The representation of male and sexism in male beauty contest discourse in Hong Kong

Abstract

Despite the huge public attention received by the male beauty contest discourse in Hong Kong as reflected in extensive local media coverage, studies on the discourse are rare. Concerning the limited literature in the male gender studies, this dissertation addressed the issue and examined the representation of and sexism against male in male beauty contest discourse in Hong Kong. Two latest publicized major male beauty contests in Hong Kong (TVB Mr. Hong Kong Contest 2011 and ATV Mr. Asia Contest 2012) were analyzed using frameworks of ‘dialectical-relational approach’ to Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 2009), the experiential metafunction of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Christian, 2004) and a combination of sexist characteristics suggested by influential theories such as Objectification Theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). This study integrated findings across analyses of the contests in terms of their linguistics and multi-modal texts as well as culture of context. The findings showed that representations of men portrayed were seen to be degrading men. There was also clear evidence of sexism against male realized through language and visual aspects. It was concluded that the representations and sexist elements were possibly generated from the competitive rivalry between the two broadcasting companies and the change in public perception on gender characteristics. It also suggested that stricter regulating guidelines are needed to secure the professional ethics in media production in Hong Kong. This study grounded future research on the application of SFL framework as a useful quantitative analytical tool to supplement qualitative research in gender studies in media discourse.