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Pacific Sociological Association

STYLISH HARD BODIES: BRANDED MASCULINITY IN MEN'S HEALTH MAGAZINE Author(s): SUSAN M. ALEXANDER Source: Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Winter 2003), pp. 535-554 Published by: University of California Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/sop.2003.46.4.535 . Accessed: 23/03/2013 19:28

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Sociological Perspectives, Volume 46, Number 4, pages 535–554. Copyright © 2003 by Pacific Sociological Association. All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center St., Ste. 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223. ISSN: 0731-1214; online ISSN: 1533-8673

STYLISH HARD BODIES: BRANDED MASCULINITY IN

MEN’S HEALTH

MAGAZINE

SUSAN M. ALEXANDER*

Saint Mary’s College

ABSTRACT:

This article examines a postmodern construct of mascu- linity in which male identity is based on consumption, a traditional role for women, rather than production. Data for this qualitative content analysis were drawn from a sample of

Men’s Health

magazine. Analysis of the front covers, stories and features, an advice column, and advertisements reveals a construct that I identify as “branded masculinity.” Branded masculinity is rooted in consumer capitalism wherein corporate profit can be enhanced by generating insecurity about one’s body and one’s consumer choices and then offering a solution through a particular corporate brand. The form of branded masculinity found in

Men’s Health

constructs muscles combined with a fashion sense and the appearance of financial success as the neces- sary characteristics for a real man today.

Hair is important. Which shampoo will I use today? Maybe PsycoPath

®

the sports shampoo with salon-grade micro protein packed in a manly black injection-molded plastic motor-oil canister. Your hair is you—your tribe—it’s your badge of clean. Hair is your document. What’s on top of your head says what’s inside your head.

— Tyler, in Douglas Coupland, Shampoo Planet

In Douglas Coupland’s Generation X novel,

Shampoo Planet

(1992), Tyler, the twenty-two-year-old protagonist, is continually concerned with choosing the

right

hair care products. Searching for his identity revolves not around a job, which Tyler lacks, but around appearance. Self-doubt and fear of not finding a place in the new world economy, rather than any narcissistic impulse, induces Tyler into excessive concern about grooming. From a sociological perspective, Tyler illus- trates that the hegemonic masculinity of his father’s or grandfather’s day is mu- tating under the stresses of a new social structure in which consumption is more important than production. Masculinity itself is constructed as a product avail- able for consumption if one merely chooses the appropriate brand names. The

* Direct all correspondence to: Susan M. Alexander, Department of Sociology, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN

46556-5001;

e-mail

: [email protected]

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536 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 46, Number 4, 2003

process of consuming masculinity through name brands is fully understood by Tyler. When considering which styling spritz to use to complete his hair groom- ing, Tyler selects a gift from his mother, Mist of Naralon

®

:

“I haven’t used it much—it’s not advertised enough and is hence suspect. Always better to buy well-advertised products—preferably those products endorsed by a celebrity like Bert Rockney, my favorite actor—steroidal death toy and star of the blockbuster Hollywood motion picture

HawkWarrior

, which I’ve seen five times and heartily recommend” (Coupland 1992:133). The image of masculinity constructed pur- posely to sell a brand-name product also shapes the way men see themselves and others. Moving to the macrolevel, changing ideas of masculinity signal that a significant transformation of the social structure is under way.

More than two decades ago, social theorists (Baudrillard 1981; Bell 1973; Der- rida 1966; Lyotard 1984) established that Western societies like the United States were undergoing a shift from a modern industrial culture based on production to a postmodern culture informed by the consumption of products, ideas, and knowledge. As a transformation of the material base of society occurs, social insti- tutions and cultural practices also undergo a transformation. One area in which this change is unmistakable is gender roles and gender identity. Numerous studies (Fraser 1989; Nicholson 1990; Smith 1987) have found that the postindus- trial shift is affecting women’s roles in society. For example, the increasing num- ber of women in the formal economy, both as wage earners and as consumers, has been well documented (Dobash and Dobash 1979; Hartmann 1976; Tilly and Scott 1978). Corporations, in their drive to increase profits by expanding market shares, exploit the changing economic structure and the accompanying changes in con- sumer identity through advertising. An example is cigarette companies’ play on feminist ideas of the 1970s: “You’ve come a long way baby!” This Virginia Slims slogan and others demonstrate the intentional targeting by advertisers of women whose economic and political power was on the rise after the 1970s women’s movement.

