Sex Ro les, Vo l. 40, No. 7/8, 1999

B rief Repo rt

Wom en and Weight: G endered Message s on Magazin e Covers1 A m y R . Malkin , K im berlie Wo rnian , an d Jo an C. Chrisle r2 Co nn ecticu t Co llege

In this content an alysis, the co vers of 21 popular w om en’ s an d m en’ s m agazin es were exam in ed for gen dered m essages related to bodily ap pearan ce. Magaz in e co vers w ere divid ed accordin g to gen der of read ers an d each co ver was re view ed usin g a checklist design ed to an alyz e visu al im ages an d text as w ell as the placem ent of each on the co vers. A nalyses show ed that 78% of the co vers of the w om en’ s m agaz in es contain ed a m essage regard in g bodily ap p earan ce, w hereas none of the co vers of the m en’ s m agaz in es did so. Tw enty-® ve percent of the w om en’ s m agaz in e co vers contain ed con¯ ictin g m essages regard in g w eigh t lo ss an d dietary hab its. In ad ditio n , the positio nin g of w eigh t-related m essages on the co vers often im plied that lo sin g w eigh t m ay lead to a better life. Men’ s m agaz in es focus o n pro vid in g entertain m ent an d expan d in g kn ow ledge, hobbies, an d acti vities; w om en’ s m agaz in es contin ue to focus on im pro vin g one’ s life by chan gin g one’ s ap pearan ce.

Feminist re se arche rs have re pe ate dly re porte d on the signi® cant role that the me dia play in the construction of the ``be auty ide al’ ’ that socie ty holds up to wome n (Faludi, 1991; Fre edman, 1986; Wolf, 1991) . For the majority of women this ide al is impossible to attain and may lead to fe e lings of inade quacy. Fee lings of inade quacy are also like ly to be fe d by cosme tic manufacture rs and weight manage ment program s whose ad campaigns focus on convincing women that the y can ame liorate the ir bodily ¯ aws and impe rfections only by purchasing their products or taking part in the ir programs (Free dman, 1986) . 1

An e arlie r ve rsion of this pape r was pre se nted at the 1996 mee ting of the Ne w E ngland Psychological A ssociation, Ne w London, CT. 2 To whom corre spondence should be addresse d at Departme nt of Psychology, Connecticut College, Ne w London, CT 06320. 647 0360-0025/99/0400-0647$ 16.00/0 Ó

