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Visual Analysis of GQ Magazine Covers: Intersections Between Gender, Race, and Sexuality

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Visual Analysis of GQ Magazine Covers: Intersections Between Gender, Race, and Sexuality 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 2 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
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