Lad magazines, raunch culture and the increasing pornification of South African media

摘要

Abstract:udThe purpose of this study is to examine the role of the media in the pornificationudof society and the subsequent rise of laddism and raunch culture. By pornificationudI refer to the proliferation of the pornographic phenomenon in mainstream mediaudand everyday life and the subsequent co modification of sexuality. It will examineudin full detail lad culture and lad magazines as a genre of the text. The studyudwill draw comparisons between local lad magazine FHM to the internationaludpornographic magazine Playboy. This is in order to establish whether these ladudmagazines function as soft pornography, thereby contributing to the fact thatudmainstream media, is indeed becoming more pornographic and thus leading to anudacceptance of the increased pornification of every day life and the ensuing rise ofudraunch culture. The research paper will examine raunch culture in depth and itsudsubsequent influence on contemporary women and how they respond to theseudrepresentations. This paper also seeks to identify the magazines as part of backlashudto feminism. Backlash refers to the reaction against feminist advancement and theudreturn to traditional gender roles.udThis study includes a literature review and theoretical framework chapter whichudexplore the various theories pertaining to the research problem. The methodologyudchapter discusses the research methods used in the study. These methods includeudcontent analysis, semiotics and discourse analysis. The theoretical underpinningsudthat will be the primary influence of this paper is that of the feminist approach.udThis is a feminist study as it deals with how current representations found in theudmagazines influence and are influenced by women and how this will affectudgendered society as a whole.