This blog is my public engagement project for Women’s and Gender Studies. Each week, I am going to analyze the language used in men’s and women’s magazines as it relates to specific topics. For example, one week I will focus on portrayals of health while the next I will write about expectations in the workplace. Through this, I hope to broaden my knowledge of gender as it relates to language as well as introduce you, the reader(s), to this topic. It is my firm belief that language has an enormous impact on our daily lives and how we perceive the world. Additionally, because the media plays such a large role in American’s lives, it is important to understand what the language used by the media tells us about gender. Well, then- let’s get started!
What better way to introduce ourselves to language in men’s and women’s magazines than by analyzing their cover language? After all, the cover is the first thing people see when they glance at or buy a magazine. Even if they decide not to read it, they have still absorbed some of the information advertised by the magazine’s cover. For this project I have decided to use Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health, and Sports Illustrated. I’ll start by analyzing the women’s magazines’ covers.
One of the things I noticed first (but was not surprised by) was the amount of cover space in each magazine dedicated to men. On Cosmopolitan, half of the “spotlights” were in some way related to men: “These 12 Moves Will Show Him Your Really Naughty Side…One Question No Guy Can Resist… ‘Hung’ A Real Guy’s Story…How She Outsmarted a Brutal Rapist…[and] What 81% of Men Expect on a First Date (You’ll Be Pleasantly Surprised)”. In comparison, Glamour only had one out of five spotlights dedicated to men- “12 Secret Signs He’s Into You +73 More Must-Know Man-Facts”- but this one was on the top left side, granting it the most prominent position because we read from left to right. While revealing that, according to Cosmopolitan and Glamour, women must have men to lead a fulfilling life, the features in Cosmopolitan also show a great deal about how society thinks of men. Clearly, men are obsessed with sex. Of course, Cosmopolitan is infamous for its nearly exclusive focus on sex, but that does not negate the fact that all of the five features related in some way to sex and, specifically, how women can please men during sex. The feature on “what 81% of men expect on a first date” also shows that women expect men to be completely invested in the physical part of a relationship rather than the emotional because “[we’ll] be pleasantly surprised” by what he actually expects. This, of course, implies that men are only after sex or some sort of physical gratification- we would never expect them to actually want to bond emotionally on a first date!
Apart from the large amount of cover space dedicated to men, I was also interested in how the women on the covers were featured. Gwen Stefani was featured on Glamour, and for what? “Her Best Buys for $40 and Under”. Similarly, Megan Fox was featured on Cosmopolitan for “Juicy Stuff She Could Only Say in Cosmo”. Neither was, apparently, featured for their success or any new material they might be a part of or producing. Instead, they were there to influence women on what to buy and to perpetuate the illusion of intimacy with celebrities.
The men’s magazines, contrary to the women’s, had much fewer features along the sides. Indeed, Sports Illustrated only had five while Men’s Health only had six, most of which were centered on Obama and the White House. Also contrary to the women’s magazines, the men’s magazines had no features on women or what women want. It appears, then, that it is still a woman’s job to please a man, to find out what a man wants from her. Men, apparently, have other things to worry about, such as “Obama’s Plan [for] Your Health, Your Money, Your Career” or “Dark Horses Out of the Gate- Who will be this year’s
Men’s magazines also differed from women’s in whom they featured on their covers. For Men’s Health, Obama was featured. Instead of finding out about his $40 deals, however, one got to learn about his “plan” and “how [one can] make sure all…have the option of healthier lives”. This reflects the stereotypical view of men as the ones primarily responsible for earning money, thereby making them the ones most affected by health care. While women only need be concerned about their next shopping trip, men are the ones trying to figure out the nation’s health care plan and how it will affect them.
In Sports Illustrated, Adrian Peterson was featured. Of course, nobody cared about all of the juicy things he could only tell Sports Illustrated. Rather, he was a “dominator” and was quoted saying, “I want people to remember me as the best to ever play the game”. He will not be remembered as a sex object or for his risqué interviews. No- Peterson will be remembered for his performance on a football field, for “dominating” the game.
Through analyzing these covers, it is already apparent that the language used and which stories are featured reflects some of society’s views about gender. Women are still the ones expected to please men, while men are still expected to be the primary “bread winners”. Compared to men’s worries, women have very little stress in their lives and are not involved in governmental debates. It will be interesting to see if these stereotypes persist throughout the magazines.
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