Attitude.co.uk's layout and design is simple and straightforward
- An article featuring the drag queen RuPaul represents gay men in an atypical fashion, indicating that there are many possible representations of gay men included in this magazine
- The 'boys' tab allows users to access hyper-sexualised images of men. Straight men such as Daniel Craig is presented in a startlingly homoerotic way, directly addressing the audience with a voyeuristic and confrontational mode of address
- Additionally, in comparison to mainstream 'straight' magazines, there a number of highly sexualised and objectified images of men
- In generally, sexually attractive men are represented as being so through hyper masculine features chiseled abs, huge muscles and tight underwear
- Gay men are also represented as being particularly interested in style and fashion. A highly stereotypical representation of gay men.
- Additionally the presentation of clothes and electronics products on these articles seem to suggest the target gay audience are independently wealthy. 'The pink pound'??
- Gay men are also represented as being stereotypically sensitive, cultured and even feminine. There is a big emphasis on theatre, drama and theatrical productions such as musicals
- Every news and entertainment story, regardless of its subject, features a 'gay' angle
- Attitude being a 'gay' website is indicative of the facet that a vast majority of media take a heteronormative perspective
Key term: heteronormativity - "the belief that heterosexuality...is the norm or default sexual orientation" (definition ripped straight from Wikipedia)
- In attitude, gay (and straight) men are frequently sexualised. In the 'boys' section, men are almost universally nude or semi nude, and have a muscular physique. Objects for a gay male gaze.
- Magazine makes the assumption that the gay male target audience exclusively finds hyper-masculine men attractive. Reinforces dominant hegemonic norms and values in society
- Big emphasis on celebrities and celebrity culture. Most models and stories focus on this. Once more reinforces a gay stereotype that gay men are particularly interested in showbiz news
- "Single and fabulous: I thought I wanted a 'normal' guy until I dated one'. Reinforces a long held gay stereotype that gay men are particularly interested in nightlife, clubbing and dancing
- Distinction between 'camp' and 'straight acting' men, indicates that gay men tend to fall into two categories
- Cautionary tales about violent encounters using gay dating app Grindr suggest that gay men are likely to encounter violence in their lives
- Atypical representations of men including drag queens like RuPaul, who subvert traditional hyper-masculine values through makeup and crossdressing
- Representation of a divide in the gay community: 'being a fat queer person is political'. Excellent example of bell hook's theory, where being both overweight and gay makes people especially prone to discrimination. However, Attitude potentially only presents hypermasculine men as being worthy of sexual attraction
- Stereotype that gay men are interested in pornorgraphy and hypersexualised
Conclusions
1 - Attitude.co.uk is a simple and straightforward website, and targets a 'simple and straightforward audience'
2 - Attitude.co.uk presents stereotypical and straightforward representations of gay men to construct a stereotypical and straightforward audience
3 - The sole reason that Attitude.co.uk exists is to advertise the magazine to the target audience, and to increase it's profit through advertising revenue
Thanks to T and R block for these excellent discussion notes.