How Masculinity Is Constructed within Mens Health Magazine - Essay Example

HOW MASCULINITY IS CONSTRUCTED WITHIN MEN’S HEALTH MAGAZINE By Location Introduction to masculinity Masculinity refers to a set of qualities, roles or characteristics considered typical of a man. Masculinity can have a degree of comparison; that is either "more masculine" or "most masculine". Constructs of masculinity may vary across cultural and historical contexts. Academic study of masculinity has undergone a huge expansion of interest in modern days, with courses dealing with masculinity rising from day to day. The rise in interest of masculinity has led to the study of the connection of masculinity with other areas of social discrimination and the use of other fields concepts, for example, feminisms model of the societal construct of gender (Connell 2005). The level in which masculinity is because of nurture or nature, an issue of what a person is born with or socialization is a subject of debate. Research, has helped to give much information concerning the development of masculine traits and the sexual differentiation process specific to human beings’ reproductive system. The SRY gene on the Y chromosome is central for male sexual development since it activates SOX9. SOX9 collaborates with Sf1 to enhance the Anti-Müllerian hormone to limit female development, while at the same time activating and forming a feed-forward loop with FGF9. This creates the testis cords and causes the proliferation of Sertoli cells. The creation of SRY limits the process of making a female. It causes, events that result in androgen production, testis formation, and a number of pre and post-natal hormonal effects. Scholars have developed a big debate about how children get gender identities. Others say that a masculinity is linked with the male body. On this view, it is evident that a masculinity is associated with the male sex and when a child has male genitalia, is regarded as an important aspect of masculinity (Connell 2005). Some scholars argue that biological factors influence masculinity; they also claim it is culturally constructed. Scholars that support this view say that women can become men physically and hormonally and that aspect assumed to be natural are linguistically and culturally driven. Concerning the nurture side of the debate, it is said that masculinity lacks a single source of origin, such as the media, institutions, or groups of people. The military has an interest in promoting a form of masculinity; however, it cannot create it from nothing. Masculinity has helped to influence the creation of the military. As an example of socialization into masculinity, facial hair is connected to masculinity through language in forms such as stories about boys who become men when they start shaving (Jackson, Stevenson Brooks 2001). Many people refer to masculinity as the outward expressions of a person being biologically male, that is the mens ‘gender. The description tends to take related forms in discussions concerning mens health. The first description concerns the genetic vulnerability of men, mens tendency to poor health outcomes because of the XY genetic combination, the ‘Y element of it. The second form comes from this idea but takes a different view. Instead of socio-cultural factors that compound biological predisposition, just within sociobiology, ‘behaviors themselves are biologically driven. The Y chromosome together with related hormonal influences is viewed as creating a drive towards some behaviors in men. These behaviors include hunter, territorial, sexual promiscuity. They are expressions of evolutionary mechanisms that are designed to guarantee the species survival and the reproduction of the strongest genetic pool. Societies have developed being part of the evolutionary mechanism designed to restrain the worst aspects of the behaviors or to widen more positive expressions that concern them. Masculinity is therefore seen because of hormonal/genetic evolutionary processes. People need to know whether the different range of health inequalities existing between the sexes/genders and the inequalities of health among men of various social classes, ethnic groups, and geographical regions may be accounted for this limited biomedical way. Additionally, seeing such differences as important and fixed in this way leaves no possibility for change. Peoples background can easily dictate their masculinity. The way an individual was brought up has a huge ramification on the masculinity of an individual. Some of the masculinity traits are achieved in life like individual progress. It is not a secret some women have shown masculinity traits. The situation may have been acquired due to hormonal imbalance. Some women may possess all the characteristics of women, but have masculine tendencies (Sage Journals 2012). Introduction to ‘Mens Health’ magazine and how the masculinity is contracted within it Men’s magazines have become sites of inquiry that may offer an alternative view on the construction and representation of today’s male identity. It is evident in the proliferation of men’s lifestyle magazines that are sites for men to know how to become a man in the modern world. The rise of mass consumer culture became a determining factor in shaping peoples notions of masculinity as presented in popular magazines in the early days, though not the ways those historians have assumed. The effects of consumer culture have changed the magazine market since early last century, making magazines depend on reaching audiences and giving a medium for advertisers. The changing magazines showed a shift from previous masculinity that valued character, hard-work, integrity, and duty to modern masculinity that valued personality, image, and self-realization (Benwell 2003). Some research on beer commercials was able to show results that were relevant to masculinity studies. In commercials