Visual analysis of GQ magazine covers: intersections between gender, race, and sexuality

Rūta Latvėnaitė

Department of Journalism, Media and Communication Master of Arts – 120 ECTS Global media studies Spring term 2020 Supervisor: Jörgen Skågeby Date of submission: 2020-06-12

Abstract

This thesis widens the application of intersectionality into the study of visual media. This study examines representational patterns on GQ magazine covers issued in the US with specific regards to gender-race-sexuality intersections. Also, this study seeks to grasp what meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the visual and linguistic modes, and what social effect it imparts. The study employs a mixed-method approach combining the quantitative content analysis with the social semiotics, and the inter- categorical methodological approach to intersectionality. The findings show that GQ magazine employs the same representational patterns acknowledged in culture and the magazines’ market. Those patterns manifest in the sexual objectification of women, racial exclusion, and emphasis on white heterosexual maleness. Additionally, the intersectional analysis revealed that women of color and sexual minorities are in the least favorable position regarding representational patterns on GQ magazine.

Keywords Visual analysis, GQ magazine, representational patterns, representational meaning, intersectionality, intersections between gender, race and sexuality, social semiotics

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Table of Contents

Abstract ...... 2

1. Introduction ...... 5

2. Theoretical Framework and Literature review...... 8

2.1. Gender, Race and Sexuality ...... 8

2.2. Representation and its meaning ...... 9

2.3. Representational patterns on magazine covers ...... 11

2.4. Men's magazines ...... 14

2.5. Intersectionality ...... 17 2.5.1. Intersectional black women's live experiences ...... 17 2.5.2. Intersectionality and social divisions ...... 19 2.5.3. Intersectionality in the real world...... 21

3. Methodology ...... 24

3.1. Three methodological approaches to intersectionality: anti-, inter- and intra- categorical ...... 25

3.2. Quantitative Content Analysis ...... 27 3.2.1. Sample selection...... 27 3.2.2. Reliability ...... 28

3.3. Social Semiotics ...... 29 3.3.1. Sample selection...... 30 3.3.2. Reliability ...... 31

4. Results and Analysis...... 32

4.1. Results of quantitative content analysis ...... 32 4.1.1. Domination of whiteness, maleness, and heterosexuality ...... 32 4.1.2. Skin exposure ...... 34 4.1.3. Intersections of clothing, body view, and pose categories ...... 36

3 4.2. Social Semiotic Analysis and Discussion ...... 38 4.2.1. Sexual objectification of women...... 38 4.2.2. Sharp representation of men ...... 43 4.2.3. GQ’s stereotypical representational patterns ...... 47 4.2.4. The meaning and its social effects ...... 49

5. Conclusion ...... 50

References ...... 52

Appendices ...... 55

4 1.Introduction

The mass media may inform and update us about the latest events, and yet, mass media has a significant role in visually representing reality and the world that surrounds us, showing it in photos, images, and any other form of visual media. As Billy Hawkins (1998) states, "we live in a society where visual images are paramount and where the mass media is a powerful medium for perceiving reality" (Hawkins 1998:48). Additionally, Gillian Rose (2016) claims that "visual is central to the cultural construction of social life in contemporary Western societies" (Rose 2016:1). Furthermore, following Stuart Hall's (2013) theory of representation, visuals (language, image, signs) that are socially constructed carry socially constructed meaning. The magazine covers are attention-getting visuals that aim to advertise and seduce people to purchase the publications. Additionally, being thoroughly and socially constructed, magazine covers carry power and influences society.

Magazine covers "provide a window into societal roles regarding whom deem to be more important and of greater social value" (Wasike 2017:4). Consequently, magazine covers are capable of conveying powerful messages with mirroring certain social constructs and ascribing social roles and status for people (Wasike 2017). These processes manifest in the using of the specific representational practises.

Magazine covers have attracted a great deal of interest for media scholars. Stereotypical gender representation, gender disparities, sexualised representation, production of fame, and celebrity have been the main topics addressed in examining magazine covers. Previous works have widely focused on measuring frequencies and relied on quantitative estimations. Moreover, there is a tendency to examine the depiction of women on women's magazines' covers and representation of men on magazine covers that are aimed at men. Consequently, traditionally gender categories gained a great deal of attention in the analysis of representational on magazine covers. However, other social categories, such as race and sexuality, have been neglected in the studies of visual representation. Furthermore, the research of representation on magazine covers tends to focus on female's magazines; thus, males' magazines are still understudied. (Lambiase and Reichert 2005)

Drawing on the literature of representation, meaning-making, and intersectionality this study aims to fill the gap in the media research and investigate how the covers of GQ (Gentlemen's Quarterly) magazine published in the U.S., work in relation to a broader system of meaning

5 by focusing on multiple axes – gender, race, and sexuality. The research aim is threefold. Firstly, this study seeks to examine representational patterns that appeared on GQ covers and quantitatively measure those patterns. Secondly, this study aims to grasp the meaning of those patterns by analysing the composition of visual elements and text on GQ covers. Additionally, the social effects of that specific meaning gain interest here. Thirdly, this paper recognises that "a different, more complex and more holistic reading of signs and symbolic orders" can be carried out by the intersectionality approach (Barnum and Zajicek 2008:111). The intersectionality was neglected in investigations of magazine covers in previous studies and has not been fully addressed in analysing visual media in general. Therefore, this study seeks to investigate how intersections of gender, race, and sexuality operate in representational patterns and its meaning on GQ covers through the lens of intersectionality. For achieving these aims, this study addresses the following questions:

RQ1: What representational patterns are constructed on GQ covers with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections? Moreover, to what extent those patterns occur?

RQ2: What meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the composition of visual signs and text on GQ covers? Moreover, what is the social effect of that meaning with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections?

The mixed-methods approach that combines the quantitative content analysis with the social semiotic analysis, and the intersectionality approach, will be employed to answer these questions. Applying the intersectionality approach has been challenging since there is no collective agreement about which social categories must be included in the analysis to make it intersectional enough. The utilisation of different racial categories varies within different scholars and research fields. The black feminists usually apply the classical model of 'triple oppression' (race, gender, and class) (Yuval-Davis 2006). The sociology scholars who focus on social stratification see class as the central social category (Yuval-Davis, 2015), the feminist scholars see gender as the leading category in the intersectional analysis (Lykke 2010). The intersectionality approach is both theory and method (Yuval-Davis 2006; Lykke 2010; Collins and Bilge 2016). It is acknowledged here; thus, the intersectionality approach in this study operates as a theoretical and methodological tool.

6 The personal interest made an influence on choosing the topic and material for this study. I wrote an assignment focusing on GQ covers, that employed the intersectionality approach for the course of 'Mediatized Intersections: class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality.' I was encouraged by course teachers that this assignment has the potential for expansion into a master thesis. I overviewed previous studies and found out that GQ magazine covers have not gained attention among media scholars. Moreover, a small number of researches that analysed GQ covers did not employ the intersectionality approach. These factors, together with the evident gap in media research listed above, became a motivation for conducting this inquiry.

On the whole, this study extends current knowledge of representational practices that have been employed in men's magazines. These practices will be examined through intersectionality lenses. It will lead to broadening the knowledge that multiple social categories such as gender, race, and sexuality are interwoven that shapes representational practices. It is hoped that this research will contribute to widening the application of the intersectionality approach to the analysis of visual media, such as magazine covers.

This section is followed by briefly introducing the defined social categories included in this study. Then the theory of representation and meaning-making are presented with an overview of previous research of visual representation on magazine covers and, specifically, men's magazines. These sections are followed by a section that introduces the intersectionality approach. The next chapter explains the methodological approach and the three methods that are applied in this study. This chapter is followed by distinguishing the results of quantitative content analysis and the results of social semiotics. Additionally, there is the final discussion that brings together the results of quantitative analysis and the outcomes of social semiotic analysis. The final chapter concludes the study by emphasising the most striking results, discussing the limitations of this study, and proposing further research questions.

7 2. Theoretical Framework and Literature review

2.1. Gender, Race and Sexuality

The social categories of gender, race and sexuality are at central in this study. Therefore, it is important to present how these categories are acknowledged here and will be operating in this study.

Gender

The gender is determined drawing on the feminist approach provided by Nina Lykke (2010). She states that feminism scholars established the intersectionality theory because they always perceived gender (social category) as being intersectional. That gender "should always be considered in relation to its intersections with constructions of other social cultural categories such as race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, age, dis/ability, nationality, and so on" (Lykke 2010:50).

Race

The race here is understood as socially constructed. "Race is a legal, social, and cultural invention rather than given in nature, and the knowledge of race and its deployment are exercises of power expressed in the encounter among groups for control over resources” (Gray 2017: 53).

Sexuality

Jeffrey Week's view of sexuality is applied to defining the term of sexuality. "Sexualities are produced in society in complex ways. They are a result of diverse social practices that give meaning to human activities, of social definitions and self-definitions, of struggles between those who have power to define and regulate, and those who resist. 'Sexuality' is not a given, it is a product of negotiation, struggle and human agency" (Weeks 2016: 31).

8 2.2. Representation and its meaning

The point of departure of the theory of representation is that representation constructs meaning. Stuart Hall (2013) states, "representation is an essential part of the process by which meaning is produced and exchanged between members of a culture. It does involve the use of language, of signs and images which stand for or representing things" (Hall 2013:1). Hall understands language in a broad sense and describes it as "in language, we use signs and symbols, whether they are sounds, written words, electronically produced images, musical notes, even objects – to stand for represent to other people our concepts, ideas and feelings" (Hall 2013:xvii). Hall (2013) suggests a constructivist/constructionist approach for understanding how the representation of meaning works through language. This approach acknowledges that meaning is socially constructed and fixed in advance using the representational systems. According to Hall (2013), constructivists believe that meaning is constructed and conveyed by "social actors who use the conceptual systems of their culture and the linguistic and other representational systems" (Hall 2013:11). This study adopts a constructivist approach and claims that meaning conveyed on GQ covers is socially constructed by social actors – magazine editors and owners.

