The Big Issue prides itself on providing a fair and balanced representation of differing social groups, whilst also providing a voice for the voiceless in society.
Van Zoonen states that gender is constructed through discourse and that its meaning varies according to cultural and historical contexts.
The ' Letter to my younger self' article by Grayson Perry is based on his life experiences. Van Zoonen's point can be applied to this article. Perry talks about his life as a transvestite from the age of 16 which is used to explore the topic of masculinity. The article goes against typical gender stereotypes and is a lot more progressive in their views. It said that Grayson Perry turned 16 in 1976; Perhaps, an article like this many years ago wouldn't be as accepted as it is now and would be seen as quite a taboo issue which supports the idea that historical and cultural contexts vary the meaning. The context now, where more people are open minded means the magazine can portray these topics as normal and something that is important to discuss. Through this article, the copy and the images allow for gender stereotypes to be broken down. The use of the clothing in the images and the description of the clothing such as ' make-up, a mini dress and a wig' breaks down the typical binary ideas that are often portrayed in mainstream media like magazines.
The magazine portrays both men and women as equal in the edition of the magazine. Van Zoonen would say that the women are not sexualised within the magazine and instead are shown as being real people rather than objects. Part of Van Zoonen's theory says that the display of women's bodies as objects to be looked at is a core element of western patriarchal culture however this doesn't necessarily apply to The Big Issue. The women are also given a voice to share their stories and allows them to demonstrate their successes, the magazine is trying to challenge what would typically be expected. It shows both a variety of men and women who have all being affected by homelessness being represented as hardworking people and overcoming issues. The representation of women throughout The Big Issue is positive and they are not objectified. For example, the 'Moving on' article which talks about a woman called Viv Askeland shows a positive representation. It talks about her sleeping rough in London but now she is a tour guide showing how she turned her life around. The picture is not objectified either as she is covered up and there is not any skin on show for example. Likewise, Jo Adamson a vendor turned painter is also covered up and is wearing dark clothes which doesn't objectify her and there is more of a focus on her story which would be more important to The Big Issue also.
However, there is an advert from the Big Issue Foundation about knitting to support Big Issue vendors. The sole image is an image of a women knitting which reinforces the idea that knitting is a women's hobby and not something that men would necessarily enjoy. However, this could be as the majority of knitters are women so could reflect the audience and draw them in further. This
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