What is the representation of gender in a fashion magazine and a videogame magazine?

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What is the representation of gender in a fashion magazine and a videogame magazine?

Magazines and newspapers have two of the most attained markets for articles and short storywriters keen to see there work in print. Magazines have a significant influence on individuals and the culture in which they live. Magazines are a very wide and fragmented media. They cater for a mass or niche audience. There can be hybrid magazines which contain a mixture of genres. Magazines nowadays have colour covers, are generally glossy and are published either weekly, fortnightly, monthly are quarterly. The word ‘magazine’ was first used to describe something miscellaneous meaning a collection of different kinds of articles. Many early magazines were barely distinguishable from newspapers. Nowadays Computer technology has made redundant the old methods of magazine publishing. Both women’s and men’s magazines obviously define their audience in gender terms and today there are many magazines is which are suited and targeted for them. There are many types of magazines for all age groups especially teenagers as the magazine editor knows that teenagers have more disposable income than any other age group. Magazines also appeal to social economic groups. A new magazine tends to try and stand out and will target a rare different audience that has not been targeted usually. Magazines have to compete with each other in order to attract their target audiences. There are over 7000 magazines on the market in Britain.

Gender is a key issue when discussing representation. Repeated representations can often lead to stereotypes which can then lead to ideology. Stereotypes are narrow representations that are repeated over again. Representations can change over time. Today feminists are creating alternative representations of woman which are challenging the dominant ideology of women. Media images never present the real world. Many objects are represented by the media as being particularly masculine or feminine- especially in advertising. The type of magazine affects the representation of gender presented in the magazine. The stereotypical view of gender in magazines is that women are still under-represented in parliament, business and politics. There is still inequality in pay and status of women. Women are still represented according to cultural stereotypes. Men are often represented in situations of authority and control over women. An example of this is of film and television voiceovers that tend to mostly be male voiceovers rather then female telling a story or being the narrator, also magazine editors tend to be male rather than female. Positive representations of Men are that they are often seen as athletic or math and science oriented such as being a scientist whereas women just ‘consume’. The negative representation of men and teenage boys is that they are aggressive, tend to be insensitive, verbally loud and messy at times and only interested in sports and videogames. The positive representation of women and teenage girls is that they are angelic, punctual, quiet, neat, clean, and supportive. A good example of this is that Men commit more crimes than women. The negative representation of women and teenage girls is that they are submissive, emotional and clumsy and have to be attracted to fashion and gossip. . Women are represented negatively as sexual objects and are fragmented because of their looks and physique. However due to the environmental factors of gender you will see a few girls that have an interest in videogames and sport, and a minority of boys that have an interest in fashion and gossip; this will depend on the way that the person was raised.

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Media Institutions use many types of ways to promote and advertise their products. Advertising is essential to magazines although most magazines aim to make a profit from both advertising and the cover price. Every magazine will have a majority of advertisements which could consist of one-third of the magazine. Advertisements make up the majority of revenue that the magazine gets. Magazines are dependent upon advertising in order to survive. Advertising is not just about selling a product; it also promotes images and life styles. It also shows us a world (which is regarded as perfect) where the products are needed ...

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