Women’s traditional gender role as housewife and mother implicitly included the task of consumption. From groceries to beauty products, women were the consumers and men the producers. While corporations have an interest in main- taining some aspects of traditional gender roles to ensure continued markets for their products—women’s cosmetics are a prime example—they also serve as agents of social change by creating new consumer markets. The postmodern shift in women’s gender role can be seen in new careers for women in the workplace and new consumer products for women that range from business suits to personal trainers.

The impact of social structural change on women is well documented, but less research has been devoted to the impact on men. I am interested here in how mas- culinity is constructed in the popular culture of a postmodern consumer society in which the male identity is based on consumption, a traditional female role, rather than on production. To make visible the masculine gender ideas present in post- modern America, this study presents a qualitative content analysis of the magazine

Men’s Health

.

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Stylish Hard Bodies 537

THE MASCULINE GENDER IDEAL

According to Cohen (2001:5),

a

gender ideal is formed by “the shared beliefs or models of gender that a majority of society accepts as appropriate masculinity or femininity,” and gender display is “the variety of ways in which we reveal, through our verbal and nonverbal demeanor, that we fit in with masculine and feminine ideas.” Ample evidence exists that a gender ideal is socially constructed in a specific historical and cultural context and that it changes over time and according to environment.

Constructs of Masculinity: Real Men, Marketplace Masculinity, and Supermales

The hegemonic masculine gender role as identified by Brannon (1976) contains four themes: No Sissy Stuff, the Big Wheel, the Sturdy Oak, and Give ’Em Hell! Brannon notes, first, that “a ‘real man’ must never, never resemble women, or dis- play strongly stereotyped feminine characteristics” (p. 14). Physically, real men have deep voices, avoid the use of cosmetics, and give minimal attention to their clothes and hygiene. Emotionally, real men present themselves as invulnerable, and they repress expressions of affection toward other men. Behaviorally, real men devalue traditional female activities, from child care to poetry. The second theme, the Big Wheel, centers on the ability of real men to obtain wealth, fame, success, and status. Typically, the Big Wheel is determined by a man’s occupation, but it can also be achieved through other routes, such as being a champion video game player. The Sturdy Oak conveys manliness, confidence, and self-reliance. Here Brannon provides numerous popular culture references as illustrations. From Humphrey Bogart to John Wayne, a real man is physically a man’s man. The Give ’Em Hell men emit an aura of aggression and violence and use it to obtain sex from women. Since Brannon’s study, other versions of masculine gender ideals and dominant male gender norms have appeared (Connell 1995; Doyle 1994; Gerzon 1992).

Kimmel (2001) unearths the historical roots of masculine ideals in the United States. Eighteenth-century models of manhood include the “Genteel Patriarch,” whose standing derived from landownership and who was refined, elegant, and sexual but also a doting father; and the “Heroic Artisan,” whose physical strength and republican virtue is exemplified in the yeoman farmer and the craftsman. These early forms of manhood reflected ideals of an economy based on a premod- ern mode of production, agriculture. Kimmel claims that these ideals of manhood were shattered in the 1830s by a new ideal, “Marketplace Manhood.” According to Kimmel (2001:30), “Marketplace Man derived his identity entirely from his suc- cess in the capitalist marketplace, as he accumulated wealth, power, status. He was the urban entrepreneur, the businessman.”

Ideas of masculinity not only change over time, they may change during the course of one’s lifetime. Harris (1995) sampled 560 men in the United States to determine the influence of gender role messages on men. He identified nine messages that illustrate modern expectations for men: “be like your father; be a

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538 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 46, Number 4, 2003

faithful husband, Good Samaritan, law,

nature lover, nurturer, rebel, scholar, and technician” (p. 13). Although attitudes about masculinity varied by geographic location, class, race, sexual orientation, and family background, Harris found that generational differences were the strongest variable in differing visions of mascu- linity. Subsequent research on popular culture aimed at a younger audience has found traditional masculine gender ideals intact. Hollander’s (2001:489) analysis of the television program

Studs

identified six “recipes for success” as a stud:

be big, be strong, be (hetero)sexual, be young, be generous, and desire a studette of the same race and similar age as oneself. Strate (2001) found that the gender mes- sage produced by corporations in the form of advertisements for beer promotes similar types of traditional masculine gender roles.

