Recommendations

Hello everyone! So here are the links for the blogs that I have visited and commented on. I find them very interesting and inspiring.

Love & Romance in Media- Lucie Bergerová
I find Lucie's blog very interesting because it talks about how love and relationships are portrayed in media and the different stereotypes that are presented there. By reading this blog I have realized even more how the romantic films affect the way we want our relationships to be.

MediaTechnologySociety - Francisco Navarro
Francisco's blog is about the modern technologies and how they can be harmful but also beneficial for our society. This theme is concerning me a lot as I use these modern technologies everyday and I think they help me in a lot of ways as I have mentioned in my comment on his blog.

How contemporary music influences teenagers - Šarka Rudolfová
Šarka's blog is about music and the way it influences us teenagers. I think her blog is very interesting as most of us listen to music and can't live without our mp3s or iPods. However it has made me to realize a thing that I haven't realized before that sometimes these videos and lyrics influence me in the way I act towards a certain issue.

Sex vs Violence in Media - Niklas Knott
Niklas's blog is very good. I think that he used interesting sources and that he has reminded us how media is continually desensitizing us in the way we see violence and sex nowadays.

Lastly,

Girls and Women stereotypes in Media - Hoang Minh Phuong
This blog is also concerning me a lot because I am a woman and I think that it is important to be aware that such stereotypes exist. Also in the area of jobs where it is harder for a woman to find a job than it is for a man and that a woman's success is easily undermined because it is rooted in the society that a woman should stay at home in the kitchen.

Ads with different type of men

Here I have found different Old Spice commercials which show another men stereotype. The commercial is with Terry Crew an actor and football player, he plays the "agressive" type of a strong man in this ad.

This ad is from axe and it has a more feminine model.

Feminization of Rock

In the link below you will be able to see the top 20 Most Androgynous Rock Bands of all time. I think it is interesting that rock bands adopt this type of style as to me I thought that rockers are supposed to be manly tough guys with loads of tattoos but apparently I am wrong. How come that these men who sing and scream about sex,drugs and rock n' roll look so much lady like? Nearly all of these performers use makeup such as black eyeliner and black nail polish. Is it because they are so free and they don't want to follow any rules or is it because they have a feminine side to them, what do you think?

http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/05-06-2009/The-20-Most-Androgynous-Rockers-of-all-Time-154

The ideal man of 2012

My blog is concentrating on advertising in which men play the main role and how they are portrayed in these advertisements, plus it also concentrates on how men are shown in women magazines. The problem now is that there is a lot of pressure from the media not only on women but also on men. In the women magazines women often find out that their man is too much of a "macho" man and he should be more sensitive and more feminine in order to better understand certain problems that concern only women. In commercials men are shown also in a rather feminine way but also as successful men with muscles, long hair, fancy clothes and also nearly "Ken" like perfect looks. So, what should a man choose? Should he be more sensitive in order to please the females or should he be more strong and wealthy to make his male friends jealous? Maybe the best answer is a man should be a man. Tom Nakayama in his article " Images of Men in Advertising" has said that it is very hard to define now what a man should really be like. As if you see all these advertisements the men stereotype changes depending on the product that is to be sold and on the type of the audience. In the advertisements that are supposed to interest women the man appears usually half naked, in the advertisements that are supposed to catch the attention of men the model in most cases is in a tuxedo, he’s a successful man with lots of women around him. Nakayama also says in the article, which I think is true that it is the advertising that creates the stereotypes of men. It is true that usually men are portrayed as lonely, when it is and commercial for alcohol men are portrayed as those who have a lot of women and party with their friends all the time. Plus none of the ads show men that have a family.

The " Boys to Men: Media Messages About Masculinity" has shown different men stereotypes that are commonly shown in adverts. One of these stereotype figures is called "The Big Shot" and it is the man stereotype that is figures in advertisements for men. He is successful, strong and wealthy usually surrounded by lots of women. These types of men are shown in commercials for men perfumes because they are supposed to send the message " If you smell like me you will be a step closer to a successful, wealthy man that every woman desires." Danielle Limpinnian in the essay "The portrayal of Men and Women in TV Ads" clearly says that masculinity means different things to women and to men. The article states that what to men seems masculine such as watching football and drinking beer may to women seem childish. This clearly supports my claim that today's women feel that men should be more feminized.

As I will develop more in my next post male androgyny has become also very popular nowadays as the rock bands, which were the symbols of how a real tough man should look, are now adopting the androgynous style which was popular mainly in the 70s,80s meaning that feminine and masculine features are combined. The problem is that media shows images of men that look feminine and act in a feminine way and women say, " I want that kind of man". Truly a man who acts like our girlfriend but can change the light bulb is a perfect ideal man. However we cannot want both things at one time. In my opinion this will lead to a tragic end because women are portrayed as successful strong, independent in need of no man, with superwoman like powers and men are portrayed as more feminine. In a short time we will be living in a world where the woman will open up a beer play video games while her man is discussing the new Chanel makeup line with his lads on the phone.