1999 Ple num Publishing Corporation

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The message s se nt out by the media re garding bodily appe arance are quite diffe re nt for wome n and me n. A strong emphasis has be e n place d on the bodily appe arance of wome n that equate s a thin body to be auty, sexuality, and social status; le ss focus has bee n place d on the bodily appe arance of men (Free dman, 1986) . The se ge nde re d me ssage s can cle arly be see n in magazine article s and adve rtiseme nts. For example , A nde rson and DiDomenico (1992) e xamine d the 20 most popular magazine s re ad by wome n and men to se e if the numbe r of article s that focuse d on die ting and body shape would re ¯ ect the actual prevale nce rates of e ating disorde rs in the gene ral population. The re sults indicate d that the 10 magazine s most fre que ntly re ad by wome n containe d signi® cantly more die t article s and adve rtise ments than the 10 magazine s most frequently re ad by men. The ratio of die t article s in men’ s and women’ s magazine s was 1 : 10, which is ide ntical to the actual ratio of eating disorde rs in men and wome n in the ge ne ral population. The authors note d that when the men’ s magazine s focuse d on bodily appe arance the article s and adve rtise ments cente re d on change s in body shape (i.e ., ``bulking up’ ’ ), whe reas the women’ s magazine s focuse d on change s in body weight (i.e ., ``slimming down’ ’ ). A nde rson and DiDomenico sugge ste d that ``Inste ad of simply re ¯ e cting the weight and shape ide als of our socie ty, popular media may be , to some e xte nt, imposing ge nde r-re late d norm s, which the n le ad to sex-re late d diffe re nce s in the fre que ncy of critical behaviors’ ’ (A nde rson & DiDomenico, 1992, p. 286) . Neme roff, Ste in, Die hl, and Smilack (1994) also e xam ine d wome n’ s and men’ s magazine s to se e if diffe re nt type s of magazine s containe d discrepant me ssage s for men and wome n and whethe r this has change d ove r time . They looke d at article s that focused on the be havioral means use d to achie ve physical ide als, which the y place d into four categorie s: weight loss, be auty, ® tness, and he alth. B ase d on pre vious work in the area, Nemeroff e t al. chose to e xamine thre e cate gorie s of ge ne ral inte re st magazine s (i.e., traditional magazine s, fashion magazine s, and mode rn magazine s), and the y picke d magazine s with broad circulation and longe vity of publication to represe nt e ach of the categorie s ove r a 12 ye ar duration. The y found that, ove rall, the wome n’ s magazine s containe d far more body-orie nte d article s than did the magazine s that targe te d male re ade rs. Howe ver, the freque ncy of weight loss article s incre ase d ove r the time period for me n, but de crease d for wome n, which indicate d a ge nde r-re late d change in tre nds. In addition, when the y compare d analyse s of gender by magazine cate gory, it appe ared that ove r time the fre que ncy of he alth article s se e med to incre ase in men’ s fashion magazine s but not in wome n’ s fashion magazine s. The authors conclude d that at le ast some conce rn with the body was now be ing portraye d in men’ s fashion magazine s. Finally, in comparing the diffe re nt type s of magazine s, the re se arche rs note d that fashion magazine s we re the most

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body oriente d, mode rn magazine s the le ast so, and traditional magazine s fe ll some whe re in-be twe e n. The purpose of the pre se nt study was to examine ge nde re d me ssage s regarding weight and bodily appe arance on the cove rs of popular magazine s. We chose to examine magazine cove rs because ofte n it is the cover that initially attracts the re ade r to the magazine . Title s, catch phrase s, and picture s displaye d on magazine cove rs are usually all that the re ade r has time to look at in a store . Freque ntly it is these ite ms that in¯ ue nce the reade r to buy the magazine , as is re ¯ e cted in the following state ment by a corporate circulation dire ctor in the marke ting industry. ``The cove r is primarily a sale s tool. . .the image s sele cted and the way we de scribe the conte nts must be provocative , hard-hitting and full of ele ments that se ll-not fe ature orie nte d’ ’ (Le e , 1998, p.1) . For this reason, it is important to explore the me ssage s that are be ing pre sente d to reade rs on the covers of popular magazine s. It was hypothe size d that, ove rall, cove rs of women’ s magazine s would be more like ly to contain a message about bodily appe arance than cove rs of magazine s targe te d at men. We were inte re ste d in e xam ining con¯ icting message s ( i.e ., me ssage with opposite me anings place d in close proxim ity to e ach othe r) that were displaye d on magazine cove rs. It was hypothe size d that covers of women’ s magazine s would also be more like ly to contain con¯ icting message s about bodily appe arance than would cove rs of men’ s magazine s.

ME THOD Materials Twenty-one magazine s were chose n for the pre se nt analysis (see Table I). O f the se , 18 were chosen base d on the re sults of the 1987 Simmon’ s Study of Me dia and Marke ts, which rated magazine s on the basis of re ade rship by ge nde r and age . The se magazine s were e sse ntially the same one s used by A nde rson and DiDome nico (1992) , howe ve r two were e liminate d (i.e ., Playb oy and Penth ouse) be cause the y were not available in public librarie s, where the re st of the magazine s were obtaine d. Thre e additional magazine s (i.e., Vogu e, Ms, and E sq uire) were chose n base d on sugge stions from othe r membe rs of the authors’ re se arch team. The se magazine s were include d because it was be lie ve d that the y were fre que ntly-re ad magazine s that were not include d on the Simmon’ s list. For each magazine title , six monthly issue s were re vie wed from diffe rent se asons throughout the ye ar of 1996. A t le ast one issue from each

