Masculinity Test

Men's Health- Male Manipulation

A lot of the taglines are to do with sex and making women attracted to the male audience. Some of the taglines such as '27 signs she secretly wants you', 'Smile your way into a payrise or more sex', or '7 signs she's good in bed' show ways of manipulating women, by looking for specific signs or giving off signs. The magazine also uses male celebrities as a way of supporting the articles, the tagline 'Sex so good, she'll think she's with two and a half men' is positioned next to the main image of Ashton Kutcher, it seems as though the celebrities are spokespeople for the types of articles included, possibly making men think if they can do it, its okay for me to. As well as manipulating women, the magazine is in a way manipulating the male readers, making them think they can be like the celebrities.

Men's Health- Male Narcissism

The typical males in this genre of magazine seem to be narcisstic in a way, as they take very good care of their bodies and they are generally good looking. The poses of the front cover images are usually the same, if the males have no top on they are in black and white and posing with their arms away from their 'abs', where as if  they have a tshirt on their arms are crossed over their chest. This is allowing everyoneone to see the outline of their stomach, and showing they are proud of it. The men are either smiling, as if they are happy with their body, or they have a straight face, expressing that they know they look good. There are always articles to make improvements to the male body or improvement for the female partners of the male readers.

Narcissistic Identification.

In everyday terms, narcissism often means egoism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. In psychology the term is used to describe unhealthy self obsessiveness and self love. The term comes from the myth of Narcissus, who was a hunter who was renowned for his beauty. Narcissus was lead by Nemesis to a pool, where he saw his own reflection and fell in love with it. As he was unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus died. Narcissistic identification is when someone puts theirselves so deeply into a character that they can feel the same emotions and experiences as the character is experiencing and feeling.

Man Men

This is the cast of mad men, the case study we are looking at for our exam. We have watched a few episodes and discussed some questions that will help prepare us for our exam.

• Reasons for popularity?
  The show could give men an escape from reality, a way of escaping from their own life into the characters. The show is based in the 1960's so perhaps the show makes people relive the past, and look at the show as a kind of fantasy life. Some men could recognise a narcissistic identification with the characters, mostly with the main character Don Draper.
• Target Audience? What do they get out of it?
  The target audience of the show would be mainly male, as it is a male dominated show. However some females may enjoy the show as Don Draper is a hegemonic male, and is seen as an icon and attractive, which could be a reason for females watching. Males may enjoy the power of the males, and how traditional the hegemonic characters are. The female characters may also be interested in the era and the fashion of the characters.

• What representations of gender(distinctly males).
  Don Draper is a hegemonic male, he is the traditional male, a leader and well dressed. He is looked up to as he is a creative director of an advertising agency. He believes that he is in charge and does not take into account the concequenses of cheating on his wife.

Herman "Duck" Phillips is a marginalised male, although he still has his job, he is a recovering alcoholic, slowly turning to drink again, and feeling lost like he has no place. He is lonely as he is divorced, and only has the company of his dog.

Oedipus Complex

The term Oedipus complex denotes the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrate upon a boy’s desire to sexually possess his mother, and kill his father. This theory was found by Sigmund Freud, who believed that the Oedipus complex is a desire for the mother in both sexes, the females having a homosexual tendancy towards their mothers.

Men's Health- Quick Fix Problem solving

One reason Men's Health uses quick-fix problem solving is obviously to help with your body, for example in the issue below the masthead is 'Get Back In Shape!' a quick fix way of showing men how to get back into shape solving their problems. Another line is 'Grow two inches taller in just one month!' this can link with men who are insecure about their height, this can fix their problems.