Body Rituals: Sociological Analysis of the Body Presentation in Magazines Advertisements

Tijelo i tjelesnost u posljednje vrijeme postaju sve aktualnije teme u sociološkim istraţivanjima, za razliku od prije, kada im se nije pridavala neka veća vaţnost kao zasebnim segmentima. S porastom interesa za tijelom općenito, mijenjaju se i stavovi, percepcije i ţivotni stil pojedinaca. Postmodernizam koji je u svim svojim segmentima proţet konzumerizmom, idealna je prilika za manipuliranje svim društvenim akterima stvarajući otvoren prostor za rad na vlastitom tijelu i poticanje na dostizanje „idealnog tijela“ – koje se kroz prošlost mijenjalo, osobito ako se promatra u odnosu na rod. Sukladno promjenama u društvu koje su nastupile, od toga da je ţena uvijek bila (prikazivana) inferiorna u odnosu na muškarca do toga da se njihova uloga u posljednje vrijeme izjednaĉava, uoĉavaju se promjene u obrascima ponašanja za oba roda, a isto tako i u prikazivanju muškaraca i ţena u suvremenom svijetu reklama ĉiji je utjecaj nezanemariv. U istraţivanju je korištena kvantitativna vizualna analiza uz pomoć protokola za unos podataka: obiljeţja reklame i odnos muškarac – ţena. Uzorak ĉine reklame u ĉasopisu za ţene Cosmopolitan te ĉasopisima za muškarce Men's Health i Playboy (svi brojevi 2012.-2013. i 2015.-2016.). Korištene su analitiĉke kategorije preuzete od Goffman-a (1979.). U analizu su ušle one reklame na kojim se nalaze muškarac i ţena zajedno. Opći cilj je bio utvrditi tjelesne rituale u odnosima muškaraca i ţena u reklamama za ĉasopise. Istraţivanje je pokazalo da je došlo do promjena u prikazu ţena i muškaraca 2015.-2016. u odnosu na 2012.-2013. godine, na naĉin da se ţensko tijelo u manjoj mjeri prikazuje u skladu sa stereotipima koji su se povezivali uz ţene tijekom prethodnih godina, a mediji su skloni prikazivati muška tijela u novom svjetlu u kakvom nisu prikazivana prije, odnosno preuzimaju poloţaje i pokrete tijela koji su nekad bili karakteristiĉni iskljuĉivo za ţenska tijela.Body and corporeality have been lately becoming more and more current topics in sociological research, unlike before, when they had been given no greater importance as a separate segment. With the growth of interest for the body in general, attitudes, perceptions and lifestyles of individuals also change. Postmodernism, imbued with consumerism in all its segments, is an ideal opportunity to manipulate all social actors in creating an open space for work on one’s own body and stimulating the achievement of an “ideal body” – one which has been changing throughout the past, especially if observed in relation to gender. According to the social changes which have set in, from a woman always being (shown as) inferior to a man, to the latest equalization of their roles, changes have been noticed in behavior patterns of both genders, as well as in the portrayal of men and women in the contemporary world of advertisements, whose influence is not insignificant. In this research, quantitative visual analysis has been used with the aid of a data entry protocol: advertisement features and man – woman relation. The sample consists of advertisements in the female magazine Cosmopolitan and in male magazines Men’s Health and Playboy (all issues 2012-2013 and 2015-2016). Analytical categories used have been taken from Goffman (1979). Those advertisements which feature man and woman together have become part of the analysis, with the overall aim being to establish body rituals in male – female relations in magazine advertisements. Research has shown that there had been a change in the representation of men and women 2015-2016, in comparison to 2012-2013, whereby the female body is represented less in accordance with the stereotypes which were associated with women over the previous years, with the media tending to represent male bodies in a new light, in which they had never been shown before, i.e. as taking over body positions and movements which used to be characteristic of female bodies exclusively