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Malkin et al. Tab le I. Magazines Used in this Analysis Women’ s Magazines Traditional

Fashion

Mode rn

B etter Ho mes and G arden s Fam ily Circle G o od Housek eeping L ad ies’ Hom e Jo urn al McCall’ s Redbo ok Wo men’ s Day

Co sm o po litan G lam o ur Se venteen Vo gu e

Ms.

Men’ s Magazines Traditional L ife Nation al G eograp hic New sw eek

Fashion E sq uire G entlem en’ s Q u arterly

E ntertainme nt Field and Stream Jet Ro lling Sto ne Spo rts Illustrated

season was include d to account for se asonal variability in topical article s. For one magazine (i.e ., Ms) only thre e issues were obtainable . In total, 69 covers of wome n’ s magazine s and 54 cove rs of men’ s magazine s we re examine d.

Procedure A che cklist was de signe d to examine the magazine cove rs; it concerned the content of the visual image s and text on the covers, as well as the place ment of each. The content of the te xt was analyze d to de termine whethe r it containe d a die t message (e .g., ``Cut 100 Calorie s a Meal and Lose 10 Pounds’ ’ ), an e xe rcise message (e.g., ``Walk Your Way to Thin’ ’ ), a message re garding cosme tic surge ry to change the size of the body (e .g., ``I Love My New Thighs: Diary of a Liposuction ’ ’ ), or a ge neral message about weight loss with no speci® cations about how to lose the weight (e .g., ``5 Ways to Lose 5 Pounds’ ’ ). The position of message s was e xamine d to dete rmine if con¯ icting message s were place d ne xt to e ach othe r ( e .g., a message about losing weight ne xt to a cookie re cipe ), if the con¯ icting message s were se parate d on the page , and if the re were article s about appe arance and romance place d adjace nt to e ach othe r. Magazine s were divide d by ge nde r of reade rs, and pe rcentage s for each ite m of the che cklist we re obtaine d for e ach magazine cate gory. Percentage s for each magazine cate gory were calculate d by dividing the numbe r of magazine issue s that

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containe d e ach che cklist ite m by the total numbe r of magazine issue s for that magazine category. E ach cover was e xam ine d by two of the authors toge the r as the y comple ted each che cklist. It was de termined be fore hand that diffe re nces betwe en the authors on which se ction a message fe ll into (i.e ., diet, e xe rcise, cosmetic surge ry, othe r) would be discusse d until an agre e ment was reached. No diffe re nce s arose , howe ve r, and all message s clearly ® t into only one se ction of the checklist.

R E SU LTS/D ISCU SSION Table II displays the pe rcentage s of each type of message re late d to bodily appe arance found in wome n’ s and men’ s magazine s. O f the 12 magazine s most fre que ntly re ad by wome n, 54 of the 69 covers (78%) containe d some message about bodily appe arance , whe re as none of the 53 covers of men’ s magazine s containe d such me ssage s, x 2 (1, N 5 123) 5 49.62, p , .005. The re fore, consiste nt with pre vious rese arch (A nderson & DiDomenico, 1992; Nemeroff et al., 1994) , the analysis showe d that wome n’ s magazine s were more like ly to contain message s about die t, e xe rcise , and cosmetic surge ry to change body size than were men’ s magazine s. A lthough the majority of the most popular wome n’ s magazine s focuse d on changing and improving one’ s se lf, most of the popular me n’ s magazine s focuse d on the outside world, news, politics, hobbie s, and activitie s. A n e xam ination of the body type s displaye d on magazine cove rs reve ale d that 94% of the covers of wome n’ s magazine s showed a thin fe male mode l or cele brity in e xce lle nt shape , whe reas only about 3% showe d a male on the cove r. O f the cove rs of men’ s magazine s, howe ver, 28% showe d

