Doan, Sarah Jane (2005) Idealized bodies, the grotesque and homosocial communities: masculinities and men's magazines. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis examines images and dialogues of the male body in contemporary men’s lifestyle magazines. Taking the examples of two top-selling British men’s lifestyle magazines FHM and Men’s Health, and their respective websites, I unpack mediated constructions of white, heterosexual masculinities using the combined methods of semiology, discourse analysis and non-participant observation. The male body is central to this project, and the ways that it is represented as idealized and grotesque are analysed for the ways that they each impact upon perceptions of white heterosexual masculinities and conceptions of the ‘Other’. Reading the male body as idealised and grotesque also introduces wider feminist debates on the male gaze, representation, and whether the grotesque can be theorised from the perspective of masculinities. The construction of online communities and reader dialogues is also examined in relation to discourses of the body, identity and masculinity. The work in this thesis explores the basis for contemporary representations of white heterosexual masculinities and male bodies in men’s lifestyle magazines and their respective websites.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Men's health (Magazine), FHM (Magazine), Masculinity in popular culture -- Great Britain, Human body -- Symbolic aspects -- Great Britain, Feminist criticism, Men -- Identity
Date:	December 2005
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Sociology
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Lovell, Terry ; Steinberg, Deborah Lynn
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	346 leaves : col. facsims.
Language:	eng
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/2592

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