This activity could be
used in any course about gender, media, or bodies. Before class, I conduct a search for magazine
covers online from the current year (I use a Google Image search). I use fitness and health magazines because I
pair this activity with a reading about gendered fit body ideals (a chapter
from Body Panic by Dworkin and Wachs*),
however, any type of magazine could be utilized. I usually use one cover from each of the
following magazines: Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fitness,
Shape, and Self.
I put each image on its
own PowerPoint slide and I also print out copies to hand out to groups of
students: each group should have a different magazine cover (or set of covers)
that they are responsible for describing to the rest of the class.
I ask students to
identity what messages are communicated about gender on the magazine
covers. Of particular interest to my
class are the body-related messages, the cover model, and the similarities and
differences between magazines intended for men and magazines intended for women.
Students are often
amused by this activity and surprised to see what we have been learning about
reflected in magazines they actually might read. This activity also gives students a chance to
show off their mastery of the material and to teach one another.
Here are a few of the magazine covers I have used:
*I use the chapter "Size Matters: Male Body Panic and the Third Wave 'Crisis of Masculinity'" from Dworkin, Shari L. and Faye Linda Wachs. 2009. Body Panic: Gender, Health, and the Selling of Fitness. New York: New York University Press.