Table II. Pe rcentages of E ach Message Type on Magazine Cove rs, by Gende r a

Type of Me ssage

Wome n (n 5 69) n (%)

Die t E xercise Cosme tic surgery Unspeci® ed A t Le ast one me ssage (any type ) Con¯ icting message

23 (33) 16 (23) 4 (6) 11 (16) 54 (78) 18 (26)

a

Me n (n 5 54) n (%) 0 0 0 0 0 0

(0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

x

2

49.62 b 8.59 b

Percentage s may sum to more than 100 because some magazine cove rs contained more than one type of me ssage. b p , .005.

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a male mode l or celebrity, whe re as wome n appe are d almost 50% of the time . A gain, most women were young, thin, and wore reve aling clothing. O ve rall it se ems that visual image s on both me n’ s and wome n’ s magazine covers te nd to portray what wome n should look like and what men should look for. There is minimal focus on the male body. In addition to e xam ining weight loss message s on magazine cove rs, visual image s and text re late d to food were also e xam ine d to de termine the pre vale nce of con¯ icting message s about weight loss. E ighte e n of the 69 cove rs of women’ s magazine s containe d some type of con¯ icting message (26%), whe re as none of the cove rs of men’ s magazine s containe d such message s, x 2 (1, N 5 123) 5 8.59, p , .005. The refore , the hypothe sis that wome n’ s magazine s would contain more con¯ icting message s than men’ s was supporte d. It is inte resting that the majority of the se con¯ icting message s (61%) were positione d right ne xt to one anothe r. For e xam ple , a magazine might show a picture of an ice -cre am cake with a me ssage that says ``Ice-cream E xtravaganza! ’ ’ ne xt to an e xercise message that says ``Trim Your Thighs in 3 We e ks.’ ’ Recent research (Nemeroff et al., 1994) has sugge ste d that the re has be en a decrease in the e mphasis on weight loss in wome n’ s magazine s ove r the last de cade, howe ver it is appare nt from this study that wome n are still re ceiving ge nde re d message s from magazine s re garding weight and bodily appe arance at a fairly high rate . B e cause article s on we ight loss do not consiste ntly appe ar in the most popular me n’ s magazine s, the re st of this re port will focus on the message s displaye d in wome n’ s magazine s. Magazine cove rs in popular wome n’ s magazine s were furthe r separate d into thre e magazine categorie s: Mode rn magazine s (e .g., Ms.), Traditional magazine s (e .g., Fam ily Circle) , and Fashion magazine s (e .g., Cosm opolitan ). Table III displays the pe rcentage s of each type of message for each magazine category. A lthough no statistical analyse s were calculate d, a comparison of the freque ncie s of message s

Tab le III. Pe rcentages of E ach Me ssage Type on Wome n’ s Magazine Covers, by Magazine Category a

Type of Me ssage Diet E xe rcise Cosmetic surge ry Unspe ci® e d A t least one message (any type) a

Traditional (n 5 42) n (%) 19 11 0 10 40

(45) (26) (0) (24) (95)

Fashion (n 5 24) n (%) 5 5 4 4 14

(21) (21) (17) (17) (58)

Mode rn (n 5 3) n (%) 0 0 0 0 0

(0) (0) (0) (0) (0)

Pe rce ntages may sum to more than 100 because some magazine covers containe d more than one type of me ssage.