According to Hall (2013), stereotyping is a very widely and frequently used representational pattern/practice/system in visual culture. He analysed photos depicting racial and ethnic differences in terms of stereotypical representation. Hall (2013) states, "that what is said about racial and ethnic difference could equally be applied in many instances to other dimensions of difference, such as gender, sexuality, class and disability" (Hall 2013:215). Thus, Hall's ideas about stereotypical practices are employed in this study that focuses on representational patterns in terms of gender-race-sexuality intersections. Stereotypical representational patterns construct meaning, which "depends on the difference between opposites" (Hall 2013:225). There are already existing binary oppositions/categories in every visual image that is socially constructed. As Gordon Fyfe and John Law (1987) argue, "a depiction is never just an illustration…it is the site for construction and depiction of social difference" (Fyfe and Law 1987:1). Binary oppositions shape the power structures in society. Jacques Derrida (1972) points out that "one pole of binary is usually the dominant one, the one which includes the other within its field of operations. There is always a relation of power between the poles of binary opposition" (Derrida cited in Hall 2013:225). Accordingly, Hall (2013) argues that "we should really write, white/black, men/women, masculine/feminine, upper class/lower

9 class, British/alien to capture this power dimensions in discourse" (Hall 2013:225, emphasis in original).

Hall (2013) suggests that stereotypical representational practice expressed in showing differences, has two main features: (1) reducing, essentialising, naturalising, and fixing the differences; (2) being the practice of closure and exclusion. The first characteristic means that difference as such operates and shows the difference between people, usually, between the binary oppositions. The reduction, exaggeration or simplification of a person's traits creates the difference between people. The second characteristic "sets up a symbolic frontier between the 'normal' and the 'deviant'…what 'belongs' and what does not or is "Other" (Hall 2013:248). Hall (2013) provided examples of how this feature occurs in stereotypical racial representation where people of colour, and in his analysis, particularly black people, are depicted as someone that does not meet with white culture; the split between them and us is apparent. That leads to excluding black people from society as they are represented as someone who does not belong there.

Hall (2013) argues that "stereotyping tends to occur where there are gross inequalities of power. Power is usually directed against the subordinated or excluded group" (Hall 2013:248). Consequently, the stereotypical practice has aspects of hegemony and hierarchy, and it works as a way to reinforce hegemony and hierarchy. Hall (2013) also refers to Richard Dyer, who states that:

“the establishment of normalcy (i.e. what is accepted as 'normal') through social- and stereo-types is one aspect of the habit of ruling groups...to attempt to fashion the whole of society according to their own world view, value system, sensibility and ideology. So right the world view for the ruling groups that they make it appear (as it does appear to them) as 'natural' and 'inevitable' - and for everyone - and, in so far as they succeed, they establish their hegemony” (Dyer cited in Hall 2013:248).

It is important to emphasise that power here is understood as the power of representation as such, or as Hall (2013) defines it as symbolic power. "The power to represent someone or something in a certain way – within a certain 'regime of representation.' It includes the exercise of symbolic power through representational practices" (Hall 2013: 249).

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To further understand that meaning is constructed not only via representational patterns but via broader representation systems per se, the study relies on the science of reading signs. The GQ covers here are understood as being "multimodal texts – texts whose meanings are realised through more than one semiotic code" (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006:177). Mode, code, and sign are used here as equal terms. Gunther Kress and Teo Van Leeuwen (2006) established the concept of multimodal texts and explained it via the social semiotics approach. Social semiotics acknowledges that any artefact, for instance, advertisements, book illustrations, magazines, banal artefacts such as maps, child's drawings are made by integrating various signs: text, visual signs/elements, colour. Recognising the composition and integration of those various signs is at the centre of the social semiotic approach. "In our view, the integration of different semiotic modes is the work of an overarching code whose rules and meanings provide the multimodal text with the logic of its integration" (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006: 179). In other words, various modes co-operate and create meaning. As Carey Jewitt et al. state (2016), "different means of meaning-making are not separated but almost always appear together: image with writing, speech with gesture, math symbolism with writing and so forth" (Jewitt et al. 2016: 2). Also, Kress (2010) states that "image shows what takes too long to read and writing names what would be difficult to show" (Kress, 2010: 1). Consequently, this study recognises that GQ covers convey multiple meanings: meaning that is constructed via representational patterns; and meaning that is made by integration of visual signs and written text (cover lines). In other words, the cover image acquires additional meaning when the image is materialised by written text on it. In this study, the social semiotics approach is applied as a method, and a more detailed explanation about it can be found in the methodology chapter.

In addition to the outlined theoretical concepts about representational patterns, it is necessary to explore the practical application of representational practices. The overview of previous research about representation on magazine covers is presented in the following section.

2.3. Representational patterns on magazine covers

Hall's definition of stereotypical representation practice that reduces a specific person's traits is widely used in the representation of women in visual media. In the study of gendered messages related to the body on magazine covers, Malkin et al. (1999) concluded that "visual

11 images on both men's and women's magazine covers tend to portray what women should look like and what men should look for" (Malkin et al. 1999: 653). In other words, women are portrayed to satisfy men's desires. Women's sexualised objectification is also often explained by the term 'male gaze' developed by Laura Mulvey (1975) in cinema research. Mulvey (1975) argues that women's figure is constructed respectively considering the male gaze - enabling men to experience visual pleasure by visually controlling women. She states that "in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for the strong visual and erotic impact that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness" (Mulvey, 1975: 11). Also, Mulvey (1975) suggests that the male gaze is associated with male domination and hegemonic heterosexuality. Michele White (2017) states that "any forms of looking relationships occur in contemporary society, but the normative white heterosexual male gaze is a key process of heterosexuality and racial exclusion" (White 2017: 76). Accordingly, women are likely to be presented by emphasising their bodies, sexuality, and gender, and reducing their traits like professional skills, mind, or career achievements. Meanwhile, men are mainly represented by emphasising what they have achieved in their personal life or their careers. The enhancement of male's mental and professional characteristics is evident in representational practice. Accordingly, the difference between women and men is essentialised, naturalised, and become fixed.

Erving Goffman's (1979) investigation of stereotypical gender representations in commercial advertisements is well-known and frequently cited in the literature of visual media and representation. Consequently, gender representation has been the dominant theme in the visual analysis of imagines on magazine covers; however, advertisements in magazines have gained more attention than magazine covers among media scholars. There is a tendency to analyse the depiction of women on magazines designed for women and the depiction of men on magazines directed to men. Jennifer B. Webb et al. (2017) investigated the representation of women's body on the covers of Yoga Journal magazine of 40 years period. They found out that models are likely to be depicted stereotypically: slim in body size, thin in body shape, in high body visibility, and revealing a great deal of skin exposure (Webb et al. 2017).

Another trending theme in the research of representation on magazine covers is gender disparities. Ben Wasike (2017) investigated the depiction of women and men on sport magazine covers: Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine. The results indicated that women tend to be represented in a more sexualised fashion compare to men. Also, that research showed that "men were likelier to be portrayed in active poses, and the cover lines

12 emphasised gender over athletic achievement for women" (Wasike 2017:1). Eventually, the findings, which showed that on magazine covers women's bodies are more sexualised than men's bodies, have shaped the research theme in later visual analysis.

Consequently, sexualised representation on magazine covers, images, and advertisements in magazines has been widely studied. Several studies have found that highly sexualised representation of women on magazine covers has been persistent. Nicole Krassas, Joan M. Blauwkamp, and Peggy Wesselink (2003) analysed sexual rhetoric in editorial photographs in Maxim and Stuff magazine issues. That analysis provided interest results since scholars also aimed to discover the frequency of race of the models depicted in images. The results demonstrated that women are sexualised and objectified more than men and that white models constituted more than 80% of all images (Krassas et al. 2003).

Cynthia Frisby (2017), as Wasike (2017) investigated the same sports magazines' covers (Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine) and focused on sexualisation and objectification of males and females. Additionally, Frisby (2017) investigated the frequency of racial depiction of female athletes. Her study confirmed Wasike's findings that women are more objectified than men. Also, Frisby's (2017) findings demonstrated that male athletes are portrayed more often than female athletes on sport magazine covers. In terms of racial representation, the findings showed that out of 109 covers, only six covers depicted female athletes of colour.

An interesting analysis was conducted by Eric Hatton and Marry Nell Trautner (2011), who aimed to measure the frequency and intensity of sexualisation of men and women on Rolling Stone magazine covers between 1963 to 2009. Rolling Stone covers were divided into categories: non sexualised, sexualised, and hypersexualised. The results indicated that the vast majority of men's images fell into the non sexualised category, and the decrease in the sexualisation of men during the investigated period was approximately 2-3%. The overall result of images of women showed that women's sexualisation was continually increasing, and the vast majority of images of women fell into the hypersexualised category. The most striking result to emerge from covers of issues in 2000, is that women are sexualised at the same rate as men are not sexualised. Hatton and Trautner (2011) concluded that "sexualised images can suggest victimisation for women but confidence for men" (Hatton and Trautner 2011: 273). Scholars suggest that the Rolling Stone's representational pattern of women can only be defined as sexual objectification.

13 Little is known about how other social categories such as race and sexuality are represented on magazine covers. Eric Primm, Summer DuBois, and Robert Regoli (2007) investigated racial representation on Sports Illustrated (SI) covers of the period of 1954-2004; however, they only included one social category - race. Another weakness of the study is that the race variable was coded only into two classical categories– black and white. Nevertheless, their study showed noteworthy results. Primm's et al. (2007) study demonstrated that until 1975 black athletes were underrepresented, and only approximately a quarter of all covers portrayed black athletes. Interestingly, the results showed that between 1975 to 2004, the frequency of representation of black and white athletes was nearly the same: 56.1% of all SI covers depicted white athletes; 53.9 % of all SI covers depicted black athletes. In conclusion, Primm et al. (2007) suggested that "racial tolerance and integration appears to be increasing" (Primm et al. 2007: 229).

Jon Arakaki and William P. Cassidy (2014) included gender and race categories in their investigation of the covers of People magazine. The study aimed to measure the frequency of featured celebrities regarding race/ethnicity and gender over the period from 2000 to 2010. Their study demonstrated that the covers featuring actor amounted to 48.4% of the total covers. Also, the results showed that 58.8% of depicted celebrities were female. In terms of racial representation, white celebrities constituted a significant percentage (87.9%) of the total represented celebrities. However, the research did not provide any discussion of the interrelation between different categories – celebrity type, race, and gender.

These outlined findings verify earlier stated theoretical arguments that stereotypical representational patterns are widely employed practise in culture. Representing the difference results in objectifying women and reinforcing men's power, excluding people of colour, and enhancing whiteness. The overview of literature focused on different types of magazines. This study focuses on GQ magazine, and it is necessary to review research that has investigated GQ magazine covers regarding its representation practices. The following section presents some research that focused on both GQ magazines and men's magazines in general.

