draft 2

"Loaded is an example that many readers believe has become increasingly pornographic in its content; as such it has increased the use of female stereotypes, namely as sex objects, the ‘all-looks-and-no-brains’ chauvinistic dream." This quote may be useful as it describes women in lads magazines as having 'all looks and no brains'. This provides a negative view on women, because it says that females like this are pretty much obsessed with how they look to impress males (by being in a magazine aimed at men). They are said to have 'no brains', which implies that women are not as clever or smart as men, which again, is a negative representation. It connotes that women are useless in any aspect of life other than being sex objects and 'prizes' for men. The magazine Cosmopolitan (Sept 2012) connotes an opposite representation of women, however. Although it does discuss sex, how to 'get model girl skin' and 'new fashion and beauty trends', it includes articles on being 100% confident - 'Do it like a dude' featuring Jessie J. This tells us that different magazines (across the two genders) represent women differently and not always positively. This is backed up by Theo Sweeting in his article 'Loaded glamour; representing gender'. He says: "The men’s lifestyle magazine Esquire has an older and more mature target audience than Loaded and presents itself in a more adult fashion. Its fewer, far more individualised representations of women minimise the use of stereotype. An article on Cate Blanchett in one issue focused on her ability as an actress and although some images of her were used they were not the stereotypical, half-nude lads’ mag style, thus presenting her own character rather than a 2D stereotype." This is obviously the complete opposite of what the previous quote about Loaded says - this talks about how Cate Blanchett has been represented in a way that doesn't only appeal to males; she  appeals to females also because she isn't nearly naked and flaunting her body. This is very similar to how women are represented in the Cosmopolitan magazine – the way the women have been represented shows them to be strong individuals, who don’t need men in their life to feel purpose, and this proves the quote stated by Theo Sweeting. The pictures chosen from the magazine Esquire sound as if they convey her in a way that tells us she respects herself, she encourages other women to respect themselves and she isn't the stereotypical woman we would find in a top shelf magazine. She respects her body, and the views that people have of her as a person. It is obvious that she has been portrayed in such a way in Esquire magazine because this isn't the typical lads magazine - we would not expect to see half-naked women in a magazine that has 'an older and more mature target audience'. Regarding the use of stereotypes, Esquire and Cosmopolitan magazines convey women in the complete opposite view to what Loaded does.
These magazines make women look much more sophisticated and not like sex objects. Cosmopolitan magazine is aimed at a female audience and discusses how women should respect themselves in all aspects of life. This can then lead on to talking about Stephen Hill's article 'Magazines and gender; Bliss, Zoo, Smash Hits and Q' where he states: "gender is different to sex; there is general consensus that while sex is biologically given, gender is a social construct." This quote argues that gender is the socially constructed view that society has of both men and women - society expects men to be the dominant of the two, and that they should be the more active gender. Then, society expects women to take the passive role, as they are seen as weak and unable to carry out certain tasks which men do. However, over time this has changed and it has become acceptable for women to not necessarily act like men, but become more active rather than passive in society. This is proven in Cosmo magazine as there are articles in the September 2012 issue which discuss women being 100% confident.

Another quote from this article says, "The representations on the front cover of Bliss and Zoo seem to reinforce the confused assumptions that are being made about gender. For example, denoted on the cover of both titles are low angle medium shots of slim and youthful female figures with long hair and careful makeup. However, their connotations are quite different. On the cover of Bliss the clothing codes and facial expressions connote openness and sisterly friendship, while the seductive pose and partial nakedness of Zoo’s main feature photography connotes sexual passivity and permanent availability." This quote tells us that different magazines obviously have different views on the female gender. It could also be argued that different magazines aim themselves at audiences with different maturity levels – After looking at a number of Bliss magazine covers, I have found that most of the models have been connoted in a way that makes them look in possession of themselves, and that they aren’t the types of women to show themselves off provocatively in a lads magazine. The models on these covers are all smiling, and looking straight at the camera, which tells us that they are confident people. This representation is very different to the models on the covers of various top shelf magazines. The girl on the front of Zoo magazine has been described here as if she has 'all looks and no brains' (Theo Sweeting). This representation degrades women and it makes them seem as if all their purpose is, is to act as a 'prize' for men. This connotation is broken by the description and my analysis of Bliss magazine, as the model is described as having 'sisterly friendship', which is most likely what the target audience for this magazine want themselves. However, the image of Nicole Scherzinger on the cover of Cosmo connotes that she is a strong and confident role model for women - shown by her teeth-showing smile and how she looks directly at the camera. She is also shown as sexy and confident in her looks by the short strapless dress and her long flowing hair. This tells us that women are allowed to be confident and sexy at the same time, which is something the target audience will want to have themselves. This is similar to David Gauntlett's article 'More about More!: The Sexual Language of Young Women's Magazines'. Within his