sexual desires (84). How does this realte to the
historical view of femininity? Has the opinion of female sexuality really changed? Does the authors
statement that it is not relevant to discuss "what women and men want because this is self evident"
dismiss the idea that sexuality is also related to other cultural aspects like age, class, race, and
ethnicity (84)?
2. Men's health magazines focus on controlling the body through exercise. What is the ideal body
shape for men? How does that ideal male body that is gained through exercise relate to Bordo's
concept of female self-mastery of the body? Are they both constructed from the normalizing power
of the media?
3. The authors talk about the use of irony in younger men's magazines. They state that irony is used
because males "lack awareness of the constructed nature of masculine identity" (104). How was
masculine identity constructed in the past? What has changed in society to cause men to have such
"ambivalent" feelings towards masculine identity? Could it be linked to social movements like
feminism and to the fact that there are more choices in a consumer culture?
Discussion Agenda:
Main Points: Jackson is careful not to point any fingers at the editors themselves, or the men's
magazine industry as a whole. Mainly, the goal of the chapter was to expound on the dynamics at
work in this particular field of media production. By gaining a better understanding of the various
pressures and tensions editors are under, we can more fully appreciate not only the men's magazine
market, but how this market develops amid broader processes of consumption. "We should seek to
form an appreciation of the ways in which 'ordinary' understandings are constructed, of issues of
interpretive conflict and semiotic plurality more generally" (51).
Jackson enumerates several "tensions" that were uncovered in the interviewing process of various
editors of men's magazines. These tensions are meant to be both a reflection of the contradictions of
contemporary masculinities and a reflection of the dynamics of commercial culture. Such tensions
include: the pressure to excel as editors in a highly unstable marketplace, pressure to sell advertising
space--and balance sex with smut to keep advertisers happy—while gaining readership trust, and so
on and so on.
Criticism: I was slightly frustrated at times by the lack of argument from the author one way or
another. Yes, it is understandable that Jackson refrains from assigning "blame" so to speak, as it is
clear that culture is not SOLELY formed by any one sort of media, like men's magazines. But, I
personally wished that Jackson would have been more clear in his conclusions about how the
complex roles of editors really do operate on cultural norms.
Discussion Questions:
1. As students of culture (be it anthropology or women's studies), we are acutely aware of the
normative power and influence of the various types of media in popular culture. How do the editors
interviewed within the article explain their own role in the formation of popular culture, or do they?
2. How did most editors deal with the tension between editorial independence/freedom and the
commercial imperative to sell, sell, sell.
3. What kinds of romantic ideals exist strictly in terms of the editor as artist? How can we compare
this to broader gender ideals? (I'm thinking of the image of editor as rogue hero, and as leading
macho lives,… the drunken lunch, etc.)
4. In the conclusion, editors seek to sum up the role of men's mags in culture at large, but mostly in
terms of normative powers FOR MEN. How does this relate to other works we have read, namely
"Tough Guise," and the ways in which media normalizes?
5. What role do you think the editors' conception of their magazines' (and their own) role as strictly
entertainment contributes to:
a. the material presented
b. the WAY material is presented
c. the perceived sense of responsibility for cultural impact
d. the actual responsibility for social/cultural impact
Discussion Agenda:
Main Points: After having interviewed different magazine editors, Peter Jackson tries to explain
the interworkings of producing successful magazines. In other words, the editors must find a way
to be creative while simultaneously attracting advertisers as well. To make this even more complex,
the editors are also expected to present valuable information while fulfilling the audience's needs.
They are walking a 'fine line' and must achieve a 'balancing act' in order to sell the magazine. What
makes a good editor is how he or she goes about reaching his or her targeted audiences, bringing in
advertisement, and selling copies of the magazines. Although market research has shown to help
sell magazines, many editors believe it is reared primarily on their 'gut instinct."
With that being the main argument, Jackson also tries to explain the differences and similarities
among the different magazines as well. The interviews of the editors enlightened our understanding
of the way every magazine attracts different audiences as well as the people working within the
magazine.
Criticism: I found his writing to be persuasive in the fact that Jackson uses several different
references to support his argument. It seemed as though he was writing with a non-biased opinion
and took several opposing views to his argument.
Linkage: In class, Robbie brought Men's Health and GQ showing the way masculinity is
portrayed in men's magazines. Jackson speaks about the certain magazines that some advertiser's
refuse to work with because it could potentially mean they could lose certain audiences. For
example, Channel does not want to be advertised in certain magazines that may turn people away
from the product Channel wants to sell. They risk losing their loyal customers. One would see high
class advertisements in GQ but it seems hard to believe that Channel would not work with Playboy.
Discussion Questions:
1. "Does the media shape our culture?"
2. "Does our culture shape the media?"
3. "Are you girls offended by the way women are portrayed in men's magazines?"
What to Do:
Midterm exam due on Oct. 2 (Thurs).