2.4. Men's magazines

GQ magazine is a men's fashion magazine. It was argued in the introduction section that very little attention had been paid to GQ magazine compared to other fashion and lifestyle magazines designed for men. A few research investigated advertisements published in GQ

14 magazine (Hurd Clarke et al. 2014; Thompson, 2015). Jacqueline Lambiase and Tom Reichert (2005) state that trendy and high circulated men's magazines such as FHM, Maxim, Stuff, former magazines Loaded and Details, have been extensively investigated in terms of their content, advertisements and cover images, and yet scholars argue that focus on men's magazine covers is still very limited in academia. As a result, Lambiase and Reichert (2005) conducted research that aimed to grasp if men's magazines Details, Esquire, GQ, and Rolling Stone followed Maxim's representational practice – featuring women with the emphasis on their bodies and sexuality. Lambiase and Reichert (2005) argue that Maxim magazine covers have been attention-getting not only among its readers but also among press and trade articles. Therefore, Maxim has been widely analysed in media research. Lambiase and Reichert's (2005) study showed that between 1995 to 2000, the period including Maxim's debut in 1997, women were more likely to appear on magazine covers than men, and sexualised tone increased after Maxim's debut. One part of the analysis was focused on the comparison between two different periods: before Maxim's debut (1995-1997) and the period after Maxim's debut (1995-2000). The comparison indicated that the only thing that has not changed is the pose of model: "pose" was similar both before and after—most persons were shown standing—body view, lack of clothing, and sexual tone increased after Maxim's debut. For instance, 32% of covers contained "head shots" beforehand, compared to only 19% afterward" (Lambiase and Reichert 2005:79). Scholars concluded that men's magazines have steadily adopted Maxim's representational practice of covers. However, Lambiase and Reichert's (2005) analysis provided general information about all analysed magazines and did not distinguish GQ magazine and the changes of GQ's representational pattern as such. Also, the sample included magazine covers from 1995 to 2000. This study includes data from a more extensive period of GQ publications and has a specific focus on GQ covers.

Although this study does not focus on the magazine market and circulation of the magazine, it is important to briefly explain another reason behind the objectified and sexualised women's representation in men's magazines. As it was stated earlier, women are featured 'to-be-looked- at-ness' considering males gaze and their visual desire. Lambiase and Reichert (2005) state that there is a massive competition in the magazine market and the images of sexualised women work as a strategy to sell more magazines. According to Jeff Gremillion (1997), "Maxim has achieved success because it has "devoted its covers to B-list female celebs, with an accent on cleavage and come-hither looks . . . and fashion spreads with lots of buxom models as set dressing" (Gremillion cited in Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 69). Lambiase and

15 Reichert referred to Tom Reichert's (2005) study that "assessed the effects of sexy cover content found that sexual attractiveness of the cover model, and the subsequent sexual arousal it generated, were related to interest in the magazine" (Reichert in Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 73). Lambiase and Reichert (2005) suggest that adage "sex sells" appears to carry currency in the current men's magazine market and beyond" (Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 73).

Jonathan Bignell (2002) analysed signs and codes expressed in monthly magazines that aimed at women and men by employing the semiotics approach. He argues that women's image operates as a visual sign per se: "the photographs of scantily dressed women which make up a significant proportion of visual signs in men's style magazines very often have a connection with consumer media culture" (Bignell 2002: 61). Thus, sexualised representational patterns are employed not only for boosting magazine's sales but also for triggering men to purchase more products advertised in magazines. Bignell (2002) claims that specific construction of signs creates the mythic men's world that "is a world of consumption, including not only buying but also 'consuming' by gazing at many kinds of media imagery" including women who appears on the magazine covers (Bignell 2002: 61). Interestingly, famous women claim that the sexualised representation of women is of cooperative nature of "publishers and models/actors working together to produce the ideal look…and have been empowered by their "exposure" (Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 81-82). However, Julienne Dickey (1987) argues that those "are representations of a male-defined ideal; we might argue that men find it easier to 'consume' depersonalised images than to relate to 'real' women, and that this consumption enhances their perceptions of their own power" (Dickey cited in Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 82).

Taking everything that was stated in sections above, the representation arguably relates to power: the specific representational practices operate either as advantaging or disadvantaging different social groups. The intersectionality theory recognises that differentials among different social groups are formed by intersections of different social categories: gender, race, sexuality. A broader explanation of the intersectionality approach will be provided in the following section.

16 2.5. Intersectionality

Many intersectionality scholars (McCall 2005; Lykke 2010; Walby et al. 2012; Collins and Bilge 2016) state that the intersectionality term first was highlighted by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989,1991). However, scholars (Collins and Bilge 2016; Yuval-Davis 2005; Lykke, 2010) acknowledge that the intersectionality has existed under other names before the official definition. I argue that the outline of the definitions of intersectionality, which existed before Crenshaw's definition, it is too great for this project considering the required length of master thesis. Consequently, this section introduces to Crenshaw's work, followed by the other two works. It is important to emphasise that this section does not aim to provide detailed chronological development of intersectionality but rather to present scholars whose work and ideas have been accepted as significant for intersectionality advancement.

2.5.1. Intersectional black women's live experiences

Sylvia Walby, Jo Armstrong, and Sofia Strid (2012) claim that Crenshaw "in developing the field of intersectionality is sufficiently significant that her work is very frequently cited in later literature" (Walby, Armstrong and Strid 2012:226). Crenshaw's contribution to the intersectionality field is praised as well as her research per se because her analysis revealed black women's invisibility in the US social justice system. According to Lykke (2010), Crenshaw's development of the intersectionality concept was followed by aspiration "to create an appropriate tool for analysing and resisting discrimination and exclusion of women of color" (Lykke 2010:71).

Crenshaw (1991) established the intersectionality concept by criticising identity politics, antiracism politics, and feminism theory. In her first work, Crenshaw (1989) explained issues of black women's employment experiences in the US by examining court cases, anti- discrimination doctrines, and public policy debates. She claims that "in race discrimination cases, discrimination tends to be viewed in terms of sex- or class-privileged Blacks; in sex discrimination cases, the focus is on race and class-privileged women" (Crenshaw 1989: 140). Considering her works altogether, generally, Crenshaw (1989,1991) suggests that race and gender should be treated as mutually inclusive categories that shape the multidimensional black women's experience. Crenshaw (1991) states that feminism and antiracism politics lack the acknowledgement that people's identities are intersectional. So, considering one dimension of black women's identities, for instance, only race or gender, antiracism politics is unable to grasp power differences within the same social group. For example, while white

17 women experience social inequality because of their gender, black women experience double marginalisation "because of their intersectional identity as both women and of color within discourses that are shaped to respond to one or the other, women of color are marginalised within both" (Crenshaw 1991: 1244).

Crenshaw was more specific in her other work and defined two kinds of intersectionality. Crenshaw (1991) analysed cases of violence against women of colour and considered that the outcome of those violent experiences is the overlapping effect of racism and sexism. She also presented how social projects such as battered women's shelters produce structural intersectionality. The structural intersectionality signifies intersections of unequal social groups and considers that black women's experiences of battering and rape profoundly differ from those of white women (Crenshaw 1991). Therefore, support and help systems designed based on white women's experiences do not work for women of colour but even makes the situation worse – intensifies exclusion of women of colour. Crenshaw describes 'intervention strategies based solely on the experiences of women who do not share the same class or race backgrounds will be of limited help to women who because of race and class face different obstacles" (Crenshaw 1991:1246). Political intersectionality suggests that political projects and legislations should be revised and reformulated considering that gender and race are interwoven and that women of colour, who belong to two marginalised groups – blacks and women – experience social injustice by being at the centre of conflicting political agendas (Crenshaw 1991). Crenshaw (1991) claims that:

“Among the most troubling political consequences of the failure of antiracist and feminist discourses to address the intersections of race and gender is the fact that, to the extent they can forward the interest of “people of color” and “women”, respectively, one analysis often implicitly denies the validity of the other. The failure of feminism to interrogate race means that resistance strategies of feminism will often replicate and reinforce the subordination of people of color, and the failure of antiracism to interrogate patriarchy means that antiracism will frequently reproduce the subordination of women” (Crenshaw 1991:1252).

Crenshaw's approach seems to be acceptable and reasonable since the establishment of her approach is grounded in the lived black women's experience and are reasoned by the comprehensive analysis of policy projects and court. However, a serious weakness with her approach is that she focuses only on black women, and claiming that the intersectionality is a tool to grasp the specific forms of social injustice such as racism and sexism. Since Crenshaw (1989, 1991) focuses on the fixed identity category – black women – it seems that her

18 approach generalises that only black women's identities are intersectional, and only their experience can be analysed by applying the intersectionality approach. I argue that this is the major flaw in Crenshaw's approach, and it raises questions if her intersectionality concept can be employed in the analysis which includes other races than black and another gender than women, and other social injustice forms, for instance, discrimination of sexuality. Therefore, Crenshaw's intersectionality perspective has been accepted as being limited among intersectionality scholars, and her perspective has not escaped criticism.

The next two sections introduce two approaches that noticed some weaknesses of Crenshaw's approach and extended the application of intersectionality.

2.5.2. Intersectionality and social divisions

Crenshaw's approach was criticised by Nira Yuval-Davis (2006, 2015) in her work by emphasising that intersectionality "should be applied to all people and not just to marginalised and racialised women, with whom the rise of intersectionality theory is historically linked" (Yuval-Davis 2015:93). Yuval-Davis constructs her approach of intersectionality in "more general terms, applicable to any grouping of people, advantaged as well as disadvantaged" (Yuval-Davis 2006:201). She argues that the intersectionality approach meant to be the analytical tool to understanding that identities are multidimensional, however, it has "become a kind of fragmented identity politics, in which the focus is no longer, for instance, women or Blacks, but Black women" (Yuval-Davis 2015:93). That is to say, analysis claiming that only intersections between gender and race produce multidimensional obstacles, emphasises fixed identity groups and does not indicate the dynamic process of identities (Yuval-Davis 2006). Therefore, Yuval-Davis emphasises the importance of acknowledging positioning, location, the cultural and historical context in the intersectional analysis (Yuval-Davis 2006). For example, "in some cultural traditions the elderly are considered to be wise while in others the elderly can be constructed as in 'second childhood' (Yuval-Davis 2006:199). Some social categories can be emphasised more than others and have more influence on producing social inequality with regard to specific location and context. Thus, Yuval-Davis (2006) suggests that more social categories should be incorporated into the intersectionality analysis rather than employing the traditional model of 'triple oppression' – race, gender, and class – formulated by black feminists.

