title: "Appearance potent"? A content analysis of UK gay and straight men's magazines.
abstract: With little actual appraisal, a more 'appearance potent' (i.e., a reverence for appearance ideals) subculture has been used to explain gay men's greater body dissatisfaction in comparison to straight men's. This study sought to assess the respective appearance potency of each subculture by a content analysis of 32 issues of the most read gay (Attitude, Gay Times) and straight men's magazines (Men's Health, FHM) in the UK. Images of men and women were coded for their physical characteristics, objectification and nudity, as were the number of appearance adverts and articles. The gay men's magazines featured more images of men that were appearance ideal, nude and sexualized than the straight men's magazines. The converse was true for the images of women and appearance adverts. Although more research is needed to understand the effect of this content on the viewer, the findings are consistent with a more appearance potent gay male subculture.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Leeds Metropolitan University, Calverley Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 3HE, United Kingdom. Electronic address: g.jankowski@leedsmet.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Glen S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Jankowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Leeds Metropolitan University, Calverley Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS1 3HE, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fawkner
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slater
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Marika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tiggemann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D035081:Editorial Policies; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008571:Men; D008875:Middle Aged; D010506:Periodicals as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D006113:United Kingdom; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body dissatisfaction; Body image; Gay men; Magazines; Media