The construct of an ideal masculinity is influenced by a number of intervening factors, such as race, ethnicity, class, nationality, age, and religion. Majors and Billson (1992) found that African American male street culture uses “style” for the express purpose of display or defiance, in contrast to Brannon’s (1976) “real man,” who holds that fashion is feminine. White and White (1998) note that flashy American African male dress had its roots in African aesthetics and the cultural resistance of slaves so as to reclaim their bodies. Focusing on the Chicano male gender identity, Baca Zinn (2001) finds that a structural condition in which Chi- canos are subordinated and excluded may contribute to a culture in which machismo gives men a degree of power and control.

While acknowledging the dynamics of many forms of ideal masculinities, some research stresses a particular aspect of the evolving conceptualization of mascu- linity. For example, Connell (2001:65) describes a “transnational business mas- culinity” that emerged in the postcolonial period. This hegemonic form of mascu- linity, associated with business executives in the global marketplace, is exemplified by the tendency to commodify relationships with women—the growth of hotels catering to businessmen by offering pornographic videos, for example. Kimmel (2001:35) suggests, “Homophobia is a central organizing principle of our cultural definition of manhood.” Masculinity, then, stems from the fear of being seen as sissy, feminine, or anything less than a man. In a similar vein, the Media Education Foundation (1999) asserts that men today wear the mask of the “Tough Guise.” The Tough Guise is a performance in which violent masculinity is the norm. It represents a backlash to feminism, gay rights, racial and ethnic equality, and mili- tary impotency during the Vietnam War, all of which are perceived as a threat to the dominant culture of white, heterosexual men. Moreover, the Media Education Foundation notes that the performance of the Tough Guise is more complex for men of color who perform the “cool pose” of urban gangster masculinity learned from MTV and films such as The Godfather. Further complicating ideas of mascu- linity is that the cool pose is imitated by young, white, suburban men in their quest for a male identity.

Empirical evidence suggests that ideals of masculinity are affecting men’s and boys’ understanding of their self-identifies and behaviors. Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia (2000:6) coined the term “the Adonis Complex” to describe “an array of usually secret, but surprisingly common, body image concerns of boys and men.” These concerns range from a preoccupation with building muscles, eliminating

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Stylish Hard Bodies 539

fat, using anabolic steroids, binge eating, hair loss, and penis size. Pope, Phillips, and Olivardia conclude that the significant number of boys and men suffering from body dysmorphia, particularly as manifest in muscle dysmorphia, is due in large part to the media-generated images of the “supermale” combined with the male body industries that seek profits built on male insecurities.

Popular Culture and Emerging Constructs of Ideal Masculinity

Goffman laid the foundation for sociologists interested in the gender display found in popular culture through his seminal work,

Gender Advertisements

(1976). Goffman understood gender display not as biologically predetermined but as a performance of a gender ideal that one can more or less adhere to: “One might just as well say there is no gender identity. There is only a schedule for the por- trayal of gender” (Goffman 1976:8). For Goffman, women and men “read” images of femininity and masculinity and then attempt to mimic them when giving a gender performance. While feminine and masculine images may come from any number of agents of socialization, Goffman’s analysis of advertisements shows the importance of popular culture in the construction of gender.

Girls have long dealt with unrealistic body expectations, with struggling to remake the body seen in the mirror into a tall, ultra-slim, large-breasted Barbie doll; boys now experience a similar gap between the reality seen in the mirror and the hypermuscular G.I. Joe action-figure image found in popular culture. (If given life-size status, G.I. Joe Extreme would have a 55-inch chest and 27-inch biceps, nearly 10 inches larger than those of baseball slugger Mark McGwire.) Pope, Phil- lips, and Olivardia (2000) find supermales not only in male action figures but also in video games, sports (notably, the World Wrestling Federation), movies, adver- tisements, and the growing number of magazines such as

Men’s Health

that cater to men’s body concerns.