Additionally, Yuval-Davis uses the term social divisions and claims that "social divisions are about macro axes of social power, but also involve actual, concrete people" (Yuval-Davis

19 2006:198). According to Yuval-Davis' approach of intersectionality, that analysis aims to examine "the differential ways in which different social divisions are concretely enmeshed and constructed by each other and how they relate to political and subjective constructions of identities" (Yuval-Davis 2006:205). She claims that social divisions manifest in four different forms: organisational, intersubjective, experiential, and representational (Yuval-Davis 2006). The organisational social divisions are expressed by "state laws and state agencies, trade unions, voluntary organisations and family" (Yuval-Davis 2006:198). The intersubjective form of social divisions manifests in specific power relationships that affect actual people, sometimes informally. The experiential social divisions appear in people's daily lives: how people experience themselves and others. The representational form is expressed "in images and symbols, text and ideologies" (Yuval-Davis 2006:198).

Yuval Davis examined how the intersectionality concept was incorporated into international public debates for "political, legal and policy purposes, especially in forum discussing UN human rights' discourse" (Yuval-Davis 2006:196). Additionally, she reviewed what specific methodological tools are constructed and employed in those public discourses, and she outlined the advantages and disadvantages of those tools. Yuval-Davis emphasises that the intersectional methodology used in policies should examine the different forms of social divisions separately, and it would let to avoid the "fragmented, additive model of oppression and essentialise specific identities" (Yuval-Davis 2006:205).

Yuval-Davis' intersectionality concept seems to be innovative and works as a multi-axes framework. Therefore, some of her ideas are applied to this study. For instance, her claim that social divisions exist in representational form seems suitable for the analysis of representational practices. Additionally, since this study focuses on intersections between three different social categories – gender, race, sexuality-, it is accordingly supporting Yuval- Davis suggestions on including more social categories and focusing not only on one long- standing interest of black women. However, Yuval-Davis claimed that intersectionality seeks to grasp how different social divisions are constructed and how they interact with the constructions of identities. This study does not focus on identities. Consequently, an additional perspective of intersectionality is necessary for this study. Thus, the next section introduces another approach of intersectionality that seems to be the most suitable for this study.

20 2.5.3. Intersectionality in the real world

Before official naming of intersectionality, Patricia Hill Collins expressed her black feminist thought by stating that black women experience triple oppression because they are women, black and from the working class: "paradigm of race, gender and class works as interlocking systems of oppression" (Collins 1990: 221). Collins (1990) suggested that other social axes such as religion, sexual orientation, and age are essential and must be included in analysing black women's experience, that is significantly different from what Crenshaw (1991) suggested one year later. Collin's perspective seemed promising multi-axes framework. However, at that time, her main focus was on fixed identity group - black women – the same focus as Crenshaw (1989,1991) had. Two decades later, in Collin's collaboration book with Sirma Bilge, Collins and Bilge (2016) provided an extensive definition of intersectionality, focusing on all human experiences rather than only oppression, and they did not specify any fixed social groups:

"Intersectionality is a way to understanding and analysing the complexity in the world, in people, and in human experiences. The events and conditions of social and political life and the self can seldom be understood as shaped by one factor. They are generally shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways. When it comes to social inequality, people's lives and the organisation of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but by many axes that work together and influence each other. Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and of themselves" (Collins and Bilge 2016:2).

Additionally, Collin and Bilge (2016) suggest that intersectionality is not only a critical inquiry but also a critical praxis. They see "both scholarship and practice as intimately linked and mutually informing each other, rejecting views that see theory as superior to practice" (Collins and Bilge 2016:42). They state that scholars, universities, and colleges have a stake in the advancement of intersectionality perspective, yet these advancements, as Collins and Bilge argue, are frequently narrow. Therefore, the greater recognition should be given to practical applications of intersectionality occurring in the real-life setting and to real-life problems rather than praising only intellectual side of intersectionality: "people take actions that are far broader than passively receiving knowledge or contemplating or even criticising the world around them" (Collins and Bilge 2016:34). Thus, intersectionality as a form of praxis is a tool for examining "a range of topics and…can occur anywhere…can take many

21 forms…is also a tool for empowering people" (Collins and Bilge 2016:30-31). It has been shown above that the intersectionality approach is widely addressed in the politics of identity, human rights discourses, and international policies (mainly of the United Nations). Therefore, the application of intersectionality has been bounded, and there was a lack of understanding that social inequalities or, as Collins and Bilge (2016) stated, any social complexities occur in different forms than policies, laws, and legislation.

Collins and Bilge (2016) provide a few examples of how intersectionality can be employed in the examination of various topics that allow us to grasp the complexity of social inequality. Collins and Bilge (2016) provide detailed instructions on how the intersectional analysis as an analytical tool can be employed in the examination of global events. For example, analysing the organisational structure of football by investigating the FIFA World Cup, focusing on global social inequality problems. Another example, the examination of actions of Afro- Brazilian women's movements in the matter of tackling racism and sexism (Collins and Bilge 2016). Furthermore, the attention is drawn on practical employment of intersectionality to the real-world and to different areas (social work, criminology, pedagogy, public health) for solving social problems. It is illustrated by providing examples of already employed intersectional practices, initiatives and also probable applications, that indicate that intersectionality is undoubtedly accessible and practical beyond academia (Collins and Bilge 2016).

Collins and Bilge (2016) express their criticism about intersectionality scholar's claims that intersectionality is a theory of identity and feminist theory. Their attitude significantly differs from already mentioned Crenshaw's and Yuval-Davis' approaches. The former focused on feminist theory and identity politics. Hence, her approach was accepted as the establishment of feminist theory and identity politics; the latter stated that "intersectionality can be described as a development of feminist standpoint theory" (Yuval-Davis 2011:27). Collins and Bilge (2016) argue that defining intersectionality as a feminist theory of identity, however, is a narrow pathway to determine intersectionality. They argue that intersectionality has been understood as a theory of identity because identity has been central in a significant number of intersectional analysis, and "intersectionality does value the richness of multiple identities that make each individual unique…but intersectionality also means much more than this" (Collins and Bilge 2016:115). In other words, intersectionality can be applied to the analysis, which would not necessarily focus on identity.

22 Collins and Bilge (2016) shed a significantly different light on intersectionality. They stress that intersectionality approach is highly attainable. The emphasis of the practical side of intersectionality endorsed by comprehensive examples from the real world enhances the universality of the intersectionality approach. Moreover, Collins and Bilge (2016) avoid predetermined social categories, social identity groups, and the forms of social inequalities and social injustice.

Since the importance of this research is the employment of different social categories such as gender, race, and sexuality and focus on various social groups, Collins and Bilge's (2016) approach is applied here. Moreover, this study supports their idea that intersectionality is more than a theory of identity. Finally, Collins and Bilge's (2016) approach allows us to perceive any social process or social relationship as being complex; thus, no social mechanism, inequalities, and injustice need to be determined in advance as it has been done in Crenshaw's and Yuval-Davi's work. Therefore, in addition to the earlier claimed statement that the representation here is understood as socially constructed, it can be added that the representation is a complex process "that is shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways" (Collins and Bilge 2016:2).

23 3. Methodology

The methodology of this study employs a mixed-method approach and includes a two-phase analysis. Firstly, the quantitative content analysis will be conducted, followed by the social semiotic analysis. John W. Creswell (2014) suggests "that each type of data collection has both limitations and strengths, we can consider how the strengths can be combined to develop a stronger understanding of the research problem or questions (and, as well, overcome the limitations of each)" (Creswell 2014: 263). Drawing of that statement, combining two different methods here is considered as complementing each other. What cannot be unrevealed about research problems by the quantitative content analysis can be complemented by a qualitative method such as a social semiotic analysis, and vice versa.

A mixed-method approach is beneficial for this study. The quantitative content analysis addresses the representational patterns on GQ covers and the frequency distribution of those patterns. In contrast, the social semiotic analysis addresses the additional meaning imparted by those patterns in conjunction with visual signs and text in a broader sense that cannot be recognised by the quantitative analysis. Consequently, both methods address both research questions:

RQ1: What representational patterns are constructed on GQ covers with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections? Moreover, to what extent those patterns occur?

RQ2: What meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the composition of visual signs and text on GQ covers? Moreover, what is the social effect of that meaning with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections?

"Methodologically, intersectionality is a multi-method approach that can be used in quantitative as well as quantitative studies" (Barnum and Zajicek 2008:111). Additionally, the methodology of intersectionality is embedded in both analyses in this study. Leslie McCall (2008) suggests three methodological approaches to intersectionality, and one of them - inter- categorical approach – is used as a method in this study. The inter-categorical approach requires comparison; thus, the quantitative content analysis and the semiotic analysis will be

24 comparative. All three McCall's (2008) approaches and the application of the inter-categorical approach to this study are thoroughly explained in the separate section below.

3.1.Three methodological approaches to intersectionality: anti-, inter- and intra- categorical

Leslie McCall (2008) discusses three different approaches for exploring "complexity of intersectionality in social life" (McCall 2005: 1772). She emphasises not the complexity as such, but that the specific methodology of intersectionality allows studying social relations and experiences which are very complex and diverse, and grasping that complexity existing in the world (McCall 2005). Her approaches "are defined principally in terms of their stance toward categories, that is, how they understand and use analytical categories to explore complexity of intersectionality in social life" (McCall 2005:1773). All three approaches are explained here. Showing how they differ makes it more evident why a specific approach has been chosen and how it will benefit for this study.

The first approach is anti-categorical complexity "based on a methodology that deconstructs analytical categories" (McCall 2005:1773). According to McCall, comparing all three approaches, anti-categorical complexity has been revealing complexity very successfully by developing "great skepticism about the possibility of using categories in anything but a simplistic way" (McCall 2005:1773). The anti-categorical approach claims that the social process of categorisation leads to creating boundaries, differences, and inequalities. Generally, for scholars who apply anti-categorical complexity, the emphasis is "on socially constructed nature of gender and other categories and the fact that a wide range different experiences, identities, and social locations fail to fit neatly into any single "masters" category" (McCall 2005:1777).

