On white men's representations of 'race', whiteness, masculinities and 'Otherness': A Critical Race study of men's magazines, racialisation and athletic bodies (original) (raw)

This thesis (1) explores the racialised aspects of media representations of athletic bodies in purposefully selected British men’s magazines; and (2) considers how these images influence white men’s perceptions of their own racialised and gendered identities and those of Others. The rationale for a study of this nature emerged from a reading of much recent literature which has suggested that black male athletic bodies, in particular, have become ever more ordinary features of contemporary sport and leisure media. Liberal commentaries have argued that many subjugated racialised social groups have utilised sporting and leisure stages in order to challenge the fallacies of psychological and biological inferiority propagated historically by patriarchal and bio-racist discourses. Thus, while Black women remain underrepresented in media spaces, images of their male counterparts, particularly those of African-Caribbean heritage, have accessed the realm of the popular en masse and have acquired almost superhuman status in late modern times. However, while some uncritical commentaries equate visibility with social progress and improvement, this thesis explores the nature of media representations of Black male bodies more critically and also illuminates the racialised aspects and privileges of the often invisible sporting body, the white male athlete. In order to do this Critical Race Theory (CRT) and elements of poststructuralist theory, were employed together as a theoretical framework that guided: (a) a semiotic analysis of the racialised aspects of male athletic bodies in British men’s magazines (Men’s Health, Sport and Jump); (b) observations of white men in gyms and while doing parkour; and (c) semi-structured interviews with physically active white men and the racialised and gendered aspects of their readings of media images of male bodies. Adopting a CRT approach to media analysis centres ‘race’, racism and whiteness while addressing the colour-blindness of previous studies of men’s magazines. The study highlights the importance of studying white male athletic bodies and masculinities while implicating them in perpetuating racialised processes in sport and leisure arenas. That is, this study argues that media representations of athletic bodies and masculinities contribute to a white male supremacist discourse and therefore must not be read in isolation from processes of racialisation. The thesis contends that, paradoxically, it is imperative to centralise white masculinities and make visible their privileges, assumptions and predilections, in order to distort and highlight white male supremacy. This is particularly important considering the frequency with which these discourses are made invisible by liberal academic and media institutions.

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