In this thesis, I analyse the representation of grooming in Australian men’s lifestyle magazines to explore the emergence of new masculine subjectivities constructed around narcissism and the adoption of previously feminine-coded products and practices which may indicate important shifts in the cultural meanings of Australian masculinity. However, in order to talk about ‘new’ subjectivities and ‘shifts’ in masculine behaviours and cultural ideals, then it is imperative to demonstrate ‘old’ practices and ideologies, and so while the thesis is concerned with discourses of grooming and models of masculinity presented in the new genre of men’s lifestyle titles which appeared on the Australian market in the late 1990s, it frames this discussion with detailed analyses of previously unexplored Australian men’s general interest magazines from the 1930s. According to Frank Mort consumption, traditionally associated with the feminine has now become a central part of imagining men (1996: 17-18) while the representation and sale of masculinity is an increasingly important part of the ‘cultural economy’ (Mikosza, 2003). In this thesis I am concerned with the role of men’s lifestyle magazines and magazine representations of masculinity in the ‘cultural economy’ of mediated male grooming cultures.

This thesis focuses on how masculinity and femininity are constructed in alcohol advertisements in the print form, specifically in For Him Magazine (FHM) and Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ) . Alcohol advertisements address the reader in a way that sells the lifestyle that is associated with the product. Within the lifestyle depicted in the advertisement, there may also be an identity and a specific gender identity that the reader may be encouraged to incorporate in order to achieve the lifestyle associated with the advertised product. Advertising in general has often been implicated in constructing masculinity, and in particular, femininity in narrow or restricted ways. South African advertising has been found to depict women as passive sex objects and men as strong, intelligent and as the dominant gender. The mass media and advertising use and extend upon existing societal ‘norms’ and discourses regarding the construction of masculinity and femininity by sending these discourses or constructions back into society in the form of advertising. A discourse analysis was employed to investigate to what extent advertising has used gender based societal discourses as well as what dominant structures or portrayals of gender appear in South African alcohol advertising. By using the qualitative method of discourse analysis as well as a social constructionist paradigm, several discourses were identified. These included the discourses of patriarchy, violence as a masculine quality, men being unemotional and independent, women’s bodies as sexual objects, male companionship, a heterosexual norm, an anti-hegemonic masculinity and a discourse of glamorous heterosexuality. The results of the analysis discussed how in alcohol advertising, women are still constructed in a limiting and sometimes sexual manner whereas men are constructed in a more variable way. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Psychology / unrestricted

This study was a qualitative analysis of the covers of six lifestyle magazines, three addressed to women and three addressed to men. We have studied the cover photographs, the teasers and their relations.   The purpose of this study was to answer the questions: According to the magazines, what are male interests and what are typical female interests? Who is the ideal man and who is the ideal woman? Is there a certain way you need to look to be able to be on a magazine cover? And how often do the magazines encourage you to consume?   The study was based on thirty covers, five from each magazine. The Swedish magazines are VeckoRevyn, Amelia, Damernas Värld, King of Sweden, Café and the American version of GQ. We’ve used semiotics and rhetorical methods to analyze the material. We have studied the words in the teasers to find their connotations, we have studied the poses of the cover models and investigated their body language and counted how many times the magazines teases for something that will lead to you as reader having to buy something.   We found out that both male and female magazines use very stereotypical gender roles and they do not show any signs of changing, even though the society in general has broken free from many typical gender roles. They presented an ideal man that are very successful, handsome, well dressed, meat eating and interested in sports. He is neither black nor gay. The ideal woman is a slim, beautiful, successful, white, heterosexual woman who can joggle many things at once.