This text examines the construction of masculinity in three men's lifestyle magazines. Using semiotics and discourse analysis, the text focuses on the construction of various representations of masculinity. It argues that men's lifestyle magazines do not show only stereotyped representations of masculinity but are also a space where the meaning of masculinity is negotiated and where masculinity loses its stability and coherence. Using the open text concept, it aims to show how the construction of a text and textual strategies which draw our attention to the code in which the text has been written participate in subverting a stereotyped representation of masculinity. The authoress argues that the subversion of a stereotype and the destruction of the naturalness of masculinity through parody that we find in men's lifestyle magazines is productive because it leads to critical reflection on the historical and social nature of masculinity.
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