that relate to beer, the ideas of masculinity were presented and encouraged. These commercials focus on circumstances where a man overcomes an obstacle. The commercials will show men either working or playing hard. For example, a commercial will show men doing physical labor that includes construction workers, farm work, or cowboys’ men. Beer commercials that have characteristics of playing hard have a main theme of mastery, risk, and adventure. For example, the men will be outdoors camping, fishing, playing sports, or being in bars. There is normally an issue of danger and a focus on speed and movement. These situations appeal to and stress the idea that true men easily overcome danger and enjoy fast things. The bar may serve as a location for masculinity measurement. Skills like pool, drinking ability, and strength serves as a place for male socializing. Although the beer industry has a "risk-taking" marketing tactic, alcohol consumption has gone down in modern days. ‘Mens Health’ (MH) that is published by Rodale Inc. in Emmaus, United States, is one of the worlds biggest mens magazine brand. The magazine has about 40 editions in 47 countries. ‘Men Health’ is one of the best-selling magazines in the U.S. Although it was originally a mens health magazine, it now covers different mens lifestyle issues such as nutrition, fitness, sexuality, relationships, technology, finance and fashion. The magazine has a website, MensHealth.com, which has an average of about 40 million views a month. The British edition of the magazine Mens Health was started in 1995 with a different editorial team. It is the best-selling mens magazine in the UK selling more than other magazines (Moss 2012). By 2013, Mens Health was publishing 40 foreign editions in 47 countries, which were up from 20 editions in 2001. Mens Health does not run advertisements for liquor or tobacco companies. The magazine also does not run ads for herbal remedies and supplements. In 2001, this magazine began the annual list of towns with the healthiest men that were based on 20 "livelong parameters, including illness rates; fitness training; body-mass index, and environmental factors like parks and golf courses. In 2003, the circulation of the magazine rose to 1.7 million. In 2006, the magazine circulation was about 1.8 million. By June 2011, its circulation was 1.89 million. Mens Health magazine has faced criticism on its focus on physical health. Critics claim that this can boost mens anxieties concerning their bodies, making men prone to disorders of eating and over-exercising. In 2007, Mens Health started an initiative to stop childhood obesity. Mens Health sends fitness, health, and nutrition experts to some schools every year to re-establish the physical education programs and lunch offerings. In spring 2008, it launched The FitSchools Foundation, with a mission to help eradicate childhood obesity and get children interested in active and healthy living (Pendergast 2000). The Mens Health (MH) magazine is a clear indication of the trends and shows the site in which discourses of men’s masculinity and health are constructed. Characteristically reflecting liberal models of health, men are constructed as entrepreneurial and active citizens who can maintain their health and comfort through the careful management of hazard in contexts suitable to leading discourses of hegemonic masculinity. Magazine texts such as Men’s Health reflect newer individualized models of health care and liberal strategies of health control premised upon making a healthy male citizen, able to be responsible for their well-being. The magazine shows a man as a career person. The magazine constructs masculinity with work. It portrays masculinity as a way to do a job and earn a decent income. Just as the society views man as a family provider, this magazine expects men to work hard and provide for their family. The magazine carries stories to show men who have made it in their career life. Men’s Health interviews successful men and ask them to offer advice and guidance to other men around the world. As its tradition, the magazine shows pictures of office men in their suits. This is geared towards challenging other men to take their careers seriously. There are various issues that men face in their careers. The magazine aims at helping men overcome various challenges in their career life. The media has a vital role in directing men concerning career choices. Men’s Health reflects men as family persons. The magazine is in the forefront to show man as a family person. The magazine encourages family issues by carrying stories that men talk about their families. The magazine views marriage as an important issue in life. Men are encouraged to take care of their families and ensure that they thrive. Men’s Health continuously connected masculinity with family. A man is viewed as the head of the family and responsible for decision making in the unit. According to the magazine, men are the initiators of relationships that may lead to marriage. Relationships are one of the critical issues in the magazine. The magazine ensures that it offers guidance to men on how to deal with the opposite sex and how to conduct relationships. Men’s Health values relationship a great deal by offering tips on how to run relationships. The magazine acknowledges that there are various challenges that face relationships. The magazine gives hope to relationships that went sour. The Mens Health magazine has important health advice, but it includes images of masculinity may be counterproductive where there is a need to promote health. For example, the hegemonic masculinity that is promoted by Mens Health has the potential of promoting negative health behaviors that include excess alcohol consumption, meat consumption, and over-reliance on convenience food, aggressive behavior and unsafe sex. Some of the stories, although positively intended, may cause