Work on gender images in popular culture often focuses on the visual display of the passive body, with the audience giving meaning to the images. By contrast, Bordo (2000:186) finds that images are active: “The most compelling images are suffused with ‘subjectivity’—they

speak

to us, they seduce us. Unlike other kinds of ‘objects’ (chairs and tables, for example), they don’t let us use them in any way we like. In fact, they exert considerable power over us—over our psyches, our desires, our self image.” Bordo examines the way in which male bodies speak to us today, particularly in popular culture. She identifies two messages in the men’s bodies of magazine advertisements, “face-off masculinity” and “the lean.” Face- off masculinity occurs when the male models “stare coldly at the viewer, defying the observer to view them in any way other than how they present themselves as powerful, armored, emotionally impenetrable” (p. 186). The lean describes a body that is reclining, leaning against or propped up against something—a pose that is more typical in women’s imagery. The lean is not passive; it actively invites the viewer to linger over the body. Both messages, however, share the function of selling products to consumers. Bordo attributes the growing problem- atic with

men’s bodies to “the ever-widening vortex of late-twentieth-century consumerism” (p. 18).

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540 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 46, Number 4, 2003

The link made by theorists between masculine identities and popular culture is significant. Visual representations serve as agents of masculine gender socializa- tion. It is commonly accepted that the media’s depiction of female gender roles, from the 1950s TV housewife in pearls and high heels to Britney Spears’s bared abdomen, have set the stage for ideas of femininity. Less work has been done on the media’s explicit use of intentionally constructed male gender displays and subsequent ideas of masculinity.

Undoubtedly, the role of men is changing today in a profound way. But do notions of marketplace masculinity still hold in a postindustrial consumer-based economy? Are new postmodern ideals of masculinities emerging, and if so, what are they? As boys and men consume popular culture and advertisements, they also consume the masculine gender ideals associated with specific products. Whereas producers and advertisers may promote particular forms of gender socialization inadvertently,

Men’s Health

magazine’s goal is explicitly to shape the reader’s views of masculinity so as to transform modern men into postmodern consumers. In other words, male gender role resocialization

is

the product.

MEN’S HEALTH:

MASCULINITY ON DISPLAY

Men’s Health

was launched in 1987. In 1990 it claimed 250,000 subscribers, and by 2000 that number had risen to 1.6 million (Cloud 2000:65). In 2001

Men’s Health

grossed $115 million, making it 67th on the list of top-selling magazines, with gross revenues comparable to

Architectural Digest

,

Brides Magazine

, and

The Econo- mist.

Significant for this study,

Men’s Health

had substantially larger revenues than the longer-running

Popular Mechanics

,

Field & Stream

, and

Esquire

(AdAge.com 2003). According to Mediamark Research (2002), 85.05 percent of the readers of

Men’s Health

are men whose mean age is 36. The age distribution is as follows: 23 percent ages 18–24, 25 percent ages 25–34, 23 percent ages 35–44, 18 percent ages 45–54, and 11 percent age 55

�

. Mediamark’s demographics indicate that the mag- azine’s readers are generally well educated and have a middle-class income; 67 percent attended college; 32 percent have college degrees and postcollege train- ing; and their median household income is $63,700, with 25 percent earning more than $100,000. Mediamark also finds that 45 percent of the readers of

Men’s Health

are married and 40 percent have children in the household. It did not provide data on readers’ race or ethnicity or sexual orientation.

1

The success of this relatively new men’s magazine focusing on fashion, health, and lifestyle suggests that it is providing its readers with a view of masculinity that is more appealing than that presented in traditional men’s magazines.

Men’s Health

serves as a historical artifact of the early-twenty-first century in terms of the problematic of masculinity faced by well-educated, middle-class men in a era of changing gender norms. My purpose here is to analyze the specific gender role socialization that is occurring in

Men’s Health

and to place it in the context of broader social and cultural changes. To take into account format changes that might occur in a monthly magazine, a random sample of ten issues of

Men’s Health

(20% of the sampling frame of forty-eight issues) covering the period between December 1997 and December 2001 was selected. The analysis is divided

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Stylish Hard Bodies 541

into four areas of investigation: front covers, cover stories and features, “Ask

Men’s Health

,” and advertisements.

