When asked to describe the stereotypical "guy's guy", I would likely describe a man who loves sports, BBQing, and women. Apparently, this is what the people at Sport's Illustrated believe as well. On the Sports Illustrated website, at the top of the page, next to the section "Extra Mustard" is the section labeled "Swimsuit". It is funny that there would be a section of almost naked, thin, beautiful, tan, and big-busted women posing in suggestive positions in a magazine generally geared toward males. Then again, is it surprising?
Fredrick Jackson Turner articulated in his Frontier Thesis the anxiety of the closing of the frontier. He believed that the possibility of men becoming less rugged, outdoorsy, and powerful would increase in the absence of the border between savagery and civilization, between the conquerable and conquered. This anxiety of loosing masculinity, or rather the drive to maintain it, is paralleled on the Sports Illustrated website. Not only do the creators create a fairly harsh and bold layout--solid lines, red and black features-- but they also encourage those looking at the website to check out the boobs and butts of the bikini-clad models between reading about the Giants and the NFL draft. The 2012 swimsuit issue of Sport's Illustrated is a prime example how the Frontier Thesis makes its mark on American culture and society today.
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ReplyDeleteI too see Sports Illustrated as an extension of America's attempt to retain the idealized masculine image it has had since the Frontier was still open. I would take it a step further and say that the homogenized stereotype that men only like sports and provocative images portrayed in Sports Illustrated is an attempt to overcompensate for this lost masculinity.
ReplyDeleteI think this identity void that needs to be filled not only stems from the closing of the Frontier, but from the contemporary melting pot. Today, the separated gender cultures are getting more and more mixed as much as different ethnic cultures. Women wear pants, men are free to pursue dance without remark, etc. Products like Sports Illustrated are a way for men to be secure in their masculinity beyond a doubt because of how strongly typically masculine themes are implemented.
This is great! It seems to me that there's a distinction to be made between Jackson Turner's masculinity and contemporary masculinity, if only because in FJT's time, people looked to male bodies to reassure themselves about masculinity (like the electric belt) and this is an example of looking to the female body to somehow shore up masculinity.
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