Depiction of Gender in Vogue and GQ Magazines: Visual analysis of covers (2011-2021)

Absztrakt (kivonat)

The thesis examines representational patterns of gender on the covers of Vogue and Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ) magazine, with the specific focus on fashion aspect. The research seeks to grasp how the representational patterns differentiate between female-targeted and male-targeted magazines. Further, thesis investigates what changes have occurred in those patterns within the period from 2011 until the end of 2021. Finally, thesis addresses the meanings and messages conveyed via those representational patterns, in juxtaposition with the alignment of visuals and text on the covers. The representation of gender in media is often stereotypical, unrealistic and exaggerating the differences between men and women, regardless of the media form (Bignell, 2002; Kumari and Joshi, 2015). Although the topic of representation of gender in media has been widely researched, Bunanno (2014) states that research may remain systematically studying this topic, due to both the evolution of media landscapes as well as the redefinition of gender identities. Besides, previous studies (Kuipers, Van der Laan and Arfini 2017; Latvėnaitė, 2020; Crane, 1999; Bernard, 2010) neglected the investigation of the fashion aspect or did not fully address it in the analysis of the visual media. The thesis focuses on fashion aspect due to clothing having an important role in presenting one’s identity to the world, which commonly includes gender identity as well (Kodžman, 2019). The research employs a mixed-method approach, by combining qualitative content analysis and quantitative semiotic analysis. The sample includes 127 Vogue and 124 GQ covers from the period of 11 years (January 2011 - December 2021). The findings of the thesis indicate that both the Vogue and GQ magazine covers employ relatively stereotypical representation of gender. Although the results have indicated changes during the 11 years period, the representational patterns predominantly employ the view of gender as binary opposition, sexualization of women and over-masculinisation of men. Further research may address representation of gender in relation to other categories such as race, sexuality, age, nationality, etc. The thesis focuses on US publications of Vogue and GQ magazine; thus, the future research may include the publications from other countries to examine the differences and similarities.