The second approach is intra-categorical complexity. Scholars employing this approach focus on a particular social group and place it at the intersections of multiple categories. The intra- categorical complexity is usually applied for examining marginalised identities. For instance, this approach is evident in previously mentioned Crenshaw's (1989, 1991) and Collins' (1990) work where they focused on black women. The latter examined them as a single social group which was placed in unique intersections of race and gender. The former studied black women as the single social group and positioned it at the intersections of race, gender, and class. McCall states that this approach falls "in the continuum between the first approach,

25 which rejects categories, and the third approach, which uses them strategically" (McCall 2005:1773).

The third approach, inter-categorical complexity, sometimes also called categorical complexity, is not very known and widely applied. The approach is complicated, yet as McCall firmly believes, it is the most advanced approach which allows us to study "the intersections of the full set of dimensions of multiple categories and thus examine both advantaged and disadvantage explicitly and simultaneously" (McCall 2005:1787). The inter- categorical complexity "begins with observation that there are relationships of inequality among already constituted social groups, as imperfect and ever changing as they are, and takes those relationships as the center of analysis" (McCall 2005:1785). The method requires the systematic use of categories, and the analysis itself is comparative. McCall gives an example of how inter-categorical complexity should be applied as a methodological tool into the intersectional analysis:

"The incorporation of gender as an analytical category into such an analysis assumes that two groups will be compared systematically—men and women. If the category of class is incorporated, then gender must be cross-classified with class, which is composed (for simplicity) of three categories (working, middle, and upper), thus creating six groups. If race-ethnicity is incorporated into the analysis, and it consists of only two groups, then the number of groups expands to twelve" (McCall 2005:1786).

Even though McCall (2005) claims that intersectionality is the feminist theory, she argues that her intersectional methodology can be applied to research from any other discipline. She justifies this statement by referring to her intersectional analysis of racial wage inequality in the USA (McCall, 2001). McCall states, "my own research provides a concrete example of how the methodology of categorical complexity is informed by feminist work on intersectionality and yet applicable in other interdisciplinary sites" (McCall 2005:1788). Therefore, the research employing the inter-categorical approach "falls outside the core of the feminist theory" (McCall 2005:1781). This approach has not been embraced by feminist scholarships and remains to be widely applicable outside women's studies (McCall 2005).

The inter-categorical approach seems innovative and easily adaptable because it does not stick to any specific discipline and can be employed in intersectional research in any field of study, such as the analysis of the representational practice of visual media. It was stated in the

26 previous sections that this study relies on Yuval-Davis' and Collins and Bilge's (2016) approach that emphasises the importance of multiple groups and criticises the overemphasis of fixed groups in intersectionality analysis. Consequently, the inter-categorical methodological approach to intersectionality is the most suitable for this study.

3.2.Quantitative Content Analysis

The quantitative part of the study revolves around the first research question: What representational patterns are constructed on GQ covers with specific regard to gender-race- sexuality intersections? Moreover, to what extent those patterns occur? The quantitative content analysis seems to be the most suitable method for answering these questions. The quantitative content analysis offers a systematical "reading of images, text, and any other symbolic matter" (Krippendorff 2013:10). Also, the quantitative content analysis leads to grasping the patterns that "single cases cannot reveal" (Krippendorf 2013:85).

Moreover, quantitative content analysis allows to "count frequencies of certain visual elements and analyse those frequencies" (Rose 2016: 88). Consequently, the quantitative content analysis will operate here as a systematical reading of GQ cover images and will allow us to grasp GQ's representational patterns. Also, the quantitative content analysis works here as a numerical process that will provide the frequency distribution of those representational patterns. The categories of gender, race, and sexuality were operationalised into codes and embedded in the coding scheme (see Appendix A) for counting the occurrence of those social categories and grasping intersections between them. Additionally, the gender- race-sexuality intersections of representational patterns and their meaning will be identified by integrating McCall's inter-categorical approach.

3.2.1. Sample selection

The accessibility to GQ magazine covers has influenced the process of sample selection. In the official GQ's website, the covers are available from 1957 to December 2017. Until March 1975, GQ magazine covers depict not only people but also illustrations. This research seeks to investigate cover photographs that portray live human, thus covers from the period of 1957 to March 1975 were excluded. The cover lines accompanying cover photographs will be analysed in the qualitative part of the research. Therefore, the sample included only the cover photos that are accompanied by the cover lines stating a person's name depicted on the cover.

27 The publication of cover lines associated with cover photo started in 1978. However, until 1984 cover line did not appear on every single monthly issue and was published irregularly. The quantitative analysis aim is linked to patterns and consistency; thus, it was decided that sample will consist of issues published from 1984 to 2017 when the publication of cover lines accompanying cover photographs was consistent.

The random sampling technique was applied. According to Rose (2016), random sampling requires "a random number generator to pick out a significant number of images to analyse" (Rose 2016: 90). This research random number generator was the first issue of each quarter: January, April, July, and October. However, on some GQ's publications the cover line was unconnected to a cover photo and the person featured on the cover. For example, the publications in April 1993, July 1994, April 1998. In these cases, the next months' issue was selected: May 1993, August 1994, May 1998. Also, from 2012, every April and October, and one time in July 2015, three or more different issues were published per each month. In these cases, only one issue that appears the first in the sequence of listed covers in the GQ's website was selected. In total, the data set included 136 GQ magazine issues that can be found in Appendix C.

3.2.2.Reliability

This study acknowledges that a quantitative content analysis is a research technique that is expected to be reliable (Krippendorff 2013). The classical methods for establishing reliability are inter-coder agreement or reliability test (Neuendorf 2002; Krippendorff 2013). These measurements here are understood as preferable and additional, and coding scheme is recognised as an obligatory technique that operates as an assurance of reliability. In this study, the codes that define representation were operationalised and set up in the coding scheme (see Appendix A), and thus the coding scheme vouchers for the reliability of the quantitative content analysis. The vast majority of variables and values in this study's coding scheme were adopted from the previous research that has employed the inter-coder agreement. Although this study created a few additional categories, they are exhaustive and mutually exclusive since they were established depending on the theoretical framework and the secondary information from reliable sources such as government agencies.

28 3.3. Social Semiotics

The qualitative part of the study focuses on answering the second research question: What meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the composition of visual signs and text on GQ covers? Moreover, what is the social effect of that meaning with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections? Remembering that theory section indicated that GQ magazine covers here are understood as multimodal text that combined visual signs and text, can be investigated by applying the social semiotics approach. The composition of visual mode and text on GQ covers will be examined by applying two compositional principles – information value and salience – established by Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006). Information value focuses on how elements are placed and how they are attached to particular 'zones' of the image: left and right, top and bottom, centre, and margin. It indicates 'where things can go' and how the positioning of the elements in a composition endows these elements with different information values in relation to other elements" (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006: 201). The salience grasps which element is the most important and gets the most viewer's attention. In other words, the salience shows the hierarchy of placed elements regarding their importance. The degree of salience can be measure by visual clues such as "placement in the foreground or background, relative size, contrasts in tonal value (or colour), differences in sharpness, etc." (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006: 202). These two principles will be applied for both visual signs, any visual element on the cover that cannot be considered as written text, and to cover lines that are considered as linguistic signs.

Also, remembering mentioned Kress's (2010) idea that what cannot be said by the written text can be defined by the image, the social semiotic analysis allows us to grasp the linkage between the cover image and the cover text and indicate what meaning that conjunction imparts. In order to examine that, Van Leeuwen's (2005) approach about visual-verbal linking is applied here (see Table 1 below).

29 Table 1: Overview of visual-verbal linking (Van Leeuwen 2005: 230).

Image-text relations Elaboration Specification The image makes the text more specific (illustration)

The text makes the image more specific (anchorage)

Explanation The text paraphrases the image (or vice versa) Extension Similarity The content of the text is similar to that of the image

Contrast The content of the text contrast with that of the image

Complement The content of the image adds further information to that of the text, and vice versa (‘relay’)

Additionally, Rose (2016) states that semiotic scholars "are centrally concerned with the ways in which social difference is created", and acknowledge that those differences are "constructed and articulated through the working of signs in images themselves" (Rose 2016: 109). Also, the social semiotics approach recognises that using specific signs to convey specific meaning is always a thoughtful decision. That meaning always benefits someone, usually, the sign makers, and simultaneously disadvantages someone (Kress 2010; Jewitt et al. 2016). Therefore, social semiotics allows us to understand the social effects of meaning (Rose 2016).

As in the quantitative content analysis, so in social semiotic analysis, intersectionality between gender-race-sexuality will be identified and analysed by employing McCall's inter- categorical approach.

3.3.1. Sample selection

Since this study combines two different methods, a sample for semiotic analysis was selected from the 136 GQ covers used for the quantitative content analysis. The quality of covers influenced the selection process. GQ covers that are low-resolution were rejected because cover lines on them are blurred and impossible to read. Therefore, the sample included only high-resolution covers on which text can be clearly read. The final data set was selected

30 relying or Rose's (2016) suggestions that "semiologists of any sort seem to choose their images on the basis how conceptually interest they are," and images that can explain the social significance of meaning-making (Rose 2016: 110). McCall's approach helped to choose the most significant GQ covers. Since the inter-categorical approach focuses on multiple social groups and places them at the centre in comparative analysis, it was decided to select those GQ covers that will allow them to constitute multiplicity. Therefore, 6 GQ covers were selected that depict:

1. white female 2. white male 3. black female 4. black male 5. female of mixed-race 6. male of mixed-race.

Suitable size covers will be embedded in the section of semiotic analysis results. The bigger size covers are available in Appendix B.

3.3.2. Reliability

Rose (2016) argues that the meaning of each sign is complex since that meaning is multiple. Also, Hall (2013) states that every compositional visual carries more than one meaning, which is often ambiguous. "It is worth emphasising that there is no single or 'correct' answer to the question, 'What does this image mean?' or 'What is this ad saying?' (Hall 2013: xxv). He suggests that instead of trying to grasp the 'right' meaning, the focus should be on grasping the preferred meaning. For instance, if the focus is on magazine covers, then the analysis should seek to find out which of many meanings on the cover does the magazine mean to privilege. Kress and Van Leeuwen's (2006) framework of concrete compositional principles work here as the guidance for grasping that preferred meaning that will lead to objective interpretations. Also, embedding results of the quantitative content analysis will operate here as measures for assuring impartial interpretations since the quantitative data is always considered more reliable than the qualitative data.

