“Girls Love Me, Guys Wanna Be Me”

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Abstract

In this article, we explore stereotypes of male Major Junior ice hockey players as they have been created and reinforced in the Canadian mass media. More specifically, we examine how Gongshow Gear Inc.—the first and most successful sports apparel company devoted exclusively to the “hockey lifestyle”—represented these players in its now-defunct promotional magazines. Reporting on a content analysis of the company’s 2012 Summer and Fall/Winter issues—the only ones ever released—our examination consists of two interrelated parts: first, a description of the stereotypes at work in the magazines; and second, a reflection on how the stereotypes both compare to and contrast with the lived experiences of those who played Major Junior hockey at the time the magazines were released. Ultimately, we suggest that the company’s representations of Junior hockey players had and continue to have far-reaching implications not only for how the players understand themselves but also for how they are understood in contemporary Canadian society.