The influence of magazines on men: Normalizing and challenging young men’s prejudice with “lads’ mags”.

Abstract

Social psychologists have argued that popular U.K. and U.S. men's magazines known as "lads' mags" have normalized hostile sexism among young men. Three studies develop this argument. First, a survey of 423 young U.K. men found that ambivalent sexism predicted attitudes toward the consumption of lads' mags, but not other forms of direct sexual consumption (paying for sex or patronizing strip clubs). Second, Study 2 (N ϭ 81) found that young men low in sexism rated sexist jokes as less hostile toward women, but not as either funnier nor more ironic, when those jokes were presented within a lads' mags context. These findings refute the idea that young men readily read lads' mags' sexism as ironic or "harmless fun." They show instead that placing sexist jokes in lads' mags contexts makes them appear less hostile. The third study (N ϭ 275) demonstrated that young men perceived lads' mags as less legitimate after attempting to distinguish the contents of lads' mags from rapists' legitimations of their crimes. Implications for contemporary studies of masculinities and consumption are discussed.

Measuring Rape Myth Acceptance in Sweden: Psychometric Properties of a Swedish Translation of The Acceptance of Modern Myths About Sexual Aggression Scale

“…As the two measures were both designed to capture similar, but not identical, facets of RMA, this finding supports the concurrent validity of the Swedish language AMMSA. The AMMSA also correlated positively and more strongly with hostile sexism than with benevolent sexism, a finding also consistent with previous studies (Gerger et al, 2007;Hegarty et al, 2018;Hantzi et al, 2015;Khokhlova & Bohner, 2020;Mégias et al, 2011;Murphy & Hine, 20018;Persson et al, 2018). The AMMSA also correlated positively and moderately with social dominance orientation, with a correlation coefficient in a similar range as in previous studies (Gerger et al 2007;Hantzi et al, 2015;Süssenbach & Bohner.…”

Men and masculinity in men's magazines: A review

“…For example, in a study where men were asked to identify phrases from Lads' magazines contrasted with statements made by convicted sexual offenders during testimony, Horvath, Hegarty, Tyler, and Mansfield () argue that “the ways in which convicted rapists and Lads' mags discuss female sexuality are similar enough to each other to be frequently confused and distinctions between them are blurred” (p. 467). Similar claims regarding rape myth acceptance and sexual coercion of women after reading Lads' magazines have been made by other scholars (Hegarty et al, ; Hust, Rodgers, Ebreo, & Stefani, ). In contrast, male study participants in Waling's () qualitative study described sexualised representations of women's bodies in men's magazines as “problematic,” with many rejecting the consumption of this imagery as an essential part of an idealised heterosexual masculinity.…”

“…Vandenbosch & Eggermont, ), and attitudes to women (e.g. Hegarty, Stewart, Blockmans, & Horvath, ). Readership reception studies are methodologically distinguishable from impact and effect studies insofar as they seek to explore how men actively engage with and negotiate images and ideas about masculinity and manhood in relation to their own identities and experiences of masculinity (e.g.…”

Rape jokes aren’t funny: the mainstreaming of rape jokes in contemporary newspaper discourse

“…In so doing we build upon previous significant studies on sexual violence have explored the ways in which print media play a central role in constructing and normalising male violence towards women in news coverage (e.g. Cindy Carter, 1998;Stewart Hegarty, Andrew Stewart, Inge Blockmans and Miranda Horvath et al, 2016).…”