Modern Masculinities An insight into GQ ...

Modern Masculinities
An insight into GQ magazine
Until recently masculinity has tended to be absent from mainstream academic research. Earlier studies of gender relations, in which unified assumption of masculinity was often employed, largely concentrated on women and girls. Initially, most research on gender depictions focused on the social construction of femininity, with masculinity illustrated by default, this was mostly due to the emergence of feminism in the 1970s which was a major factor in changing the way women were traditionally seen throughout the course of history. Although most contemporary research on the portrayal of masculinity in the media has focused on violence, there has not been any real definitive research on men’s modern lifestyle magazines which challenge traditional aspects of masculinity such as Playboy, Maxim, GQ, and Esquire. These magazines although still convey the conventional aspects of masculinity they also begin to explore the relatively new aspects of masculinity, with a focus upon matters such as health, fashion, sex, relationships, and lifestyle, which were subjects traditionally associated with females. The topics which are featured are now more than ever, playing an important part in defining what it means to be a modern man. This is to be the subject of my research and my intentions are to pick apart GQ magazine and find out from its readers how it attempts to convey these messages of masculinity. This study attempts to decipher the numerous meanings of masculinity and how lifestyle magazines (GQ magazine in particular) attempt to convey new or existing masculinities.
The first chapter will attempt to denote the origins of the word masculinity and the various meanings within it. When discussing the ideas of masculinity it’s also necessary to touch upon the ideas of gender roles and how in from birth men are bombarded and influenced by ideas of masculinity and gender roles in society. The various influences which apply to the construction of masculinity will need to be understood such as the importance of family, peers, the media and social construct. One of the first major works on the social implications of men’s lifestyle magazines was made by Jackson, Brooks & Stevenson (2001) in ‘Making Sense of Men’s Magazines’ studied the way males struggle to find an identity whereby the laddish era was coming to an end.
The second chapter will look at the relationship between media and masculinity. The ever present influence that the media have in modern society plays a big part in masculinity as numerous ideas are illustrated through its various mediums whether it is film, television, newspapers, magazines or advertisements. Representations of traditional masculinities in films such as 007 and Indiana Jones and ‘lads mags’ such as Nuts and Zoo play a great role in determining how men view themselves and their masculinities.
The next chapter ...