Lads mags, young men’s attitudes towards women and acceptance of myths about sexual aggression.

This commentary is a precursor to a forthcoming study exploring young men’s consumption of ‘lads’ mags’ – lifestyle magazines aimed at young men that feature young women in sexualized poses – specifically, their implications for men’s attitudes towards women and sexual aggression. Here we give an overview of existing research that has informed our research questions, in order to initiate discussions about the impacts of lads’ mags on male readers. We argue that in an increasingly sexualized media environment, lads’ mags serve as a powerful tool in the mainstreaming of sexist images and ideals. Whilst
we acknowledge the complexity of debates on whether sexually explicit materials cause individuals to be more violent/aggressive, we propose that there is nevertheless
merit in exploring lads’ mags as a genre that affects readers’ perceptions of, and attitudes towards, women, sex and sexuality.

Post refereed version embargoed as requested by publisher for one year