Gender, social representations and ideology: an analysis of the magazine Women’s health and Men’s health in Brazil Género, representaciones sociales e ideología: un análisis de las revistas Women’s health y Men’s health en Brasil

Abstract

This paper presents reflections about the impact of ideology on the social representations of gender relations in Women’s Health and Men’s Health magazines. For this, a content analysis was made according to Bardin, that resulted in eight thematic categories, which are: body, gender, clothing and fashion, beauty tips, timelessness, immediacy, health and time out of the gym. The data were analyzed from the perspective of feminist gender studies, inspired in the books of gender and contemporary collection. The results revealed the existence of gender stereotypes in the social representations of the magazines studied, transmitted in the media and which have a strong ideological impact on contemporary society. Therefore, it´s s not only a magazine for the health care and welfare like the title of these suggests. Stereotypes are presented based on patriarchal social patterns that still persists, alienate and lead to “consumption of bodies”, showing the needing to change the way of being and living in the contemporary world.