The Metrosexual Man and The Strong, Black Father: Investigating the Role Masculinity Plays in Defining Social Relations between Black and White Men

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2016-08

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Abstract

I conducted a quantitative content analysis of men in the advertisements of two different lifestyle magazines, Esquire and Ebony, from 2006 to 2013, in order to explore how masculinity is a socially constructed concept, and more specifically, how race affects depictions of masculinity and men’s bodies in magazine advertisements. My findings reveal that boundaries between racial in and out-group males are maintained not only through depictions of the body, but also through depictions of role performances. However, although both magazines marginalize out-group males, I argue that Ebony marginalizes out-group males to a greater extent than Esquire does. I attribute the difference in the extent of marginalization to the different versions of masculinity the advertisements are appealing to, i.e., the metrosexual man versus the strong, black father. This highlights the role masculinity plays in the construction of social relations between groups of men, and it is a phenomenon that future research should explore.

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Keywords

Sociology, Race, Advertising, Masculinity, Men's studies, Esquire, Ebony, Race relations, Gender, Sociology of the body, Role performances, Gender relations, Social constructs, Male models, Media, Mass communication, Lifestyle magazines, Men's lifestyle magazines, Social construction of masculinity, Social construction of race, White men, Black men, Men, Feminist studies, Advertising media, Communications

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