31 4. Results and Analysis

This section is divided into two parts. The first part presents results that address RQ1: What representational patterns are constructed on GQ covers with specific regard to gender-race- sexuality intersections? Moreover, to what extent those patterns occur?

The second part presents the social semiotic analysis addressing RQ2: What meaning is conveyed via those representational patterns in conjunction with the composition of visual signs and text on GQ covers? Moreover, what is the social effect of that meaning with specific regard to gender-race-sexuality intersections? Also, this part will operate as a discussion section, incorporating the quantitative results into the social semiotic analysis.

4.1. Results of quantitative content analysis

4.1.1. Domination of whiteness, maleness, and heterosexuality

The findings indicated that the vast majority of GQ magazine covers depicted a single male (80.5%), followed by a single female (18.4%) and the depiction of females and males together (1.5%). The results showed that categories of white, male, and heterosexuality intersected to the greatest extent. The striking result to emerge from the data was that white heterosexual men amounted to 79% of the total of covers depicting one man, two men, and a group of men (see Figure 1 below). The non-white males constituted a minor number of represented males: 18% of covers depicted black and African American males followed by mixed-race males (2%), and people who fall into a category ‘other race’ (2%). Asians, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders were not represented at all on GQ covers.

Interestingly, the vast majority of the covers featuring a group of men portrayed white men together with black or African American. Only one cover depicted three men on the same cover whom all fall into a category ‘other race’. In comparison with covers depicting males and females together, all cover models on them were white.

32

Heterosexual men

white 3% 2% 3%

black or African 13% American

white and black or African American together 79% mixed race

other race

Figure 1: Frequency distribution of coding categories for male, two males, group of the males, race and sexuality on GQ covers.

The categories of white, female, and heterosexuality intersected to the greatest extent compare to the intersections of non-white, female, and heterosexuality. Covers representing white heterosexual women amounted to 21 of the total of covers that depicted a single woman. Covers featuring black or African American and mixed-race women were equal – 2 covers for each category.

The comparison between the male-race intersections and the women-race intersections revealed that black women are underrepresented compared to black men (see Figure 2 below). Covers featured black man amounted to 11% of the total covers featuring single models. Relatively covers portraying black women accounted for 2% of the total covers portraying single models. Remarkably, white women amount to a large proportion of representation comparing to black men and to all gender models that fall into categories ‘mixed-race’ or ‘other race’. These results lend to support to previous findings in the literature (Arakaki and Cassidy 2014; Frisby 2017) that showed that black people are underrepresented on magazine covers. The correlation between mixed-race, other race, male and female showed that both females and males that fall into categories mixed-race and other race constituted the same percentage of the total covers featuring single cover models.

33 Race and gender 70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% white black or Asian American Native mixed other race African Indian and Hawaiian race American Alaska and other Native Pacific Islander Male Female

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of coding category gender and race on GQ covers featured single cover models.

As regards sexuality, the heterosexuality is predominant, and other types of sexuality is excluded. All 136 GQ magazine covers represented people who are heterosexual in real life. All six covers which portrayed more than one male did not imply heterosexuality or homosexuality. In terms of visually expressed sexuality, GQ covers represented men in a very neutral manner. Two covers depicted one man with a group of women. Only one of them portrayed intimate touching: two women were very closely standing next to the man, and both women embraced the men with their legs. That is counted as implying heterosexuality.

4.1.2. Skin exposure

The striking results of skin exposure confirmed previous studies (Krassas, Blauwkamp and Wesselink, 2003; Lambiase and Reichert, 2005; DuBois, Primm and Regoli, 2007; Hatton and Trautner, 2011; Wasike, 2017) and indicated that women’s skin is more likely to be exposed on GQ magazine covers than men’s skin. The analysis demonstrated that out of the total 111 covers which portrayed men, 103 covers depicted men fully clothed, and only on one cover, one man was depicted nude. In comparison to it, out of the total 25 covers which represented women alone, on all of them, women’s skin was exposed at a certain extent, and

34 40% of the covers portrayed women wearing only undergarments or bikini, followed by 20% of the covers depicted nude women. Figures 3 and 4 show the frequency of categories for males, females, and skin exposure.

Females

nude botomless topless wearing only undergarments or bikini exposed torso exposed bust exposed midriff exposed arms and/or shoulders exposed legs fully clothed

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Figure 3: Frequency distribution of categories for females and skin exposure in numbers.

Males

nude botomless topless wearing only undergarments or bikini exposed torso exposed bust exposed midriff exposed arms and/or shoulders exposed legs fully clothed

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Figure 4: Frequency distribution of categories for males and skin exposure in numbers.

In the cases when males and females were represented on the same GQ cover, women’s skin was more exposed than the men’s. For example, the 1993 July cover featuring Robert Downey Jr. wearing a suit, and he is surrounded by four females whose arms and legs are exposed. Another example is from the 2006 July cover. It depicts Will Ferrell standing in the

35 middle of two women wearing an only bikini, whereas Will Ferrell is wearing much more clothing: t-shirts and shorts (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: 1993 July cover featuring Robert Downey Jr., left; 2006 July cover featuring Will Ferrell.

4.1.3. Intersections of clothing, body view, and pose categories

The findings show that there is a tendency to portrait men standing, fully clothed when the full or ¾ of their body is apparent on GQ magazine covers (see Table 2 below). A slightly more than a third of covers featuring men individually (35.7%) showed them fully clothed, standing, and in a full or ¾ body shot. Surprisingly, covers that exposed men’s skin to a great extent also exposed their body’s view to a high degree. The cover featured the topless man portrayed him in a bust view, and the cover featured the nude man portrayed him in a body view.

36 Table 2: Frequency distribution of categories for male, body view and clothing in numbers.

Body view Face/headshot Full Torso Bust Clothing body or ¾ body Fully clothed 26 47 13 12 Exposed torso 2 Exposed legs 1 Topless 1 Nude 1

In comparison with the men, women’s representational patterns are significantly different, implying that women’s skin is exposed more, and women’s body view is exposed at large degree and more frequently. If a female is depicted wearing only undergarments/bikini or being nude, she is more likely to be depicted in a full-body or ¾ body shot (see Table 3 below). The frequency of full body view and different poses for women were as follows: standing (19.3%), sitting (9.7%), and kneeling (3.2%). Interestingly, a slightly more than a fifth of the covers featuring a man (22.6%), depicted them facing forward and in face shot, whereas none of the women were featured facing forward and in face shot. Also, none of the covers featured women in an active pose. Although the number of covers depicting men in the active pose was not significant - only four covers featured men in active pose out of the total 111 covers portraying men.

Table 3: Frequency distribution of categories for females, body view and clothing in numbers.

Body view Face/headshot Full Torso Bust body or Clothing ¾ body Fully clothed Exposed torso 1 Exposed legs 3 Exposed arms 2 Exposed midrff 1 Exposed bust 2 1 Topless 3 1 Botomless 1 Nude 6 1 Wearing only 4 2 undergrments or bikini

37

The correlation between the time period and the frequency of women's appearance on GQ covers worth noting. Over the period from 1984 to 1996, women appeared only on one cover, and they were depicted together with one man. Since 2000 there has been a moderate increase of covers featuring women individually, specifically, in the period from 2000 to 2010 women were portrayed per each quarter. After 2010 women have appeared on covers more frequently, nearly at least one cover per year, compared to the time before 1996. These findings correlate with Lambiase and Reichert's (2005) study and support their idea that men's lifestyle magazines have been employing Maxim's representational practice of depicting sexualized women. Since Maxim's debut, "each Maxim cover has featured a scantily clad woman" (Lambiase and Reichert 2005: 69, emphasis added). This study indicates that Maxim's representation patterns have been adopted by GQ magazine by enlarging the number of covers featuring women.

There was a slight difference between the intersections of different men's racial groups, pose, and skin exposure. All men of white, black, mixed-race, and other race fell for category fully clothed. Covers featuring men topless, nude, with exposed arms or torso, were in favor of white men. Also, the category 'facing forward' was in favor of white men; only one cover depicted man of other race facing forward. Covers depicting two males or more showed them either facing forward or standing. The comparison between different women's race groups, poses, and skin exposure was not examined since the non-white make a tiny proportion of all covers featuring women; accordingly, the vast majority of different categories of pose and skin exposure are in favor of white women.

4.2. Social Semiotic Analysis and Discussion

4.2.1. Sexual objectification of women

The cover of the 1999 October issue captures white actress Ashley Judd in a full body view (see Figure 6 below). She is wearing a red short lace trim nightgown with keeping her breast, arms and legs explicitly exposed. The female is sitting on the couch and is leaning forward; this specific placement makes her breast even more exposed.

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Figure 6: The cover of the 1999 October issue.

The image of the woman takes almost all space on the cover. The separation between the main cover line and her image is evident: cover line positioned down at the bottom-left, whereas the woman takes all right side of the cover, and she is placed at the right-top. Regarding the principle of informative value, the female is depicted as something ideal: "what has been placed on the top is presented as the Ideal, and what has been placed at the bottom is put forward as the Real" (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006: 186). The information that is present as the ideal is usually the most salient part, and the real is the opposite and presents information that is not significant and only has a practical role. Evidently, the actress is the most salient sign of the whole composition. The great significance is achieved not only via the placement of women and the size of her picture, but also by the color contrast - women's red dress contrast with white background.

The main cover line 'Smart, Sexy Ashley Judd: A Ball-buster We Love' also gets into viewers' attention since the cover line is colored in black contrasts with white background. However, the placement of visual mode and text favors the image of female rather than emphasizing the importance of the text. Actress' surname is written in the big, bold font and is eye-catching; however, the word 'sexy' is also written in quite a big font and is attention-getting. Moreover,

39 'sexy' is the most salient word comparing to the other two words' smart' and 'a bull-buster' that can be ascribed as personal traits. In terms of text-image relations in meaning-making, the main cover line serves as elaboration – the word 'sexy' paraphrases what is already shown by a visually sexualized depiction of the woman; and as a complement – 'smart,' 'a ball-buster' adds other additional information about the woman that of her image. The other four cover lines are in small size, tightly aligned to the left cover edge by allowing the woman's body to be at the top in the hierarchy of importance of compositional elements.