negative effects in men. Some men may easily misunderstand the message that the magazine is trying to portray. The magazine needs to ensure that it involves health experts when it tries to offer health advice to men out there. The magazine gives men an opportunity to learn things concerning ‘masculine’ identity in the society that requires the male image to transform from time to time. Men do not only learn about a particular lifestyle that they create for themselves in the modern, they also learn through humorous stories while getting entertainment in the women portrayed these magazines. Men can learn many things while reading this magazine; the magazine carries stories that range from simple to complex issues. The magazine helps men to have true identify. There are other activities that men can do on a daily basis. Since the magazine shows a man as a busy person who participates in many economic activities, it, therefore, helps men to involve in such activities. Men’s Health has a masculinity agenda of power. Everything the magazine writes is about helping men control their lives. It is not just about power over women, but also power over other men too. Men’s Health is an anomalous position to help men shape their life. The newspaper is written for those men who are exposed to and a gained from the principles of hegemonic masculinity and has an agenda of promoting normal male view. On the other hand, masculinity is shown to involve a number of negative health behaviors that include alcohol consumption and hazardous behavior. Although the magazine Men’s Health has many writers, there are two major discourses that interlink in the magazine, the discourse of “buddy” and the discourse of medical science. The buddy is a conscious creation of the magazine. The buddy acts as a mediator, interpreting and explaining medical science for readers (Yumpu 2013). The other goal of Men’s Health magazine is to increase muscle size. The orchestration of the longing for big muscles reflects reality and contributes to the reproduction and construction of the desire. The real shape is reflected in the “cover models,” a cluster of identically shaped men who have huge, muscular, tanned, lean, and body hair shaved. The magazine portrays man as somebody who should be muscular. This is a challenge to men to engage themselves in body building exercises that will change their physique. The magazine offer tips on how men can increase their muscles. It shows the benefit of being muscular in modern days, and where all men should aspire to be muscular in nature. The magazine shows a man as a food eater. In a patriarchal society, the duty of cooking has been normally assigned to women. The role of taking food to the family is left to men. Hegemonic masculinity tries to show that cooking is an inferior activity carried out by women. The magazine may also be indicating that men who do the cooking are effeminate. The magazine claims that the only exception to cooking is when men cook the meat on the barbecue. Men’s Health dismisses ordinary cooking, but promotes barbecue cooking. The encouragement of convenience cooking by the magazine may not be healthy. By portraying that men should not cook ordinary meals, the newspaper is downplaying the role of other men who participate in cooking in restaurants and hotels. The women have also been portrayed as inferior due to their role in cooking for men. Men’s Health magazine also contain important health information. In an article, in a 2004 issue, the magazine described the action to take when muscles cramp up. The advice is very useful, since it had a health goal. In quite a number of cases, the appearance of health goals reinforced hegemonic masculinity and unhealthy habits associated with it. Articles that lacked health lessons contributed to this by encouraging unhealthy habits. A good example is the article that talked about the things to bring to a football game. The magazine talked about bringing 2 ½ beers per hour/person and also planning on two hot dogs, sausages or burgers per person. The magazine informs readers what they would want to hear at this time when masculinity is being challenged by certain messages. The messages involve issues such as red meat is not good, excessive use of alcohol is not good, convenience food is not healthy, sexism is disallowed, and animals have their rights. Conclusion Many men’s magazines have failed to show the ideal picture of masculinity. The magazines have exaggerated how a man ought to be. Men’s health is one such magazine that indicates that all men are muscular, financial stable and fun loving. The situation on the ground indicates that not all men are muscular and engage in excessive drinking of alcohol. The magazine shows that men are powerful which may not be true of all men. Many of the issues addressed by the magazine may fail to give a clear indication of the situation of men. Different people have various views of masculinity depending on their backgrounds. People’s background dictates their views of masculinity and how this gender should relate to the opposite gender. References Benwell, B 2003, Masculinity and mens lifestyle magazines. Blackwell Pub./Sociological Review Oxford, UK Malden. Connell, R 2005, Masculinities, Polity Press, Cambridge. Jackson, P, Stevenson, N & Brooks, K 2001, Making sense of mens magazines. Polity Press Cambridge. Moss, M 2012, The media and models of masculinity, Lexington Books, Lanham. Pendergast, T 2000, Creating the modern man American magazines and consumer culture, 1900- 1950, University of Missouri Press, Columbia. Sage Journals 2012, Men and masculinities. Available from http://jmm.sagepub.com/content/7/1/3.abstract
Yumpu 2013, Stylish Hard Bodies: Branded Masculinity in "Mens Health. Available from https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/5780632/stylish-hard-bodies-branded -masculinity-in-mens-health- Read More