Front Cover Messages

McCracken (1993:14), in her study of women’s magazines, explains that their covers accomplish two purposes. First, they are “windows to the future self,” in that they serve as “selective frames that color both our perceptions of ideal femi- ninity and what is to follow in the magazine.” Second, they are themselves adver- tisements that increase the publisher’s sales and, perhaps more important, the sale of products and services promoted inside. According to McCracken, advertis- ing revenue is secured through covers that draw “quality” readers, meaning ones with spending power.

Using McCracken’s study as a starting point for a gender analysis of men’s magazine covers, I found that

Men’s Health

covers reveal distinct patterns. The central feature is the photographic image, which reflects a homogeneous “future self” to a very specific group of men. All covers in the sample featured white men estimated to be between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. On nine of the ten issues an attractive man was pictured from just below the waist up; the tenth cover was a partial head shot. None of the models is presented in an identifiable setting. Although two models appear to be standing in water, it is not clear whether this is a pool, a Jacuzzi, or the ocean. The lack of context means that the models are not doing anything other than posing for the viewers, a pattern typical of women’s magazine images. One of the models is shown grasping a handheld weight, but the position is so awkward that the impression is not one of weight- lifting but of posing with a prop. Most of the models are shirtless; three of ten male cover models were wearing shirts, one a standard white T-shirt and the others revealing muscle shirts that accentuate their well-defined pecs and pumped biceps. All the models have well-developed muscles, but they clearly are not the supermales featured on the covers of magazines devoted to bodybuilding. Arms, pectorals, and “six-pack” abdomen muscles are well defined. The cover images present the image of masculinity, at least for white males, as a well-toned but not overly muscled body.

Using Bordo’s (1999) terms, two of the ten covers could be categorized as face- off masculinity and one as the lean (the model is leaning forward with his fore- arms extended above his head and resting on what appears to be a chin-up bar). The seven remaining covers present a third message about masculinity that I call “wholesome masculinity.” Here the gaze is neither defiant nor passive; rather, the model smiles at the viewer, sometimes broadly, sometimes shyly. Goffman (1976:48) noted that smiles can “function as ritualistic mollifiers, signaling that nothing agonistic is intended or invited.” Wholesome masculinity reveals male vulnerability, as on the December 1997 cover, which shows a broadly smiling model gently holding his left arm with his right hand—a traditionally feminine gesture. The image constructed is that these men are both physically powerful and emotionally caring, and the direct eye contact combined with a smile can be interpreted to mean that these are men to be trusted—as husband, partner, or

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542 SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Volume 46, Number 4, 2003

friend—depending on the context in which the reader is viewing it. Wholesome masculinity stands in sharp contrast to the masculinity often presented on film, whether brute magnetism (Marlon Brando in

A Streetcar Named Desire

) or the stoic, hyperphysical (Arnold Schwarzenegger in

Terminator 2 Judgment Day

). It welcomes viewers to join in the pursuit of health and fitness by perusing the pages of the magazine.

Another striking feature of the covers is the use of color. The photographic image is black-and-white, giving

Men’s Health

a distinctive appearance on the magazine rack and lending edginess to a magazine that features health and fash- ion ideas, traditional feminine pursuits. The black-and-white photographic image, set in a white background, is punctuated by bursts of color in the text. The title,

Men’s Health,

appears in deep red or bright orange. The text accompanying the image alternates between red and black and appears in a vertical line down one side of the cover. For example, in the March 1999 issue, the largest typeface, fol- lowing the title “Hard Body Basics” (in red), is preceded

by “Pull Her Sex Trig- ger” in black (only the word “Sex” is in large font). Thus, if one reads only the large type, a message connecting sex and hard bodies emerges through the juxta- position of snippets. Another example: reading only the large type of the July– August 2000 issue from top to bottom, one finds the message, Body, Beer, Abs, Still Fat?

The large fonts come from “Get Your Body Back: The Best Exercises of All Times,” “Fix Every Problem with Beer,&#x2

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