Gendered Messages
Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine Covers The purpose of this article was to compare and contrast the covers of popular men and women's magazines. The authors hypothesized that women's magazines were much more likely to have key messages or articles about enhancing bodily appearance than that of men's magazines. Further, they felt that the discovered messages on women's covers would be more conflicting or hypocritical than those of men's magazine covers. The researchers gathered their research material through analyses of twenty-one magazines. Six monthly issues dedicated to varying seasons were used for each magazine title. The total amount of magazines examined was 69 covers of women's magazines and 54 covers of men's magazines. The authors then used a checklist that had the following headings: presence of a diet message, exercise message, cosmetic surgery message, and general weight loss message and if there was existence of a conflicting message beside one another. The percentage for each specific magazine was determined by dividing the number of magazine issues that contained each checklist item by the total number of magazine issues examined.
However, an apparent weakness was the limitation of magazines selected. I found this approach very easy to follow. I knew from the beginning what they were hoping to accomplish. The evidence presented was convincing as I feel most women and men have seen or read these types of magazines and have contemplated many of the presented articles and related them to their own personal situations. Just because the person on the cover of a magazine has a perfect body and is given the image of an immortal does not mean they have anymore or any less complicated lifestyles. This method was effective as they were able to prove their hypothesis to be true through the duration of their research. This was the most appropriate research method as the survey or field research methods would not have been possible or best illuminate the topic and its relevance. The media is constantly portraying an unrealistic version of the ideal woman. Further proving that, this was an experimental method of research as the variables were controlled. Which allows a deeper understanding of the effect media is having on present day society. What I found to be most effective was the authors' ability to take their quantitative research and embellish on it, advancing it into qualitative research. It was convincing as I feel most women and men have seen or read these types of magazines and have contemplated many of the presented articles. Such as National Geographic or Macleans. The evidence presented and the theories resulting from the original hypotheses are of great validity in my eyes.
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Acceptance Essays