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653

about weight loss and bodily appe arance in each cate gory of magazine reve ale d a tre nd in which traditional magazine s containe d the most message s regarding weight loss and bodily appe arance (58%) and containe d all of the con¯ icting me ssage s involving weight loss and fatte ning foods. Fashion magazine s containe d a smalle r percentage of me ssage s (20%). Finally, modern magazine s did not contain any message s re late d to weight or bodily appe arance . Similarly, Neme roff et al. (1994) found that modern magazine s containe d the le ast amount of me ssage s re late d to bodily appe arance, howe ve r their re sults sugge ste d that fashion magazine s were more body-orie nte d than traditional magazine s. It is inte resting that many of the same magazine s we re use d in both studie s. Perhaps the most alarming ® nding in this study was the position of we ight-re late d me ssage s in relation to othe r message s on the magazine covers. B y their positioning of message s on magazine cove rs, magazine s may imply that losing weight or changing the shape of one ’ s body will le ad to a be tte r life (se e Table IV ) . For e xam ple, message s such as ``Get the Body You Want’ ’ place d next to ``How to Ge t Your Husband to Really Listen’ ’ and ``Lose 10 Pounds’ ’ place d next to ``Ways to Make Your Life Easie r, Happie r, and B e tte r’ ’ may give wome n the false ide a that changing the appe arance of the ir bodie s will le ad to be tte r re lationships, stronge r frie ndships, and happie r live s. It is possible that diffe re nt results may have bee n found if othe r type s of magazine s (i.e., me n’ s body-buildin g magazine s or he alth magazine s) had bee n include d in this study. Howe ver, the magazine s in this study were chose n on the basis of popularity and not on speci® c magazine the me or conte nt. Magazine s speci® cally associate d with ® tne ss, he alth, or appe arance were not purpose fully chose n for wome n or men. Inste ad, magazine s that were reporte d as ``fre que ntly read’ ’ were se le cted. O ne limitation of this study is the sample of magazine s chose n. A s the authors did not have acce ss to a more recent Simmon’ s Study of Me dia and Marke ts, the 1987 list was use d to dete rmine which magazine s were most fre que ntly read by

Tab le IV. E xample s of Me ssage Positioning that Implies that Changing B odily A ppe arance Will Le ad to a B e tter Life Te xt

next to

``Get the B ody You Really Want’ ’ ``Tighten Your B utt’’ ``Drop 8 Pounds this Month’ ’ ``Get a Re ally Firm Body in 30 Days’ ’ ``Lose 10 Pounds’ ’ ``Stay Skinny’ ’

Te xt

``How to Ge t Your Husband to Re ally Liste n’ ’ ``Habits of Con® de nt Women’ ’ ``25 Ways to Make Your Marriage Hot A gain’ ’ ``5 Ways to Kee p Your Husband Faithful’ ’ ``Ways to Make Your Life E asier, Happier, and B e tter’ ’ ``What Men Want Most’ ’

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Malkin et al.

