A Multimodal Analysis of the Representation of Hegemonic Masculinity and Hegemonic Femininity on “Men’s Health” and “Women’s Health” Cover Pages (January 2011 – June 2016)

Abstract

In essence, the goal of this project is to interrogate the multi-semiotic manifestations of hegemonic masculinity and femininity in male and female body culture as manifested on Men’s Health and Women’s Health cover-page corpora that spanned from 2011 to mid- 2016. The research uses a mixed-methods design with macro- and micro-level analysis. On the macro level, a ‘themes’ analysis is conducted to illuminate the ideological nature of the multimodal ensemble of the cover pages. On the micro level, the researcher draws on a trio of analytical frameworks through which the semiotic choices embedded in the media texts can be more objectively examined, namely: Halliday’s SFG for the verbal analysis; Kress and van Leeuween’s VG for the visual analysis; and Lakoff and Johnson’s CMT for the cognitive analysis of multimodal metaphors and metonymies. While being tangential to the notion of health itself, the cover pages endorse a peculiar fitness discourse in which subtle consumerist ideologies of male and female empowerment are co-opted. Men’s Health and Women’s Health perpetuate unhealthy physical standards and unattainable canons of beauty linked to hegemony, more overtly calling for the consumption of products that will transform the millennial male and female consumers into more socially acceptable packages for the outside gaze.