Representations of Men and Male Identities
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Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) REPRESENTATIONS OF MEN AND MALE IDENTITIES IN AUSTRALIAN MASS MEDIA J. R. Macnamara 2004 REPRESENTATIONS OF MEN AND MALE IDENTITIES IN AUSTRALIAN MASS MEDIA by James Raymond Macnamara B.A. (Deakin) M.A. (Deakin) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney 2004 © J. R. Macnamara, 2002-2004 _________________________________________________________________________ i The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledged in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or in part, for a degree at this or any other institution. Signature : Date: 10 December 2004 _________________________________________________________________________ ii © Copyright 2002-2004 This document is copyright. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and Amendments, this document or parts thereof cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owner. Where extracts of this thesis are quoted or paraphrased for research or academic purposes, the source must be acknowledged. _________________________________________________________________________ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis was guided and assisted by my supervisor, Dr Peter West. His exploration of the position of men and boys in contemporary Australian society inspired me to begin this research and his encouragement and support were generously given throughout. Also this research was supported by associate supervisor, Associate Professor Bob Perry, whose guidance and feedback were invaluable. I am indebted as always to my partner and wife, Gail joy Kenning, who was completing a PhD in digital art during the same period as this research and whose advanced computer knowledge assisted in the setting up of databases and statistical analysis software, as well as being my muse and a pillar of support intellectually and emotionally. Thanks are also due to CARMA International (Asia Pacific), part of a leading global media analysis firm, which supported this research with access to media databases, specialist software and media analyst staff for intercoder reliability testing, in particular Amanda Hellmund. J. R. Macnamara November, 2004 _________________________________________________________________________ iv CONTENTS Representations of Men & Male Identities in Australian Mass Media _________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS ABSTRACT 5 1. INTRODUCTION – MALE AND FEMALE IDENTITIES 7 1.1 The construction of identities – ‘narratives of the self’ 7 1.2 The role of gender in identities 9 1.3 Discourses on gender 11 1.4 The role of mass media in discourse 15 1.5 Mass media discourse on gender – an overview 18 1.6 Why more study of gender and mass media? 23 1.7 Thesis outline 26 Purpose and aims of the research 26 The research problem 26 Research questions 27 Research methodology 28 Scope of the research 33 Assumptions and limitations 34 2. GENDER IMAGES IN TRANSITION 38 2.1 Traditional views of gender 38 2.2 The rise and ‘fall’ and rise of feminism 38 ‘First Wave’ and Liberal feminism 40 ‘Second Wave’, Radical and Post-structuralist feminism 41 ‘Third Wave’ or Post-feminism 50 Ideological or superiority feminism 55 2.3 The new focus (or lack of focus) on men and masculinities 64 2.4 Gender issues – questions that pre-empt any discussion of men 68 Sex and gender – biological or social construct? 69 Men and women – are they generalisable categories? 80 2.5 The changing roles and identities of men 83 The rise of misandry 98 3. MASS MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER – WHAT PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE FOUND 102 3.1 Objectification and trivialisation of women – the feminist perspective 102 3.2 Mass media representations of men – findings of studies 1980-2001 106 4. MASS MEDIA ANALYSIS – METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH OF THIS STUDY 119 4.1 Mass media research – the theoretical framework 119 Early direct injection and transmissional views of mass media 120 Minimal or ‘limited effects’ thinking on the media 121 _________________________________________________________________________ 1 CONTENTS Representations of Men & Male Identities in Australian Mass Media _________________________________________________________________________ Political economy and cultural studies views of the media 123 The ‘ethnographic turn’ – ‘death of the author’; birth of the reader 126 Contemporary theory of media effects – a synthesis of views 128 4.2 Media content analysis methodology overview 136 Quantitative v qualitative content analysis 138 Human v computer coding 143 4.3 Stage 1: Quantitative content analysis 146 4.4 Media content sample 151 Media forms and genre 151 Media selection 152 