While Tomb Raider portrays women as strong and independent, it also objectifies and emphasises her looks over her actions. Furthermore, Men’s Health stereotypes men as big and masculine to show the ‘perfect’ man while still representing other parts of being a man. This means that both CSP’s portray gender in a positive and negative way through the front covers and features spreads.

On the Tomb Raider front cover, Lara Croft is shown as the only dominant signifier and is used at an MLS to show off her face but also to show her body. She is also angled to show off her assets which is clear objectification as the aim is targeted towards most of the straight male audience. On the back cover, the camera is angled at her butt as the player follows behind her which is very objectifying as it denotes that her butt is the focus and so the most important part of her. On the other hand, Men’s Health shows off an MLS of Vin Diesel (synergising the two brands of Vin Diesel and Men’s Health), which also applies to the male audience due to health tips of how to be a healthy man. This means the he isn’t as objectified as much as Lara Croft due to being produced for most men. While at the time, Tomb Raider was more of a radical text as it uses a positive stereotype compared to the normal misrepresentation of women in video games, being the damsel in distress. Men’s Health is a lot more of a reactionary text as it supports the dominant ideology of men being large and tough.

However, the new Men’s Health issues are more radical texts which don’t use traditional stereotypes. The front cover talks about ‘#slay winter blues’ which addresses the issue of mental health instead of just physical health. This refers to emotion and therefore more feminine which ‘shouldn’t’ be talked about on a men’s magazine. In the contents page, in shows Phillip Howells who is 69, these counter the dominant ideology of all male athletes being very young therefore creating a positive message while representing the elderly in a positive light. It uses countertypes to the traditional feminine traits by making her wield guns as they connote violence and action which are more traditionally masculine stereotypes rather than being a fragile and caring woman. However, the guns are small compared to other games with male character that are holding larger weapons compared to 2 small pistols.

Both texts apply to the straight male who usually fits into the emergent service workers as they have high cultural capital. This is because Tomb Raider objectifies women while Men’s Health try to make men feel better and healthier. The hegemony of culture is changing as those dominant ideologies about gender and the fluidity of identity is changing. This is to due the idea of being a man becoming a wider term to include those with differences such as mental health, sexual orientation or gender to apply to a larger and different audience. Referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, after physical health and safety the next need is for that of love and belonging. By these case studies applying to this larger audience, it makes people feel represented and belonged to a community, leading to a change of the constructed identity in society while representing gender in a broader spectrum without misrepresenting the target population.

Although both case studies use stereotypes and countertypes to portray men and women in different ways, these prints show the changing times as traditional masculinity is only portrayed through physical health and appearance to the relevance of identity and mental health. While women aren’t portrayed as helpless and have become powerful and independent without the need of help from men.