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Masculinity and Men's Lifestyle Magazines edited by Betham Benwell. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003, 200 pp.
In the 1980s, the number of men's "lifestyle" magazines increased dramatically. In contrast to earlier "men's interest magazines, which focused on activities traditionally performed by men such as fishing, hunting, or car racing, men's lifestyle magazines recontextualized masculinity as an identity sign that one both purchases and performs. The collection of articles in Masculinity and Men's Lifestyle Magazines analyzes British heterosexual masculinity as it is portrayed and represented in men's lifestyle magazines. Using two methodological approaches, historical analysis and semiotic analysis, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of men's lifestyle magazines both as a cultural phenomenon reflecting broader social trends and as cultural texts. The combination of approaches facilitates a deeper reading of masculinity than any single approach would allow.
As the authors themselves note, there are many forms of masculinity, but a comparison between just two, the archetypes of the 1970s "New Man" and the 1990s "New Lad," informs much of the work assembled here. Although the two archetypes are defined somewhat differently by each author, the "New Man" stems from the "New Woman," the liberated feminist of the 1970s. Thus the "New Man" takes on qualities traditionally associated with females, including emotional sensitivity, egalitarian relationships with others (especially women and "other" men from racial or ethnic minorities), nurturing and caring (especially as fathers), and an interest in consumption of...