Feeding Hard Bodies: Food and Masculinities in Men's Fitness Magazines

Body image has become relevant to many men, as the flourishing of male fitness magazines and the consequent development of theoretical studies on the subject demonstrate. In this article, I will examine the close connections between food, masculinities, and body image in male fitness magazines, a booming sector of the fitness and wellness publishing industry. I will attempt a qualitative analysis of editorial features and advertising pages of the October 2002 issues of Men's Health, Men's Fitness, and Muscle and Fitness. I will also analyze Men's Health Guide to Women, a supplement to Men's Health published in the same month, designed as a sort of a how-to manual for men who want to increase their success with women. Since I will deal with communication and media, I will adopt a semiotic approach, emphasizing how the frequent references to food and eating, which clearly constitute a deep concern, actually construct a coherent discourse about masculinities, using words, images, and metaphors as signs within a complex code that needs to be deciphered.