Varsågod, här är din drömman! : Bilden av ideal manlighet i Veckorevyn: en ideationell analys och kritisk diskursanalys

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this essay is to examine the ideal image of masculinity in the monthly Swedish women magazine Veckorevyn, nr.2 2016. The intention is to explore how Veckorevyn’s own policy correspond to the construction of the ideal image of masculinity. The analysed material contains three texts from the same number of copy: two texts of which explicitly refers to masculinity and one text describing the feminist-policy of the magazine. The magazines feminist-policy is about the magazines work of changing sexist attitudes towards young women. The essay refers to a social constructivist perspective in defining gender and language. The method used is based upon Michael Halliday’s social semiotic approach SFG, systemic functional grammar, when analysing the text material, as well as Faircloughs critical discourse analysis. The results of the text analysis indicate that the image of masculinity presented in the magazine is closely connected to stereotypical ideas of men as sexually confident and independent. The analysed material contains a high level of material and relational processes, constructing a concrete, predefined and less negotiable image of masculinity towards the reader. The critical discourse analysis shows a high frequency of different discourses co-existing in the texts linked to the magazines ideal reader of young women: commercial/consumer-discourse (such as advertisements), health-discourse and men-women-discourse – all of which are closely linked to desire and consumption. These desire-discourses fail to relate to the magazines own feminist-policy, describing both men and women as stereotypically linked to sexuality and desire. The result of the critical discourse analysis indicates that the different discourses of the magazines own anti-sexist policy co-exist and collides with a sexist and stereotypical commercial/consumer-based discourse. These results adhere to previous research of Veckorevyn by Anja Hirdman (2001). The indications contribute in defining the Veckorevyn-magazine targeted to young women as a complex, contradictive and multi-discursive platform of ideas and values. According to Litosseliti (2006:121), the presence of the magazines own feminist-policy also risks producing new forms of sexism due to the magazines contradictive and stereotypical discourses.