Below you can see an example of a commercial for the BOD fragrance spray.

Links: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/del0001.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_stereotypes.cfm

http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/images-men-advertising

Recommended Sites

The first of the webpages that I will recommend to read which concerns my topic is: http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/liar-body-language-0509#slide-2

This webpage talks about men behavior and how the man's body language will help you to find out whether your boyfriend is lying to you or not. It is very important that you concentrate on the pictures of the models that are next to every "sign" as to me they seem rather feminine. This article portrays men as liars, because if I were to test my boyfriend following this "guide" than he would be lying to me yesterday when he said that it's raining outside because while he said that he rubbed his nose.

Second webpage is : http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_stereotypes.cfm

The content of this webpage helps you to identify different stereotypes of men that are in advertisements. I find this article interesting as it helps me to distinguish for which sexe is the advertisement for. Whether it is supposed to attract women's or men's attention.

Lastly: http://www.genderads.com/page6/males/males.html , which is a site that contains thousands of advertisements that are focusing on gender. You can find male commercials under different titles or themes such as "Heroes" or "Control". This site should help everyone to make their own opinion about my topic, to see different commercials and compare how men are shown in them.

Article 2

The second article I have read was base on the experiment conducted by the Face Research Laboratory. If you click on the link below this post you can access the article and read more about the experiment. In a shorter way the experiment was included women from different countries that would access this website and click on images of men also from different countries and click on those which seem more attractive to them. In the end of the experiments the results would prove whether women prefer men that look more masculine or men that look more feminine. The faces of the men that were on the photos were either "masculinized or feminized" by a special program. What the researchers have come up with is that actually women choose their men depending on in what country the woman lives. If the country is rather poor a woman will pick a man that looks more manly wherelse if the woman is rather rich she picks a man that looks more feminine. I think that this article is interesting because it helps us to see why women usually like more feminine looking men from a different point of view, not the view that says that it is the media that told women that men should be more feminine.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704100604575145810050665030.html

Article 1

It was very hard for me to find some educational articles about my topic, so as one of them I have chose to discuss the content of articles about men and relationships that appear in women magazines. The first article is from "Cosmopolitan" and its name is "5 signs he thinks you are the one" written by Gabrielle Frank. So basically in this article she talks about 5 signs that should make a girl 100% sure that her boyfriend takes the relationship seriously. The thing that surprised me in this article is sign 4 : " He's cried infront of you", basically the thing it talks about is that if a guy cries infront of you it means you're the one, however the article forgets to mention what does it mean if he doesn't cry infront of you. Does it mean that if a man doesn't cry infront of his girlfriend he doesn't take her seriously? This links in with the point that I have made in the first post that woman magazines usually say that men should be more sensitive. Also the rest of these signs aren't really credible or at least if I have taken these signs seriously nearly every man I know apparently thinks I am the one. However what I wanted to say about this article is that it pushes women to put pressure on their men and if a man doesn't take care of his finances doesn't spend time with you he doesn't take the relationship seriously which I think is a complete nonsense and it is complete nonsense the other way around too as a man can take a woman on a holiday just because he wants to leave the city. Or he can take care of his finances simply because he wants to buy a new car these signs don't mean anything. Another article connected with behavior is an article called " Sneaky stuff his Body Language Reveals" by Anna Davies. I assume that after reading this article a lot of women will start to put pressure on their boyfriends and examine their behavior more than they would before. As the article suggests that if a man doesn't hold your robe when you walk on the red carpet as Justin Bieber did to Selena Gomez he doesn't respect you.
Here is the link : http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/signs-he-thinks-you-are-the-one
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/relationship-advice/ways-to-read-his-body-language#slide-1

Men commercials

Everyone knows that spring time is the time of different sport events such as football championships and now currently the International World Hockey Championships. I have read an article (the link will be provided at the end of this post) where it is written that advertising is all about gender stereotypes. Also that during the streaming of these sport events the commercials are more targeted on men. Since I watch  hockey I have realized that it's true. During these programs the adverts revolve around men. These commercial are usually either about alcohol, perfumes showing men how they should behave and look in order to get a trophy = a beautiful woman. What type of men are in these commercials? Men stereotypes! In most cases it is a tall man with muscles his hair is nicely polished, no signs of aging, no signs of hair on his body he has perfect teeth, flawless skin, nicely dressed or preferably not dressed at all.
One of these ads that teaches men how they should look is the commercial for old spice which you can see if you click on the link below. The commercial is about a man who has everything a girl "wants". He has muscles, he's pretty, he takes a shower, he has a boat, a shell, some pearls, a couple of diamonds and tickets for some very desired event everyone want to go to. Oh, and not to forget he has a horse! So in order to impress women men should look like that one in the advert and also smell like him. However not all women want that even though now thanks to the media some men want to look like that in the commercial and not to forget have a horse!