Figure 7 (see below) shows black model Tyra Banks on the cover of the 2000 January issues. She is portrayed wearing only underwear, in a ¾ body shot. Even though the woman's long curly hair covers her breasts, Tyra's breasts are still extensively exposed. Visual signs such as a woman's red underwear and a red flower in her hair are eye-caching. The colour contrast between a very highly saturated black background and those red-colored signs makes the woman's image the most significant in the whole composition.

Figure 7: The cover of the 2000 January issue.

The specific integration of text mode and visual mode reinforces salience of the represented woman. The main cover line is placed at the bottom right and takes little space. The rest 6

40 cover lines are aligned to the left cover edge. Consequently, Tyra’s image constitutes more visual ‘weight’ than the rest of compositional elements on cover. In terms of role of visual- verbal linking in meaning-making, the main cover line ‘Tyra, Please Pull Your Hair Back!’ works as extension of image. The content of cover line is an invitation for Tyra to expose her body to a greater extent. Mulvey’s concept male gaze is very evident here. Although, the first analyzed cover depicting Ashley Judd is also presented as emphasizing her body, yet the cover line stresses her personal traits, whereas no personal traits are ascribed to Tyra and she is connoted only as to-be-looked-at-ness. The cover line operates as perspective to change a content of Tyra’s image. It implies that potential viewers have a desire for visual pleasure, and the request to pull Tyra’s hair back means that desire needs to be fulfilled better. Also, Tyra’s name is written in bold, red font which cooperates with other two red signs – underwear and flower in her hair. Moreover, the way that the main cover line is integrated into image, adds even more importance to women's breasts. The main cover line is placed at just a bit above the level of Tyra’s waist, and it naturally shifts the viewer's gaze to her breasts.

The cover of 2008 April issue features mixed-race model Adriana Lima in a ¾ body shot (see Figure 8 below). The woman is portrayed nude only covering her breasts with her hair, and her groin and left thigh is covered by palm leaf. The right thigh gets a bit of cover from leaf but is still exposed at greater extent than the left thigh. Consequently, the palm leaf is integrated into whole composition in the way that is attention-getting. It draws attention to the woman’s body which makes her the most salient compositional element of the cover. Additionally, the woman is placed at the center of the cover that serves as making her body eye-catching. Excluding the main cover line, there are 9 cover lines. They are closely integrated to each other and closely attached to each edge giving most of the space to be filled with the woman’s image. As both elbows are covered by small font text, the rest of the woman's body is completely visible. This specific text integration with visual signs results in intensifying importance of woman's image.

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Figure 8: The cover of the 2008 April issue.

The main cover line written in capital letters states: ‘OUR ANNUAL LOVE, SEX & MADNESS ISSUE STARRING ADRIANA LIMA.’ Regarding visual-verbal linking for meaning-making, the main cover line works as specification and explanation. ‘STARRING ADRIANA LIMA’ makes the image more specific and indicates what is presented in the image. Words ‘LOVE, SEX’, and the woman’s surname ‘LIMA’ are written in the same size, bold font. Therefore, all these three words carry the same weight and have the same importance. It implies that Lima personifies love and sex. Therefore, the line paraphrases what can already be seen – the image of a sexualized woman.

The composition of text and image verifies Bignell’s suggestion that women operate as visual signs per se. Additionally, to the main cover line that is related to love and sex topic, other cover lines are also related to the theme of love, sex, romance. Some cover lines state: ‘The strange life of the (very horny) godfather of soul’, or ‘Dying to be together, love in a war zone’. Therefore, Lima works as a visual sign that signifies love and sex. Drawing on Mulvey’s (1975) male gaze, only one attribute is ascribed to Lima that is an exhibitionist role to display special Love, Sex & Madness issue as it is explicitly stated in the cover line. Therefore, text and image are composed in that manner that Lima is portrayed as to-be- looked-at-ness.

42 On the whole, the sexualized objectification of women as a representational practice is evident on GQ magazine covers. The quantitative findings indicated that the vast majority of women are depicted exposing their skin to the greatest extent, being nude or wearing only undergarments, showing women in a full-body view. The semiotic analysis verified these results and additionally revealed that sexualization that is expressed via a specific body shot (full body shot, bust shot, etc.) and via a certain level of skin exposure is intensified by the specific composition of text and image. Firstly, the text does not draw so much attention as a woman’s image does. Therefore, the woman is the most important element on the whole cover. Secondly, text directly emphasizes women’s sexiness by using specific words. Finally, even though some personal traits are ascribed to female, still linguistic modes are linked to visual modes in the manner that the woman operates as a single visual sign that is designed to fulfill man’s visual desire.

4.2.2. Sharp representation of men

The cover of the 1997 October issue features white man – actor George Clooney (see Figure 9 below). He is fully dressed in a very sharp outfit, and in a ¾ body shot, and he is leaning to the wall.

Figure 9: The cover of the 1997 October issue.

43 In terms of information value, there is an apparent vertical composition of text and visual elements. The image of man is placed at the right cover edge, whereas seven cover lines are aligned to the left cover edge. Also, cover lines take someplace on the image; thus, man's body does not get much importance. Male's outfit is entirely black, and he is leaning to the wall that is saturated in soft color. This color contrast leads to paying attention to the man. Even though man's image seems eye-catching, the main cover line 'George Clooney and the Meaning of Guyness' also attracts viewer's attention. It is easily salient because the cover line is integrated by creating color contrast between black and white. Male's outfit is black, the cover line placed on man's image is written in big, bold, white font. Additionally, all textual elements take a great part of the whole composition and are placed on the image of man. As a result, the male's body view becomes covered in the text, and instead of exposing clear ¾ body view, the upper body (from the chest up) is greatly exposed. However, it seems that different modes are integrated very smoothly, and the composition is balanced.

"The viewers of spatial compositions are intuitively able to judge the 'weight' of the various elements of a composition, and the greater the weight of an element, the higher is salience" (Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006: 202). Judging the 'weight' of compositional elements allows us to recognize how those elements balance. On this specific cover, the text modes are important, but they are not the most salient, yet the visual mode also plays a significant part in the whole composition, but it is not leading. Consequently, visual and text sign have the same salience.

The overview of visual-verbal linking indicates that the main cover line gives additional information about a portrayed man. Interestingly, the word 'guyness' does not exist as such. Instead of using the word 'masculinity' or ‘maleness’, the alternative version of those terms was simply used. It can be interpreted that George Clooney is very aware of what masculinity is, and the text implies that Clooney embodies the 'guyness' that is significant, and the reader will be enlightened in the sense that 'guyness' has.

44

Figure 10: The cover of the 2017 July issue.

The cover of the 2017 July issue captures black actor Mahershala Ali in a ¾ body shot (Figure 10 above). He is sitting behind a table; thus, only his upper body is the most salient. The man is wearing a stylish, slightly unbuttoned t-shirts and probably trousers, so only his arms and neck are exposed. The text mode and visual mode are integrated in the way that the man is at the center of the whole composition. Eight cover lines written in a small font are aligned to the left cover edge. Comparing to other analyzed covers, this cover has a very long main cover line stating: ‘LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM SUMMER’ written in big, black, bold font, followed by text ‘STARRING OSCAR WINNER & GREAT AMERICAN’ written in smaller, white font, and ‘Mahershala Ali’ written in red font. The last two lines interrelate with man’s patterned t-shirts that combines the same colors – red and white. The cover line takes all corner at the bottom right and is attention-getting. Consequently, both visual modes and text (the main cover line) carries the same weight and maintains balance.

Since the text ‘LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM’ is written in the biggest, bold font comparing to other cover text, it is the most eye-catching text sign on the cover. Consequently, it implies that the content and the message that comes with it is the most important. In terms of meaning-making by visual-verbal linking, the main cover line serves as

45 an explanation and complement. ‘LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM’ cooperates with image and implies that Mahershala Ali personifies the concept of living the American dream. ‘STARRING OSCAR WINNER & GREAT AMERICAN, Mahershala Ali’ adds further information to that of the man’s image, which emphasizes his career achievements and nationality. It is likely that nationality is stressed here since this is the cover of the July issue, and American Independence Day is celebrated on the fourth of July.

Figure 11: The cover of the 2013 July issue.

The cover of the 2013 July issue captures the male of mixed-race – musician Drake (Figure 11 above). The man is fully clothed, sitting, and he is portrayed in a ¾ body shot. He looks fancy by wearing a light gray shirt with rolled-up sleeves and white trousers. The man is placed at the center of the whole composition, and he gains the greatest salience. The majority of cover lines are written in big, bold font, and thus they are also attention-getting. This composition of text and visual elements seems to be the same as two previously analyzed covers depicting man, which means that there is a balance between different modes of composition. Also, five cover lines out of the total six cover lines are partly placed on man's image. Therefore, his body is not entirely exposed.

46

Interestingly, a few cover lines are the same size as the main cover line related to the person depicted on the cover. Therefore, that indicates that the main cover line is not the most important text on the cover than in previously analyzed covers. Even though in the main cover line word 'DRAKE' written in the big, light blue font is eye-catching, in opposition to it, there two cover lines that also have words written in big, bold font, thus they draw attention alike cover line. The all main cover line states: 'DRAKE, STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM, NO HE'S HERE.' In terms of image-text relations in meaning-making, the main cover line serves as an extension to that of the image. The main cover line is the actual line from Drake's song lyrics. Therefore, text works as a sign for signifying Drake's occupation, or at least as an allusion to his occupation. However, this can be identified by that viewer who has enough knowledge to understand that line is from Drake's song. When the viewer is not aware that this is the line from the lyrics, the main cover line by connotation implies that Drake probably has been struggling through life. The cover line can be acknowledged as either signifying Drake's life journey or career journey: he was at the bottom and achieved enough to be here – on GQ magazine cover.

Overall, social semiotic analysis implies that men are likely to be depicted looking very dressy, covering their full body, that can be verified by the quantitative measurements, which showed that 92% of covers depicting men portrayed them fully clothed. Although males are likely to be depicted in the full or ¾ body shots, the semiotic analysis demonstrated that it does not necessarily mean that men's bodies will be visible and exposed at its total size. Covers capturing males, compose text and visual mode in the way that some of the text is on top of men's image. Therefore, men are simply represented as whom they are by signifying their personality or career by specific cover lines. Even though there were cases where men's image served as signs to signify maleness and American nationality, there was no emphasis on men’s body as it was in the cases where women served as signs of sexiness that made them the victims of sexual objectification.

