men on the website are represented as quite powerful and successful to appeal to male audiences
in general, the men they choose to feature are wealthy, successful, powerful, middle class, etc
this fits with the aspirational branding
lots of semi-naked images of men designed to highlight their muscles and strength, representing them in a conventional "heroic" type of way
the articles lack emotional content which reflects the stereotype that men are supposed to be emotionally detached
some content does represent men as more emotionally vulnerable, particularly in terms of issues such as homophobic abuse and discrimination
representations of men as victimised clearly challenge dominant ideologies of gender, but would be identifiable for gay men who may have been through similar abuse
there are quite a few representations of men who don't adhere to "gender norms", wearing make up, drag, etc
this reflects the alternative genre of the online site
it is reasonably unusual for men to be sexualised in the media but it is a regular occurrence on the Attitude website, reflecting the gay male audience
the focus on the website is on gay men, and whilst other members of the LGBTQ+ community are featured, they are definitely given less space than gay men
the representation of gay men in a regular, positive, powerful and normalised way fills a niche gap in the market, where gay men are often under or misrepresented in other media products
the website includes a range of ethnicities, perhaps reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of modern Britain
however, many of the stories about other countries are quite negative, representing them as homophobic, discriminatory, and places to be avoided
some might say that Attitude creates a post-colonialist view of the world, with non-white, non-western cultures being shown as "backwards", aggressive, violent, intolerant, etc
Western, predominantly white countries are shown as much more tolerant and positive, creating an ethnocentric window on the world
this might appeal to the mostly British audience, but also reflects the cultural and political contexts of gay rights in some of the countries mentioned
the staff that work at Attitude are almost all part of the LGBTQ+ community themselves, which might explain why the representations of sexuality are sympathetic and diverse
the main staff are almost all male which might also explain why men are represented in a positive and dominating way
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