Furthermore I have seen a commercial for the www.estbalishedmen.com website which you can also see below. Established men is an online dating site for women to find successful men. In the advert you can see how money, a lot of houses, planes and contacts are more valuable then a romantic dinner in a small apartment. This commercial clearly shows that if a man wants to get a women he needs to have a plane and houses all around the world, as that is what matters today. I don't think that this is right and it shows bad examples, as I would preferably be with a man that has some values rather then with a man who focuses on money. Yes it is important that you have money in order to keep your kids from starving but will a life with a man that leaves you home alone all the time, with your only friend being his credit card a happy life?

I don't think so, but I think that these commercials should focus on normal everyday man that comes home from work tired and the best way to relax and get some energy is to take a shower with this brilliant new shower gel. Not on a man who comes home because he is exhausted and he needs to take a shower because he had a wild night with three sexy girls.
Link :
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/men_and_masculinity/masculinity_advertising.cfm

WAX! WAX! WAX!

Recently I have read an article on the webpage: http://www.livestrong.com/article/68312-beauty-treatments-men/ Where they talk about beauty treatments for men and how they are becoming more and more popular because men start to realize that their appearance is very important. Again we must ask where did it all began? Once upon a time John (our model for this story) woke up at 9am, went to take a shower, looked at his legs and realized that they are too hairy and that hair is not sexy. He realized that he would feel more attractive if his legs were smooth to the touch so he shaved them. He looked in the mirror and realized that his skin is not clear enough so he should get a facial treatment or even better he should go to Sephora and buy a foundation. Oh, wait! He actually can use that of his girlfriend:) What about those wrinkles on his forehead maybe he should go for another botox session. Maybe his eyelashes aren't enough remarkable so he should have them dyed black so that his eyes would pop out more. By 12 o'clock he was finally satisfied and went out with his friends for a beer to tell them everything about his new fascinating experience. Enough, enough! Girls ,would a man that has his eyebrows plucked out, no wrinkles, who uses your foundation and when you touch his legs and hands you are intimidated because they are more smother than yours seem attractive to you? Maybe a lot of you haven't known till now but the treatments that women get in beauty salons are becoming more and more popular between men, whether it is waxing or applying botox. Why is that, do you think that really one man in this case John has started it all? No I don't think so it's the media the media started to critise men for their looks and behaviour. Putting forward that men should care about themselves more because that's the way it should be and women desire such men. In the end after reading the 10 last issues of a popular magazine where it was repeated again and again, women started to believe that this is the way it should be, this is the standard. They started to pressure on their partners forcing them to behave in such a way maybe they didn't want their men to wax their legs but they certainly wanted them to care about themselves more. What has happened is the "Falling snowball effect". However this whole ideal has evolved from pornography as there men are nearly perfect they are shaved in all places, they have muscles and their bodies are so shiny. In the end this is the same pressure that women are under, because women are told that they should have a nice body preferably big boobs, longs legs, big lips, long hair and big eyes and to achieve this ideal they also started to go for different beauty procedures the same way as men are doing now.  However is this what we really want? Yes, every woman wants a nice smelling man but not every woman wants to share her wax and foundation with her partner. In my opinion it is all about the products, money and marketing as the millions of beauty products for women are not enough, now men should also buy numerous amounts of products that will help them look "more" beautiful. It's all about giving more money to the state.

Darling, can I do your nails?

My blog will focus on something I consider a serious problem in our society. A lot of people are now concerned about the fact that when you open a women's magazine, what jumps at you is a beautiful girl, with a flawless face perfectioned by photoshop. Everyone talks about it because it is considered as wrong, that women are under such pressure from media, everything seems to revolve around women. But what about men? Not a lot of people remember to mention that the same issues is concerning men. Do you realize that men are increasingly becoming more like women, that sometimes they spent more time in the bathroom preparing themselves than women do? Is it good and attractive? The pressure on men in this case is the same as that on women in terms of appearance and behavior. Whenever you open a women's magazine you find out how your man is not sensitive enough because he doesn't cry while watching Titanic, how he should take care of himself more, whether it is going to a beauty salon to get his manicure done or to have his eyebrows plucked out. How he should you in selecting your makeup and clothes, sometimes perhaps even offer you that he will do your manicure. Whenever you open a magazine for men that also focuses on style and health,  men are told that to be attractive for women they have to be tanned, have a lot of muscles, rich have a fast car and good looking. No one talks about how man should be reliable, a gentleman, how he should care about his family, engage himself in some kind of sport, be smart no it is all about the looks and a full wallet.  In my opinion it is not correct. Men should remain men and not replace the best friends of women. So I decided to dedicate this blog to the topic: How are men portrayed in women magazines and what is, according to women magazines, the ideal man of 2012? I think it's fair to devote attention also to men because the pressure under which they are from their lovers and media has increased quiet rapidly over the years. It is alarming because men are told to act against their nature which causes conflicts between the two sexes.