4.2.3. GQ’s stereotypical representational patterns

The quantitative content analysis results and the social semiotic analysis indicates that GQ magazine arguably employs stereotypical representation practice. Remembering Hall's (2013)

47 explanation that stereotypical representational practice manifests in reducing or exaggerated someone's traits that lead to fix differences, the emphasis on differences is apparent in GQ's representational patterns. The men's traits and sharp look are exaggerated by the additional and specific composition of text and visual signs, whereas the women's traits are absent, and the sexiness of their body is the only characteristic that is emphasised. As a result, GQ's representational gender disparities are created.

Hall (2013) also emphasised that stereotypical representation practice serves as closing and exclusion. The social semiotics did not grasp any racial differences in representation on GQ magazine covers. The analysis showed that white, black, and mixed-race women were represented in the same sexualised manner. White, black, and mixed-race men were depicted in the equally same way – fully clothed, looking sharp and signifying their personal characteristics. But the findings of the quantitative content analysis that operated as a systematical reading of GQ covers showed that racial representational disproportion is in favor of white men and women. The covers that depict non-white models constituted less than 20% of the total magazine covers. Some of the races were not presented at all, for instance, Asians, American Natives, etc. Therefore, these findings verify that GQ's representational patterns are the practice of racial exclusion.

As an overview of previous research indicated, the gender differentials in representation are apparent on many different types of magazines (Hatton and Trautner 2011; Burrell et al. 2017; Wasike 2017), advertisements (Goffman 1979) and cinema (Mulvey 1975). Therefore, it allows us to argue that stereotypical representational patterns are culturally employed. As Hall (2013) states that "at the broader level of how 'difference' and 'otherness' is being represented in a particular culture at any one moment, we can see similar representational practices and figures being repeated, with variations, from one text or site of representation to another" (Hall 2013: 222).

Additionally, the literature review showed that the sexualised women's depiction not only implies gender differentials as such, but works as representing products, enhancing magazine sales, and fulfilling men's visual desire (Mulvey 1975; Bignell 2002). Those characteristics are significant in representational practice in men's magazines. Therefore, in addition to cultural patterns, another pattern can be distinguished - a pattern that is recognisable in the magazine's market and is widely employed among magazine competitors. That pattern

48 operates as the technique that is expected to increase sales of magazine's publications (Lambiase and Reichert 2005). As the quantitative content analysis indicated, the number of GQ covers depicting women has been steadily increasing since 2000. Consequently, it can be argued that GQ magazine follows the same representational patterns that can be recognised in the culture and the magazine market.

4.2.4. The meaning and its social effects

Remembering that binary oppositions have an influence on shaping power structures in our society (Hall 2013; Derrida cited in Hall 2013; Fyfe and Law 1987), it can be argued that in the GQ case, representing the differences between the binary oppositions male/female, white/person of colour, operates as shaping power relationships. Arguably, the men and the white are the dominant poles in those binary oppositions.

White (2017) stated that "any forms of looking relationships occur in contemporary society, but the normative the white heterosexual male gaze is a key process of heterosexuality and racial exclusion" (White 2017: 76). The results showed that GQ magazine represents the women considering the male gaze. Adding that GQ's representational patterns work as racial exclusion, it can be stated that GQ covers reinforce white heterosexuality. The support for white heteronormativity can also be illustrated by the fact that all 136 GQ covers depicted only heterosexual models.

Additionally, the inter-categorical analysis led to acknowledge that multiple factors shape different social forms of inequality that occur from stereotypical practices on GQ covers. For instance, the intersectional analysis revealed that women of colour are in the least favourable position regarding representational patterns on GQ magazine. The women of all races are sexualised and objectified on GQ covers, which can be considered as women's disempowerment. The non-white women, however, experience double disempowerment because they are sexually objectified, and they experience racial exclusion.

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5. Conclusion

This study aimed to grasp what representational patterns are constructed on GQ magazine covers. The study also addressed the meaning that comes with that representational practice in connection with the text and visual modes. Additionally, this study sought to examine GQ covers through intersectionality lenses and achieve more holistic reading of visual representation.

The overall findings show that GQ magazine employs the same representational patterns acknowledged in culture and the magazine's market. Those patterns manifest in the sexual objectification of women, racial exclusion, and emphasis on white heterosexual maleness.

The striking result to emerge from the quantitative content analysis data was that white heterosexual men amounted to 79% of the total of covers depicting heterosexual men. Additionally, the results showed that women are more likely to be depicted naked or wearing only undergarments, whereas out of the total 111 covers featuring men, 103 covers portrayed men fully clothed. The social semiotic analysis supported those results. The social semiotics revealed that the cover line's specific composition with connection to image serves as giving the most salience for women's bodies. In comparison, the covers depicting men keep a balance between visual elements and text; thus, the men's body does not draw as much attention as women's images do. Additionally, the social semiotics showed that women on covers work as signs of signifying sexiness, love, romance, whereas men's images do not work that way.

Applying a mixed-method approach has been useful for this study. The social semiotics could not show some notable results, and yet the quantitative content analysis and inter-categorical analysis revealed those results. The intersectional analysis noted that women of colour and sexual minorities are in the least favourable position on representational patterns on GQ magazine.

50 The intersectionality allowed to recognise the mutual interrelation between gender, race, and sexuality in GQ''s representational practice. That interrelation results in different types of social mechanism such as double disempowerment of non-white women, the dominance of white patriarchy and white heteronormativity.

The research considers some of its limitations. As was stated in the introduction, there is no collective agreement on what social categories must be included in the intersectional analysis to make it intersectional enough. Therefore, this study does admit that choosing gender, race, and sexuality as central categories might not have lead to indicate complexities and inequalities as can be indicated by the classic combinations known as the triple oppression - race, gender, and class, or by the combination of any other categories. However, the question if this analysis is intersectional enough still remains.

For further research, GQ publications in other countries would be relevant to investigate. Future studies can address the question if GQ issues in different countries have the same representation patterns. Also, further research can consider intersections between other social categories, for instance, gender and age, or gender, race, and nationality.

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54 Appendices

Appendix A (Coding scheme)

1. Race

The race of the people depicted on GQ covers was coded into categories: 1 – white, 2 – black or African American, 3 – Asian, 4 – American Indian and Alaska Native, 5 – Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 6 – other race, 7 – mixed-race. These codes were created based on the information about existing races in the US provided by Census Bureau. This agency collects data about American people for statistical purposes. Census Bureau belongs to the US Department of Commerce; thus, the information from this agency is counted as reliable. This study acknowledges that there are people who cannot match officially recognized categories; for instance, Hispanics and Latinos are acknowledged as ethnicity by Census Bureau. Also, there are people who can be ascribed to more than one race. Therefore, categories ‘other race' and 'mixed-race' were created and added to categories created by Census Bureau.

The coding of the race of the individuals featured on covers was done through a visual inspection of the visual characteristics of individuals. If there were questions about a race of the depicted person, additional resource – web search engine Google – was utilized for a more detailed investigation about a person's biography, place of born and any other factor which would let to indicate actual portrayed person's race.

2. Gender The first two codes for this variable were adapted from previous research (Krassas et. al 2003; Arakaki and Cassidy 2014; Frisby 2017), and gender was coded to: 1 – female, 2 – male, 3 – transgender. The gender variable interacts with the sexuality category. Therefore, additional values were coded for gender. These categories were added: 4 – female(s) and male (s), 5 – two females, 6 – two males, 7 – a group of females (more than two persons), 8 – a group of males (more than two persons). The following codes are validated as markers of visually represented sexuality.

55 3. Visually represented sexuality

The investigation of the depiction of sexuality on magazine covers is complicated since that depiction is static. The depiction of sexuality, investigation of sexual content, and sexual behavior in films have been fully addressed, and there are a significant number of coding schemes and coding books in terms of sexuality in cinema. However, they cannot be fully applicable, and only part of them, with a small adjustment for static content, was applied for analyzing images on magazine covers. Values were coded, relying on coding schemes developed by Fisher et al. (2004), Jozkowski et al. (2016), Ellzey and Xue (2009). Visually represented sexuality was coded to 1 – kissing (any use of mouth and tongue above shoulders), 2 – embracing, 3 – intimate touching, 4 – neutral. The category of sexuality applies only to cover photographs that featured more than one person. The purpose of this category is to grasp how sexuality is represented through visual signs.

4. Actual sexuality

The people's sexuality was coded into categories: 1 – heterosexual, 2 – homosexual, 3 – bisexual, 4 – asexual. These categories were created by relying on information about sexuality provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a national public health institute of the United States. Coding for this category was done through the investigation of individuals' biographical details using the second source – web search engine Google. It is important to emphasize that person's sexuality that existed at that year when a person was featured on GQ cover, was recognized. For instance, after the death of Cary Grant, there was new information that he was homosexual. However, the 1986 issue of GQ cover featuring Cary Grant was added to category 'heterosexual' since in 1986, and later, he was married to women and was heterosexual.

5. Clothing/Skin exposure

Codes were created relying on research conducted by Hatton and Trautner (2011), Milillo (2008), and Webb et al. (2017). Values were coded to 1 – fully clothed, 2 – exposed arms (wearing sleeveless tops) 3 – exposed torso, 4 – exposed midriff, 5 – exposed bust, 6 – exposed legs (requires thighs and lower legs), 7 – wearing only undergarments or bikini, 8 – topless (the person wearing clothing that covers only the bottom part of the body waist down),

56 9 – bottomless (the person wearing clothing that covers only the upper body part waist up), 10 – nude (the person wearing nothing at all). If a person covered its body by plant, cloth, or any other material object, it was not considered as clothing. The purpose of this category was to examine whether a person is portrayed as an object and in a sexualized manner.

6. Pose

Codes were created, relying on Baker's (2005) study. These values were coded: 1 – facing forward, 2 – sitting, 3– standing, 4 – lying down, 5 – bending forward, 6 – leaning back, 7 – kneeling, 8 – active (in motion). These codes interrelate with skin exposure and body view and lead to a more comprehensive examination if people are represented as objects.

7. Body view

Values for this variable were adapted from research conducted by Webb et al. (2017). Body view coded into 1 – full-body or ¾ body (includes at least head, bust, hips, and thighs) 2 – torso (requires hips; may also include head and bust), 3 – bust (requires chest; may also include head), 4 – face/headshot only. Finding out how much of the body is exposed is related to the person's objectification.

57 Appendix B (GQ magazine covers examined in the social semiotic analysis)

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63 Appendix C (GQ covers analyzed in the quantitative content analysis)

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