Gauntlett: Gender and Magazines

3. Men’s magazines construct the language (discourse) and themes (narratives) of masculinity which readers then use in their own way to construct their own sense of masculine identity.

Although many mainstream men’s magazines such as Loaded, which launched in 1994, aim to target their audience to gain their attention through stereotypical views of ‘lad’ interests such as soft porn and cars, other magazines such as FHM began to emerge, promoting themselves as men’s lifestyle magazines, which were at the time of launch (1994) unheard of in the masculine magazine industry. However it soon became clear that men in general were in fact interested in a less macho lifestyle magazine as sales of FHM prevailed over those of Loaded for the first time in 1996. This new approach of lifestyle magazine enabled the male readers to read about issues that interested them (and this may also certainly include women and cars as well!), and could pick and choose different aspects of the magazine that took their interest in order to in a sense construct their own identity, as opposed to being force-fed media of the typical ‘lad’ culture.

Another example of this was with the new form of online men’s consumer magazines; Mansized (www.mansized.co.uk). It was described as being ‘aimed at men who think with their minds’ which implies that any other typical ‘lad mags’ are in fact churning out the same images of half-dressed women with the aim of appealing to the typical working class male who craves the same thing over and over, without having to think about it.

4. Narratives of masculinity are the main background foundations that would fit the characteristics of a typical male figure. For example, the main narratives that are highlighted by Gauntlett in the piece are that men like to look at women, but don’t know too much about them. They are essentially the underlying basis’ to which a stereotypical male, who is a reader of lads mags, would live by.

5. There have always been two distinctive types of men’s magazines, the typical ‘lads mag’ variety such as Loaded, and the magazines for ‘men who have money’ such as GQ. The more ‘laddish’ variety are aimed at the more working class male population who enjoy the entertainment of half-dressed women, whereas GQ is targeted more at a higher class of male who is interested in expensive fashions, which can often be seen as pretentious. In the very late 20^th century, men’s magazines were on a whole, force feeding the male population with the same images and themes every month to which they had become accustomed. This essentially created a set identity for the readers. In order to sustain their success in the male market, they have to ensure that they conform to this trend, as to keep the audience happy and interested (which can be linked to Kress! How audiences find comfort in the texts and media that they find familiar). However, from the emergence of the millennium, men’s magazines began to encourage the free creation of one’s own identity. One example of this is how FHM has changed from an initially unsuccessful fashion magazine, into a highly successful men’s lifestyle magazine. Other examples include the release of Mansize (aforementioned), and how publications such as Men’s Health, which encourages males to take an interest in their own health rather than gorping at falsely glamorised icons. This new era of magazine has become increasingly popular as the male audience has become more inquisitive about it’s own identity. Rather than all men’s magazines churning out the same images of cars and women, more men’s lifestyle magazines have begun to emerge as the social expectation of the male gender has broadened and moved away from the macho, ‘laddish’ view.