Period 155 Content selection 155 4.5 Data collection 156 4.6 Data analysis and reporting 157 4.7 Intercoder reliability assessment 158 4.8 Stage 2: Qualitative content analysis 163 Methodology of qualitative content analysis 163 Media sample for qualitative content analysis 170 5. MEN IN THE MEDIA TODAY – FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY 172 5.1 Mass media representations of men and male identities – quantitative findings 173 Leading male profiles 173 Men and violence 177 Men and fatherhood 194 Men and sexuality 207 Men and work 211 Men’s social behaviour and body image – representations of masculinities 218 Men and commitment and responsibility 222 Men’s physical health 224 Men’s mental health and suicide 225 Men and communication 226 Male competitiveness 227 Men and domestic involvement 229 Boys education 230 Leading messages about men 232 Gunmen; hitmen, conmen and man hunts – gendered language continues (at least against men) 240 Other noteworthy findings 242 Leading sources 245 Leading media 249 5.2 Mass media representations of men and male identities – qualitative findings 253 Typical and representative mass media representations 254 Negative and disconfirming mass media representations 263 Exceptional and discrepant mass media representations 269 Further analysis using qualitative content analysis software 273 _________________________________________________________________________ 2 CONTENTS Representations of Men & Male Identities in Australian Mass Media _________________________________________________________________________ 6. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS 276 6.1 Conclusions of this study 276 6.2 Implications of findings of this study 281 Implications for men and boys 290 Implications for women and girls 295 Implications for societies 296 International implications 299 7. REFERENCES 304 8. APPENDICES 328 A. Coding List – categories, issues and messages analysed 329 B. Coding Form 334 C. Intercoder reliability of multiple coders report 335 D. Quantitative content analysis system - CARMA® 339 E. Qualitative content analysis coding in MAXqda 342 9. TABLES 1. Percentage of 24-34 year olds attaining tertiary education 97 2. Summary of media content collected for this study 156 3. Summary of intercoder reliability assessment of coding of 20 positive messages and 20 negative messages in sub-sample of 100 articles using PRAM (Program for Reliability Assessment of Multiple Coders) 161 4. Summary of intercoder reliability assessment of overall ‘favourability/unfavourability’ rating in a sub-sample of 100 articles using PRAM (Program for Reliability Assessment of Multiple Coders) 162 5. Leading positive profiles/themes concerning men in mass media representations 174 6. Leading negative profiles/themes concerning men in mass media representations 175 7. Leading issues in mass media reporting of violence and aggression 177 8. Detailed breakdown of leading messages in mass media representations of men in order or occurrence 239 9. Leading (top 10) media reporting on men and men’s issues 249 10. Circulation/audience of mass media analysed 285 10. FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Summary of media effects theory 134 2. The best quality newspapers in Australia as identified by a survey of 1,068 journalists by the University of Queensland Journalism Department, 1992, Quadrant Research Services, funded by the Australian Research Council 153 _________________________________________________________________________ 3 CONTENTS Representations of Men & Male Identities in Australian Mass Media _________________________________________________________________________ 3. Flowchart for the typical process of content analysis research. Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The Content Analysis Guidebook. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. 164 4. Breakdown of media content analysis by article type 172 5. Overview of proportions of favourable, unfavourable and neutral media coverage of men and men’s issues 173 6. Leading profiles/themes in mass media representations of men 174 7. Leading issue categories of media reporting on men 176 8. Leading issues in mass media reporting of violence and aggression by men broken down by favourable, unfavourable and neutral articles 177 9. Leading issues in mass media reporting of men in relation to fatherhood and family 195 10. Leading issues in mass media reporting of male sexuality 207 11. Leading issues in mass media reporting of men in relation to work and career 211 12. Leading issues in mass media reporting of men in relation to social behaviour 218 13. Leading issues in mass media reporting of men in relation to body image 219 14. Leading issues in mass media reporting of men in relation to commitment and responsibility 223 15. Leading issues in mass media reporting