Lara Croft can be seen as a reactionary sign that is negatively impacting the female gender as it is agrees with the dominant ideology of how women should be represented as a whole. They have done this by over sexualising her, giving her bigger breast and a bigger bum whilst also giving her a small waist. However, there are some counter type symbolism such as having big muscles. This goes against the dominant ideology as women aren’t usually seen with big muscles in the gaming industry which shows that the designers know women work hard and are trying to embrace it in video games. This can be seen as biased as it isn’t only men that over sexualise female characters, Mari Shimuzaki designed Bayonetta and purposely made her look the way she does because she wanted her to look feminine and have that quality which arguably should be shown because it represents women in gaming. If an intended female character looked like a male, no one would like it or have intention to buy the game as it’s not showing enough feminine quality to be female. Because the gaming industry is heavily male dominanted, the designers of Lara Croft the wanted her to appeal to the male audience so they would buy it, because if they used a fat lady as the main character the target or implied audience would be confused and therefore not buy the game. This means that the decision to over sexualise her was conscious however it was also used as a means to sell their product so they can make money to make profits because the gaming industry is male dominated and not to objectify women as their main goal. A main problem with the magazine is that it depicts an unrealistic view on gender, one of which that can’t be achieved as it’s perfect. This is because she’s skinny to the bone but she also has huge muscles, her knees are also tiny which in real life she wouldn’t be able to stand as they wouldn’t be able to support her body weight.

Mens health represents the male gender in a positive and a negative way. This is because it shows a man with huge muscles which is a way to a healthy life which is for the dominant ideology for what men should look like, on the other hand it is somewhat unrealistic as not all men look like this. This can be inaccurate as they wouldn’t want to show a fat man on a fitness magazine because it wouldn’t make much sense. and then wouldn’t sell. The magazine is trying to promote a healthy life style and showing that a man should look like this and if he doesn’t, he is not a man. However, this can be seen as one big misinterpretation as the magazine does state it’s mens fitness and not all average men. The magazine company is using the front cover as a marketing scheme so they can sell a product and if the audience buys the product, they will also look in this particular way. This can leave some men feeling insecure about themselves which whilst can be motivation for change, it can also be a step down in confidence. The main goal of the magazine isn’t to make men feel insecure but to instead feel motivated so the company can make money as that is all what most companies want.

Both magazine covers taken into account, show gender identity negatively as they want show what each gender should look like in their eyes. A problem with this is that the magazines are based on two completely separate categories of video games and health snd safety, this means that they both may think differently of what gender stereotypes are. For example, A fitness Magazine will show what a female of fitness should look like to them which will be different to what a female gaming character will look like in a video game. This is a reason why the chosen magazine covers can be biased and inaccurate as a specific agenda is trying to be pushed.