New periodicals pitch male stereotypes

By Justin Schneider
Lansing (Mich.) State Journal

Those who have yet to get in touch with their inner cowboy need look no further than the nearest magazine rack, where the scales are beginning to tip in favor of a healthy dose of testosterone.

With British import Maxim leading the charge, a fresh crop of magazines do for men what Cosmopolitan has done for women for years.

"Men's magazines that are blatantly sexual and in-your-face offer another way for men to reclaim a male activity," says Deborah Carr, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan. "They provide a place for men to be men."

Carr attributes the popularity of the publications to the evolution of men's roles in society, including their taking on more domestic duties.

Gerald Celente, director of the Trends Research Institute of Rhinebeck, N.Y., believes the trashy-yet-flashy format appeals directly to the male psyche.

"What they have done is taken a page out of Glamour and Seventeen and re-engineered it for a man's base mentality," Celente says. "They are playing to men's primal instincts and pop culture instincts."

Using the seven pillars of manliness — sports, drinking, gadgetry, vanity, bathroom humor, fast cars and even faster women — the new breed of magazines has left the old standbys in the dust.

And while men may not always take the mags seriously, they seem to be paying attention. In 1999, Maxim claimed readership of 1.15 million, surpassing traditional men's publications Esquire and GQ. Men's Health has kept top circulation among men's periodicals at over 1.6 million monthly.

The phenomenon got its start with a British movement many have called "ladism," which preaches a gospel of naked women, drinking and soccer.

The market has expanded to include a dozen or more upstarts, including Gear, a product of Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione Jr.

Carr says men are looking for an outlet to redefine masculinity.

"In the past, men earned enough money to support their families, they had the Kiwanis Club," she says. "Today, there are fewer male domains, fewer ways for men to excel. They're not big players in community activities anymore, so they seek different ways to be men."

For decades, men's magazines have positioned their agendas at polar extremes. On one hand, you have the refined, health-conscious, Boy Scout-ish feel of Esquire, Men's Health and Men's Journal; on the other, there was soft-core porn and good-natured sleaze in the form of Playboy, plus the not-so-soft Penthouse.

Maxim and its brothers, at their best, represent a conglomeration of specialty mags. Imagine a publication that is one part GQ, one part Consumer Reports, one part Sports Illustrated, one part Victoria's Secret catalog and all Mad magazine.