The visual representation of masculinities in Huisgenoot Tempo magazine

Abstract

The article analyses the visual representation of musicians’ masculinities in the Afrikaans music magazine Huisgenoot Tempo (HG Tempo), in order to describe and interpret the types of masculinities which are constructed in the magazine. The analyses and categorisation of the musicians are guided by the classification of men's style in the 20^th century by Martin and Koda (1989) and Du Pisani's (2001) analysis of Afrikaner masculinities. The analyses show the emergence of seven distinct types: the boer, metroman, retroman, sportsman, worker, student and rebel. Each of these masculinities is described and interpreted with reference to typical examples from HG Tempo. The study finds that despite their stylistic diversity these types uphold the traditional view of the Afrikaner man as white, heterosexual and patriarchal, and that there is a low tolerance in the magazine for depictions of other masculinities, including gay, black, hybrid and rebel masculinities.

Keywords:

• Afrikaans music
• Huisgenoot Tempo magazine
• identity
• masculinity
• media
• representation