article, he says, "like other 'girl power' texts, [More!] emphasises that women should be able to get what they want from men, when they want it; that men should not dictate the terms of a relationship; and that a woman has the right to demand satisfaction in sex, in work, and in every other area of life." This quote tells us that the views on females have changed immensely. For example, women were not able to just simply 'get what they want', and now they have the right to demand what they want and when they want it. This is very similar to Cosmo magazine which includes articles on how women can be more confident in themselves to get what they want from a range of aspects in life. This has become more acceptable due to magazines (Such as More! and Cosmo) and other types of media 'advertising' it and women seem to have been taking note and changing how they act to fit in with what they see in these different types of media. This could be seen as good and bad – women are changing to have a more appropriate lifestyle, yet they are simply copying what they see advertised. However, this quote could be seen in a different light - it may give the impression that women are nothing more than 'sex obsessed' and in a way, greedy for what they want, and this may or may not be the impression texts such as More! want to convey. David Gauntlett's 'Media, Gender and Identity' discusses that certain magazines can be inappropriate to older age groups as these people may not be used to seeing women act in such manners. Gauntlett says, "We cannot help but notice, of course, that older people are also unlikely to be consumers of magazines like Cosmopolitan, More or FHM, and are not a key audience for today's pop music sensations." This suggests that those magazines and other magazines of a similar style and nature are maybe inappropriate for an older age group - these magazines publish content which tell women not to be afraid to 'show off' and they talk about topics such as sex freely. This wasn't common years ago, and that is why it may be inappropriate for older people. Gauntlett also discusses, "contemporary masculinity is often said to be 'in crisis'; as women become increasingly assertive and successful, apparently triumphing in all roles, men are said to be anxious and confused about what their role is today." This quote tells us that gender roles have almost been 'swapped' over the years - Men used to be the successful and triumphant gender group, while women were always the passive gender. Now, the roles have evened out quite a lot and women are able to take part in things which used to be considered 'only' for men, as well as magazines like Cosmo telling women that they should be confident in everything they do in life, whether that be sex, family life or their jobs and professions: "Magazines for young women are emphatic in their determination that women must do their own thing, be themselves, and/or be as outrageously sassy and sexy as possible." This quote tells us that women are almost forced by the media to be their own person. This is portrayed by magazines such as Cosmopolitan in not just almost every article in the magazine, but the cover alone. On the cover, there are sentences which say, “How 50 shades is your sex life?’, ‘FBI manhunt – we ask the big boys how to spot online love rats’ and ‘rock the new fashion and beauty trends’. This tells us that the magazine is going to be full up of ways to persuade women to be their own person, and it proves the quote perfectly.
The media, in areas such as magazines, TV, film, and music, are persuading women to be as the quote states, as well as self-confident, intelligent, and independent enough to not need a man. Things have changed drastically over the years - women were always seen as having the passive role in society whilst men were independent and took the leading role. Now, from this quote, it seems that women are persuaded to take their own individuality to hand and be the person that they are. Which is shown a lot in the articles in Cosmopolitan magazine – an article titled ‘100% Confident’ gives women ‘rules’ on how to be the ‘alpha female’. However, this could be mistaken for seeing women as a 'prize' for men - as they should be 'as outrageously sexy as possible'. Maybe this is why so many different views of women are seen within different aspects of the media - some female celebrities try to be sexy and independent but it doesn't work out for them. So the audience criticise them.
Lauren Gregory (Judging a Magazine by it's Cover: How Women are Defined) talks about how models are portrayed on magazine covers to give them different images for the audience: "like the article titles on the cover of a magazine, celebrities and models are photographed for the cover to influence the consumer into buying the magazine. However, images differ from words in the fact that the reader is instantly given an image to compare herself too. Cover models are posed with their eyes, low cut shirts, and skinny bodies staring the reader in the face. This image gives women elite guidelines for how beauty and self should be defined." This quote describes Nicole Scherzinger on the cover of Cosmo (Sept. 2012) perfectly. The quote says 'images differ from words in the fact that the reader is instantly given an image to compare herself too' - a lot of women today are self conscious in their appearance, and this could be the cause of it. Nicole Scherzinger is clearly the image that the readers must compare themselves to. She is obviously very attractive and this is what the readers want to achieve for themselves. Magazines such as Cosmo, Glamour and Marie Claire always seem to use cover girls who are very slim or toned, tanned and have perfect complexions. When the reader compares herself to this it may cause her to feel self conscious, as what she sees is portrayed in the magazine as beautiful. Because the quote says the cover models are looking straight into the camera, it creates a sense of friendship between the magazine and the reader - Nicole Scherzinger is portrayed as looking friendly and happy on the Cosmo cover. This gives the audience reason to become like that for themselves and that is where the whole ‘be your own person’ view on things breaks down. Women are trying to be their own person, sexy and confident, by looking up to other women and copying.