Gauntlett's chapter discusses representations of masculinity in men's magazines and how they relate to concepts like binary opposition and gender norms. It argues that men's magazines social construct masculinity through their content and imagery. While they still feature traditionally pleasurable content like scantily clad women, magazines like Loaded have adopted a post-feminist discourse that acknowledges feminist critiques but maintains the status quo through subtle shifts in ideology rather than wholesale change.

1. Use these questions to help revise the key points from the photocopy of
Gauntlett’s chapter on men’s magazines
Understanding Gauntlett’s discussion of men’s magazines
1. What narratives of masculinity does Gauntlett identify as being represented in
men’s magazines?
2. Where does he discuss binary opposition and gender?
3. Where does he discuss masculine doubt/ the crisis of masculinity?
4. P179 - “Magazines for men are all about the social construction of masculinity.
That is their subject matter.” Is this true? What evidence would you cite?
5. Men’s magazines such as Loaded “found a way to combine traditional pleasures
(such as looking at women without many clothes on) with a post-feminist
discourse which simultaneously accepts and dispenses with the feminist critique.”
What does this mean? (How) Does it argue that dominant ideology shifts rather
than changes? (How) does it argue that the concept of hegemony is correct?