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Constructions And Representations Of Masculinity In South Africa's Tabloid Press: Reflections On Discursive Tensions In The Sunday Sun, Denise Buiten, Kammila Naidoo

Denise Buiten

The South African print news media have witnessed a sharp rise in tabloidised news forms and newspapers in recent years. While tabloidisation offers interesting possibilities in terms of contesting and transforming traditional masculinised news forms, it also raises serious questions with regard to the appropriation of these forms of news towards reinforcing and naturalising constructions of gender. This article explores the ways in which a South African tabloid newspaper, the Sunday Sun, represents and constructs masculinity. It is argued that the performance of masculinity, especially through the performance of (hetero)sexuality, is central to the way in which the ‘project’ of …