Representation of Gender in Rock Magazines

In the post, I am going to be looking at the way genders are presented in music especially the rock genre. I will do this by analysing rock magazine front covers to talk about how different genders are presented on magazine front covers. The reason I am doing this is to understand the way gender is presented in other magazines, this will then give me an understanding on how to portray my anchor model in my own magazine.

Issue May 2014, ROCKNOW cover, Taylor Momsen

I have used the example of Rocknow Magazine. It sexualizes Taylor Momsen as it reveals the outline of her breasts from underneath the open black lace sheer shirt she wears. The chest is painted with a black cross, with an arrow pointing down the bikini line which is revealed by the open jean zipper. The colour ‘black’ connotes with darkness, rebellion and death. The cross signifies Christianity and the arrow pointing down suggests that Taylor Momsen is provocative and this becomes the key focus of the magazine cover. This further follows Goffman's Theory as the magazine shows Taylor Momsen's chest to sell the debut of her music. Momsen's face is partly covered and her head is reclined back with an almost vacant, bored look on her face. The mid shot allows consumers to focus on the top half of the anchor and it relates to the title: 'THE PRETTY RECKLESS HELL GIRL' this follows the stereotype that women will use their sexuality in a sycophant manner.

Issue September 2016, ROCKSOUND cover, Against The Current, left-to-right (Will Feri, Chrissy Costanza, Dan Gow)

I used an example of Rocksound to compare the difference in female representation. In the Rocksound magazine, I used Against The Current's singer Chrissy Costanza to compare her to Taylor Momsen. Chrissy Costanza is not sexualized in this magazine cover. This shows the rebellious side of Rock music and that they never follow traditional magazine conventions. Costanza stands tall and proud wearing a crop black top, a black skirt and black army boots. Black once again symbolises darkness and death but in this case, the black makes her pale skin stand out. She does show a bit of skin to grab the consumer's attention. However the way she stands, expresses power and higher status. She is bigger than her fellow band mates meaning she has more importance. The long shot shows Costanza fully and she helps to bring the consumers focus to the magazine. Her face is shown clearly and this adds on to the point that she has more power.

Issue October 2013, KERRANG cover, Panic! at the Disco, Brendon Urie

The Kerrang magazine does not sexualize Brendon Urie. This shot makes him more powerful because it is a long shot of Urie. He represents a new age of masculinity for he is dressed smartly in a peach suit. This differs from other rock magazines because typical rock magazines have tattooed, aggressive looking men with guitars and ripped dark clothes. He has two rather aggressive looking dogs next to him and this connotes to masculinity as dogs are said to be a man's best friend. Brendon Urie has the dogs on a leash meaning that he has the power and control. In addition Urie covers half the magazine article and it shows he is the more dominant gender in this magazine cover.

Issue February 2007, Rolling Stones, Panic! at the Disco, left-to-right (Jon Walker, Brendon Urie, Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith)

Panic! at the Disco are known to be quite varied in their genre of music. They first started off being emo/baroque music which is emotional/periodic music. Now Panic! follow a sub genre of rock known as pop rock. The music is popular as well as having guitars and drums. The Rolling Stones cover shows a change in style as the band, in 2007, were more emo as well as being young and rebellious. They seem to be wearing eyeliner and are dressed in dark colours like black and grey. This shows a change of masculinity and maturity as the Kerrang magazine shows an older, smarter looking Brendon Urie while the Rolling Stones cover shows a young rebellious Urie.