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Old Spice and Masculinity

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Submitted By wessel
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MASCULINITY: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF A VISUAL ARTIFACT
Visual Culture Essay 2
Module 2
Wessel Viljoen 090029
Genieve Eloff
Thursday 14h00
Word Count = 860

TABLE OF CONTENT

Pages
LIST OF FIGURES…………….....……………………………………………iii
1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..1
1.1 What is Musculinism…………………………..………………………..1
1.2 Branded Masculinity…………………………………………………….1
2. MASCULINISM AND ADVERTISING………………………………………...2
3. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………..3
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………...4

LIST OF FIGURES Page

Fig 1 Old Spice, The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, 2010. ………………….2
INTRODUCTION
1.1 What is masculinism?
Masculinity is a word that describes an idea generated by the media of what it entails to be a man. According to Cohen(2001:5) “a gender is formed by shared beliefs or models of gender that majority of society accepts as appropriate”. Gender ideals are socially constructed in specific historical and cultural context and changes over time and location.
As identified by Brannon (1976) being a hegemonic masculine male entails four main themes:
(i) No Sissy Stuff: men must never resemble women or display stereotypical characteristics of a woman. Kimmel (2001:35) suggests that “Homophobia is a centralised principle of our cultural definition of manhood.”
(ii) The Big Wheel: the ability of real men to obtain wealth, fame, success and status. Typically determined by occupation.
(iii) The Sturdy Oak: manliness, confidence and self reliance.
(iv) and Give ‘Em Hell: using acts of aggression and violence to obtain sex from women.

1.2 Branded Masculinity
In todays modern age although still much the same, some of these aspects are lessening in intensity. For example ‘No Sissy Stuff’ where cosmetics would be absolutely out of the question, todays men are encouraged by the media to use

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