The Sexy Issue: Visual Expressions of Heteronormativity and Gender Identities in Cosmopolitan Magazine

Introduction It is important to be aware of the values of a culture and the impact they have on the members of its society. Values underlie, and to a large extent, determine the behavior of individuals. Unlike behavior, values are not directly observable. One way values can be uncovered is by the analytical interpretation of relational themes that emerge from the observed behaviors of members in a society (Vinson, Scott, & Lamont, 1977). Relational themes of particular interests are group composition, interpersonal contact, and activity participation restrictions. Such themes are commonly present in human social behaviors and have an associated set of beliefs and values. One way that researchers can analyze the behavior of a society is through the critical examination of images in multimedia. Images provide static representations of behaviors that lend themselves to investigation concerning the values of the intended audience. As a result, images in multimedia offer research a unique view of dominant discourses around group composition, interpersonal contact, and activity participation restrictions. Purpose Using a qualitative image analysis, this study explored the current values (c. 2009) of American society, as described by the images in print issues of Cosmopolitan magazine. Specifically, attitudes toward sexual orientation and gender identities were evaluated from the observed behaviors in images using an inductive perspective. Two general inquiries were used to guide the manner with which behavior was observed: (a) is a heteronormative bias present, and (b) what values regarding the expressions of sexual orientation and gender identities can be inferred from these images. Heteronormativity is the idea that the dominant culture of a society views heterosexuality as the "normal" sexual orientation. This study is unique in that quantitative data will be presented to quantify the qualitative inquiry and provide a rich presentation of the results. Additionally, throughout this study, the feminist word womyn is used in place of woman, women, and female--except when intentionally used for emphasis--as an enhanced identifier of a gender separate from man. Multimedia Images as Cultural Snapshots The images in magazine advertisements have often been the subject of social science research due to the vast numbers of individuals they reach daily (cf. Doring & Poschl, 2006; Goffman, 1978; Kang, 1997; Milillo, 2008; Xue & Ellzey, 2009). In the construction of advertisement images, emphasis is placed on information that is thought to be influential within the dominant culture of the target audience, such as commonly held values and beliefs (Wolin, 2003). Goffman (1978), proposed the idea that human models in advertisement images are intentionally choreographed to convey particular values concerning social identity and expectations. The values chosen for representation by human models in advertisement images are a reflection of the dominant cultural beliefs regarding social identities. As a result, the representation of human relationships in advertisement images offers research a unique view of normative discourses regarding social identities related to sexual orientation and gender. The analysis of magazine advertisement images often excludes images related to editorial articles. Editorial articles, similar to advertisements, are created to complement the dominant cultural discourses of the target audience. Images juxtaposed with editorial text are selected to visually enhance the central themes of the article. Likewise, images of human models are intentionally choreographed to represent the chosen relational values. The exclusion of editorial images with human models from analysis of magazine images results in an incomplete assessment of social values communicated through the images. Appropriately, this study includes all images of human models printed within the selected magazines, both editorial and advertisement. …