Graduation Year
2010
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Granting Department
Humanities and Cultural Studies
Major Professor
Daniel Belgrad, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Elizabeth Bell, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Robert Snyder, Ph.D.
Keywords
Homosexuality, Hegemony, Men, Victimhood, Race, Assimilation
Abstract
The objective of this research was to examine advertising in gay media publications, namely, The Advocate, in order to assess how advertising corresponds with gay identity formation. This study differed from previous inquiries in that the application of hegemony theory formed the basis of the project and was used as a tool to explicate the preponderance of certain images in gay media advertising and what they signify for gay men. Likewise, a phenomenological method of analysis was applied to the advertisements in order to render them more accessible as aesthetic and literary mediums. Classifying the advertisements according to their notional basis resulted in the partitioning of the ads into groups or "parables" of advertising, a method of classification which mimics historical categories recognized in American history and culture. The sum of the project emphasizes the hegemonic structures that characterize gay male images within a broader GLBT sociocultural framework.
Scholar Commons Citation
Hanna, Jonathan A., "Closet Space: Investigating Gay Identity through Advertising in Gay Media" (2010). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/3667
