In this essay, I am going to be discussing how gender is displayed on the Tomb Raider and Men’s Health Magazine, by exploring how designers represent genders, ie females and males. Firstly, we need to look at the definition of gender, which is said to be either of two sexes, male and female. Interestingly nowadays, there is much more of an increase in gender fluidity, meaning the flexibility of genders, for instance, people can be referred as not just by the two sexes, male and female, but also non-binary, bisexual, transgender etc. When analyzing the Men’s Health magazine, how it portrays the gender male, in my opinion, is very stereotypical, which therefore I see as a reactionary representation, as I believe it’s ‘normal’ to see a man portrayed like this in a Men’s Health magazine, i.e. looking muscular and dominant. I would say I think this because, in today’s culture, our society has convinced us about how we should or expect men and women to be portrayed and how they present themselves, vs how the media present them. On the other hand, looking at the Tomb Raider magazine, I feel that it’s a very radical representation, as I believe that our society and media have made us stereotype males and females. For instance, women are characterized to be gentle and caretaking, whereas males are characterized to be powerful, buff and dominant over women. In the tomb raider magazine, it is clear she is holding a gun, which instantly challenges the dominant ideology. The fact that it is a woman standing on the front cover, implies that she is the main subject, showing that she is powerful, evidently as she is holding a gun. This initially says something about how we see women in pop culture and society. In addition, we believe that Lara Croft challenges the dominant ideology as she is challenging stereotypical men who a more dominant than women, which is evidently shown by her strength and power within the photo and her body language. Furthermore, the color yellow is associated with energy, this represents the women’s power. also, gamers were used to seeing women play the role a victim, seductress, or evil villains, however, in the Tomb Raider magazine, it challenges the dominant ideology, because she is presented heroically. my opinion, I believe that Men’s Health magazine is reactionary, and the Tomb Raider magazine is radical. 

In the Tomb Raider magazine, it dramatically introduces sexualization. Lara Croft is presented as a protagonist, as she is placed in the center of the magazine, it instantly draws attention to her, as she’s been positioned to show her behind and overly enhanced graphic features. The game designers have constructed Lara Croft in this way, to appease straight Christian males, as she is underdressed and her breast and buttocks have been overemphasized. To add on, she has been placed in an unnatural position to help emphasize her female features. If we relate to the theory of reception, which means how the audience accepts or rejects the dominant reading of a text/image, I would say that the intended message is that women should be seen looking sexual and underdressed. This message can be interpreted in many different ways, for instance, people could have a dominant reading, meaning that they agree with the intended message, that women should be seen sexualized and underdressed, or they could have an oppositional reading, where the audience disagrees with the intended message. for me, I have an oppositional reading of this, as I feel females should by seen howeve they like and dress however they like. With this game rated as a 12, I feel that the young audience shouldn’t play or see this front cover, as I feel that as they are young and still learning about society as a whole, this front cover almost teaches them how women should be seen. This can lead to potential consequences of mental health problems as it indoctrinates and reeducates the audience, as the media can be influential, in this case, relating the Tomb Raider, it can cause people to think that they need to be skinny, and have large female features, which could lead to low self-esteem and confidence.

In comparison to the Men’s Health magazine, it’s almost been created to show how men’s health should be taken into account, for instance being muscular and toned and having a high metabolism and low body fat. Going back to Tomb Raider, I can see the comparison between these two magazines, as they both set an intended message to say that this is how males should be perceived, and this is how females should be perceived. Furthermore, what also fascinates me is how there is a theme of the color blue on the Men’s Health magazine. Our society has led us to think that the color blue is more representable for males, as it is associated with strength and it is now seen as a masculine color. Instantly, this magazine portrays that it is targeted for males, yet, with the title being men’s health, it implies that the magazine is only for men, as there is no female relation. This arguably suggests that working out, and being strong is only for men, however, it is ironic as looking at the Tomb Raider magazine, it hints at how females should be perceived, skinny, toned and powerful. Ultimately, in the Men’s Health magazine, it invokes a strong message, about how men should be seen, from the iconic sign that men should be broad and have large muscles, from the various verbs in large text, i.e. “lose, reboot, build, demolish” etc. Whereas the Tomb Raider magazine only hints at how females should be perceived, as it’s just a game, however, the game designers may have been intelligent, by only hinting that females should look like Lara Croft, as it isn’t as forceful and persistent as the Men’s Health magazine, from the variety of verbs etc.

In conclusion, when analyzing both of these magazines it conveys a message of how females and males should be expected to look like. This can cause serious problems to the audience, such as mental health, low confidence, and self-esteem, as they don’t see themselves as good looking as the people on these front covers. When creating these magazine covers, photoshop has been involved to make them look more appealing and attractive, however, their body features have been emphasized too much, and has led them from good – looking to unnaturalistic due to the unnatural enhanced features. The question is why have they been changed to look like this, by the power of computer technology? Even though they wouldn’t look like this in reality? As a result, it just gives the audience a sense of inferiority, as they feel that they are lower quality, by making them feel worse than they are. From watching the Dove advert “you’re more beautiful than you think”, it sends an intended message to say that people perceive you as more beautiful looking than you believe. In this video, they have taken a forensic artist to drew someone twice from the somebody describing themselves, and a stranger describing that person from observation. The drawings that were drawn by the stranger’s observation, were much prettier and positive than the first drawing, where the person described themselves. This implies that strangers and other people perceive us prettier than we think, as ourselves notice the small imperfections that others don’t notice. Overall, this suggests that media plays a big role in affecting people’s self-image, making them feel self-conscious, through the use of Photoshop, enlarging breasts, buttocks and having an hourglass silhouette, and men having shiny skin, broad shoulders, and large muscles.