Ana Flavia Ferreira Silva

GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 1 Master’s Thesis Globalizing Masculinity: A CROSS-CULTURAL ANALYSIS OF HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC VIDEOS Ana Flavia Ferreira Silva Semester 2 Student Number: 10275800 Supervisor: Anne-Marie van Oosten Date: Feb 2, 2018 Master’s Programme in Communication Sciences: Entertainment Communication GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 2 Abstract Although hegemonic masculinity is still prevalent in popular media culture, recent changes to the gender scape have started to redefine discourses of hegemony. In the present study, a coding instrument was developed to measure the level of hegemonic masculinity across three countries: United States, Brazil, and South Korea. The analysis examined the assumption of the existence of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary music videos, and compared these discourses across the three different countries. Results suggest discourses of hegemonic masculinity could be changing on a global scale and that globalization may explain this change. This study is intended to add new contributions to explorations into the content of contemporary media in maintaining a comprehensive understanding of the role of hegemonic masculinity in media discourses today. Findings could benefit both practical and theoretical implications, since there is a scarcity of research that investigates cross-cultural representation of hegemonic masculinity in music videos. Keywords: Hegemonic masculinity, globalization GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 3 Introduction Since the launch of MTV in 1981, the popularity of music videos amongst adolescents led many scholars worry about its potential adverse effects (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011). Early content analyses showed that between 40 percent and 75 percent of music videos contain some form of sexual imagery (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011), and more recent studies have also concluded that the portrayal of men in music videos tends to be more aggressive (Flanagan, Flanagan, & Davis, 1993; Heintz-Knowles et al., 1999; Wallis, 2011), materialistic and misogynistic (Conrad, Dixon, & Zhang, 2009) and sexually explicit and objectifying (Aubrey & Frisby, 2011). The most salient themes found in music videos all work towards sustaining and enabling discourses of hegemonic masculinity. The male body in the media represents the ideal image of masculinity and is a reference point for adolescents who are starting to develop gender norms and gender schemas (Heintz-Knowles et al., 1999). At the intersection of childhood to manhood, boys start to develop their moral and ethical codes and the influence of the media at this stage of psychological development is profound. The average American teen spends roughly 7 hours looking at a screen every day (Lenhart et al., 2015), and over 90 percent of teens use the Internet (United States Department of Education, 2003). This has led some scholars to suggested that media be acknowledged on par with parents and religion as a reference point and guide for teenagers in understanding their conceptions of gender roles. Some researchers have even assumed that the pervasiveness of media may make it the most influential learning source during adolescence (Heintz-Knowles et al., 1999). As McRobbie (2004) stated music videos are “symptomatic of a popular culture” (496), reflecting and interpreting social norms and values. Due to its non-traditional format that combines both elements of television story- telling narratives and music, they are a significantly engaging medium for adolescents (Larson & Kubey, 1983). The visual nature of music videos make shortcuts to gender role stereotyping acceptable, and because they often contain such stereotyped messages about GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 4 gender and sexuality, they are an interesting perspective from which to investigate the prevalence of hegemonic masculinity in the media as a whole. In modern times especially, due to their reach and popularity, music videos have a significant cultural importance. Considering that, for the most part, they are made to appeal to younger audiences, exploring their content is not only necessary in updating assumptions in media effects studies among youth, but also imperative to understanding hegemonic masculinities in contemporary entertainment media. Despite extensive research on the prevalence of hegemonic masculinity discourses in the media, three topics remain insufficiently addressed. The first gap in the literature concerns the lack of research exploring the possible cultural differences in the portrayal of hegemonic masculinity in the media. With a few notable exceptions (Tan, Shaw, Cheng, & Ko Kim, 2013; Shaw & Tan, 2014; Matthes, Prieler, & Adam, 2016), most research has not taken into account possible cultural differences in the representations of these discourses. Moreover, all literature on cross-cultural representations of hegemonic masculinity in the media looks at images in advertising and none address these concerns with regards to music videos. Considering the assumption of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model (Lonner, Berry, & Hofstede, 1980), which has played a fundamental role in guiding research on masculinity in the media, that masculinity varies significantly by culture, it is surprising that cross-cultural analyses of hegemonic masculinity in the media are still lacking. The present research addresses this gap in the literature by analyzing music videos from three different countries: United States, Brazil, and South Korea. Accordingly, the main aim of this study is to investigate how discourses of hegemonic masculinity in music videos are represented in these three different cultures. Furthermore, following from Hofstede’s assumptions that levels of masculinity are subject to change across cultures, it is also expected that they be subject to historical change. Previous content analyses on this topic are outdated and therefore more GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 5 recent music videos merit further analyses. A second aim of this research is to investigate whether traditional definitions of hegemonic masculinity are still prevalent in popular contemporary media. A third shortcoming of research on hegemonic masculinity in the media is the lack of research regarding the physical attributes of the male body. Influential groups in society obtain their position through the establishment of regulated discourses (Foucault, 1972), and one significant discourse within which hegemonic masculinity operates is the idealization of what constitutes the male physicality (Lanzieri & Hilderbrandt, 2011). Previous content analyses of hegemonic masculinity in the media (e.g. Heintz-Knowles et al., 1999, An & Kim, 2007) have mainly focused on behaviors of hegemonic masculinity and few have considered the physical attributes of the male body. The third aim of this research then is to investigate the role that the male physicality plays in the discourse of hegemonic masculinity in contemporary music videos. Theoretical Framework Definition of the Central Concept: Hegemonic Masculinity Deriving from feminist theories (Angela Davis, 1983; Bell Hooks 1984) hegemonic masculinity is understood as the pattern of practices that allow men’s dominance over women. As Connell and Messerschmidt (2005) conceptualize it, hegemonic masculinity “embodies the currently most honored way of being a man” (833), and as such it requires all other men to position themselves in relation to it, ideologically legitimating the global subservience of women. Connell (1987) defines gender roles as “a set of culturally defined behavioral norms associated with males and females, respectively, in a given social group or system” (as cited in An & Kim, 2006, p.182). This role is, at its root, always performative and it has been molded and defined throughout history as a way to describe sexuality and create guidelines for understanding gender through human activity and behavior. As part of this performance, GLOBALIZING MASCULINITY 6 men and woman learn how to play masculine and feminine roles based on what is acceptable, or not, within their socio-cultural context. One of the most seminal studies to address gender and gender norm distinctions from a cross-cultural perspective has been Hofstede’s (1980) 6D model. The model suggests six dimensions of culture that is present in every society. One of the dimensions is masculinity. It describes masculine societies as tough, competitive, and openly gendered (Lonner, Berry, & Hofstede, 1980). A masculine society is one in which men should be focused on material success, are encouraged to fight, and must not cry. With regards to sexual relationships, masculine societies are strictly heterosexual, and view sex as a way of performing where men are the subjects and women the objects (Hofstede, 1980). Similarly, hegemonic ideals expect men to be leaders and, regardless of the circumstances, men are expected to be confident, athletic, successful, violent, and angry. Moreover, even when experiencing a wide range of negative emotions, men are not to cry (Heintz-Knowles et al., 1999). The concept of hegemonic masculinity has had a significant influence in gender studies across many academic fields, and considerably defined thinking about social hierarchy, gender, and men (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Several theories argue that aggression and sexual dominance is one of the main components of hegemonic masculinity (Hamburger, Hogben, & McGowan, 1996), but two main guiding frameworks in the study of the adherence of traditional gender roles have been Hamburger, Hogben, and McGowan’s (1996)

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