to override the message of feminism happening at the time, promoting a laddish world, where women were sex objects, and changes in gender roles could be dismissed with an ironic joke.
With this notion in mind, irony is a crucial tactic used by publications. Men primarily go to read magazines for things such as sport, travel, science and business. Men would only read magazines about themselves if you gave them the information in the right context, being humorous and never taking itself too serious. With articles written tongue and cheek, irony would provide a protective layer between lifestyle information and the readers, so that men don’t have to feel patronised or inadequate. Men are now encouraged to ‘open-up’ previously repressed aspects of their masculinity, and this way magazines signify the potential for this change (Stevenson et al 2004: 175).
Nowadays the male magazine culture has been affected by the intolerance towards the promotion of pornography and misogynistic messages in mainstream publications such as FHM and Loaded. However, the misogyny that typifies these publications hasn’t disappeared; it’s just been shifted online. This is evident with Manchester-based publisher 65twent, pulling in millions of views every week through its channels The Lad Bible and Sport Bible. Marketing director Mimi Turner stated that, “Our community sends in over a 1,000 submissions a day in the hope of getting on The Lad Bible and being heroes in front of their mates, whether it is builders doing pranks on each other, a guy jumping through a wall pretending to be The Incredible Hulk, or Sunday League soccer players showing off their sporting skills — or lack of them,”. This showcases that men still portray this ‘laddish’ lifestyle and more than ever, there is this intensification to act in more of a typical stereotypical masculine way, such as being the hero and showing off to friends, or even to impress females.
Other ways masculinity is encouraged by male magazines, is the idea of the body being an ‘unfinished project’ (Jackson et al, 2009:91). Particularly, Men’s Health, gives this idea that the male body is something that can be di
