Gender on the Agenda: Narratives of Masculinity in South African Media

The 60-page report shares findings of a study exploring masculinity and masculine identity among male and female media consumers in South Africa. Traditionally, most gender media monitoring exercises have focused primarily on women; this research was conducted to highlight how masculinity is communicated through language and how far news media reflect or possibly distorts the way men (and women) perceive their social gender roles and identities.

The study compares and cross-references information from media content monitoring, interviews with journalists, and focus group discussions conducted with male and female respondents in Alexandra (a township in Johannesburg) and the University of Johannesburg. The first section of the report provides a brief background on masculinity studies in South Africa, followed by a discussion of the research methodology. The report then discusses the findings of the content analysis of newspapers conducted during one week in November 2012, which collected over 21,000 words associated with male and female sources in order to find linguistic patterns between different sexes and their portrayals.

The media monitoring found language to be gendered and embedded in seemingly traditional definitions and perceptions of masculinity and femininity. For example:

• "Among the top 20 words most frequently associated with male sources, the following were specific to men only: play, win, against, bank, manage, court, company, team and govern."
• "Among the top 20 words most frequently associated with female sources, the following were specific to women only: use, department, found, look, home, withdraw, school, like and sex."

The study also found contradictions between men's own expectations of masculinity and those imposed on them by society, as well as their need to have the freedom to be an emotional human being. "Likewise, women's perceptions of masculinity were contradictory, swinging between progressive ideals expressed by allowing men to be sensitive and fashion conscious, and their implicit expectations of men to be traditionally masculine". Examples of key findings include the following:

• "Masculinity and its power are linked to possession of money, while Femininity's power is linked to sex. Among both men and women, a man without money is perceived to be less of a man."
• "Media and society do not display or expose men to alternative versions of masculinity, which would begin to normalize behaviours, experiences and spaces traditionally associated with women."

The research also explored the issue of gender violence, noting that "men overwhelmingly felt that the media portrayed them almost exclusively as violent, rapists and monsters, and argued that this may well be contributing to a narrow view of their masculine identity." At the same time, violence against men is rarely reported on by media, contributing to the stigma associated with men admitting abuse by women. Other topics covered in the study included fatherhood, teenage pregnancy, corrective rape of lesbians, homosexuality, and metro-sexuality.

Journalists interviewed as part of the research expressed shock at media analysis results, "especially at the striking imbalance between male and female sources, but more so about the nature of most commonly used words in relation to women." The report offers a number of recommendations related to coverage, noting that "as much as is possible, journalists need to increase awareness of the use of language when composing stories, to ensure that stereotypes are being challenged." For example, there is a need to avoid portrayals of women as victims which perpetuates these views in the minds of men and women, while also avoiding portrayals of men as almost exclusively a monster or violent rapist. There is also a need to publish more stories on cases of violence against men, committed by women, as well as exploring the issues of corrective rape as a deeply rooted reflection of threatened masculinities. Other areas for deeper coverage include homosexuality, metrosexuality, sex work, and lobola (bride price paid by the husband's family to the bride's family).