wome n and men in this study. Many ne w magazine s have bee n introduce d in the 1990s, and it is possible that the magazine s e xamine d in this study may no longe r be the most fre que ntly read. We also use d thre e additional magazine s that were pe rceive d to be ``popular’ ’ but were not on the Simmon’ s 1987 list. Pe rhaps it would have bee n bette r to use a recent list and not add additional magazine s. Howe ver, many of the magazine s se lected in this study have be e n use d in pre vious re se arch on me ssage s re late d to bodily appe arance (i.e ., A nde rson & DiDome nico, 1992; Nemeroff et al., 1994) . B e cause the pre sent study builds on this prior work, we be lie ve that the re sults from the magazine s used in this study are meaningful. Finally, it is not our inte ntion to sugge st that magazine s such as Newsw eek, L ife, or Natio n al G eograp hic are e xclusive ly ``men’ s magazine s’ ’ and that women do not re ad the m. The categorie s of ``women’ s’ ’ and ``men’ s’ ’ magazine s in this study were base d e ntire ly on the outcom es of the 1987 Simmon’ s Study. In conclusion, it se ems that in men’ s popular magazine s the focus is on providing e nte rtainm ent and improving one ’ s life by e xpanding knowle dge , hobbie s, and activitie s. Wome n’ s magazine s, howe ver, se em to focus on improving one ’ s life by changing one’ s appe arance , e spe cially by losing we ight. It is implie d through both image s and te xt that be ing thin means being happie r, sexier, and more lovable . Wome n’ s magazine s also contain con¯ icting me ssage s about weight loss strategies and e ating be haviors, including the place me nt of weight loss pre scriptions ne xt to re cipe s and picture s of foods that are e xtreme ly high in fat conte nt. The ® ndings from this analysis sugge st that women are not only be ing told that they should focus on obtaining an impossible body shape through die ting and exe rcising, but the y are also being told that they should be able to do so while eating, or at le ast pre paring for othe rs, foods that are high in fat conte nt. These fattening foods, obviously not typical diet foods, may make wome n think that it is e ve n more impossible for the m to obtain the thin ide al that is being pre se nte d to the m or the ideal life that goe s with it. The conse que nce s of striving for the se unre alistic ide als may be that an incre asing numbe r of wome n take aggre ssive means to control and re duce their weight (Wadde n, Brown, Foste r, & Linowitz, 1991) . The se die ting efforts can have se rious implications, including inade quate nutrition, fatigue , weakne ss, irritability, depre ssion, social withdrawal, loss of se xual desire , and e ve n sudde n de ath from cardiac arrhythmia (Ciliska, 1990) . In addition, die tary re straint increases the like lihood of binge e ating, which may initiate the cycle of bulimia in individuals at risk for de ve loping eating disorde rs (Polivy & He rman, 1985) . In short, die ting should ne ve r be conside re d a risk-fre e activity (Chrisle r, 1994) . Pe rhaps e ditors of popular women’ s magazine s ne ed to be more aware of the implications of ge nde red message s on magazine

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covers and the physical and psychologica l conseque nce s the y may have for women.

R E FE R E NCES Ande rson, A . E ., & DiDomen ico, L. (1992) . Diet vs. shape content of popular male and female magazines: A dose -response relationship to the incidence of eating disorders? Internatio nal Jo urnal o f E ating D isord ers, 11, 283 ± 287. Chrisler, J. C. (1994) . Re framing women’ s weight: Does thin equal he althy? In A . Dan (E d.), Refram in g w om en’ s health : Multidisciplin ary research an d practice. Ne wbury Park, CA : Sage. Ciliska, D. (1990) . B eyo nd dietin g: Psych oedu cation al inter vention s fo r chro nically ob ese w om en-a no n d ieting app roach . Ne w York: B runne r/Maze l. Faludi, S. (1991) . B acklash : The und eclared w ar against A m erican wo m en . New York: Crown. Free dman, T. (1986) . B eauty b ou nd. Le xington, MA : D. C. Heath. Lee , D. (1998) . Make the cover a sales tool. Folio: The Magaz ine fo r Magazin e Man agemen t. {O n-line}. A vailable: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/unive rse /docum . . .5a3& _md5 5 6c7c5c4598976a0d f9b148028bbd 3c87. Ne meroff, C. J., Stein, R. I., Diehl, N. S., & Smilack, K. M. (1994) . From the Cleavers to the Clintons: Role choice s and body orientation as re ¯ e cted in magazine article content. Internatio nal Jo urnal o f E ating D isord ers, 16, 167 ± 176. Polivy, J., & Herman, C. P. (1985) . Die ting and binge ing: A causal analysis. A m erican Psycholo gist, 40, 193± 201. Sim mo n’ s stud y o f m edia and m ark ets. (1987) . New York: Simmon’ s Marke t Rese arch B ureau, Inc. Wadde n, T. A., B rown, G., Foste r, G. D., & Linowitz, J. R. (1991) . Salience of weightrelate d worries in adolesce nt males and fe male s. Intern ational Jo urnal of E ating Disorders, 10, 407± 414. Wolf, N. (1991) . Th e b eau ty m yth: Ho w im ages of beau ty are used against w om en . Ne w York: William Morrow.