Gardiner V., Matthews H. The changing geography of the United Kingdom

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of local bands’ but also from the efforts of the Central Manchester Development Corporation

to rescue city-centre warehouses and other commercial buildings through a programme of

tax incentives and grant aid (Taylor et al. 1996:272). Among these redevelopments, the

Hacienda club was created from an old industrial building on Whitworth Street, and Affleck’s

Palace, a multi-storey mecca for teenage consumers, was created on the site of a former

department store. Meanwhile, numerous record companies have sought to emulate the success

of Factory Records, established by local entrepreneur Tony Wilson in 1978.

Equally significant (though often neglected) in Manchester’s cultural revival

has been the development of the city’s Gay Village in another old warehouse district

along the canalside (Figure 14.2). While there have been gay venues in Manchester

for many years (notably the Rembrandt and the Union pubs), the liberalisation of

sexual attitudes in the 1960s (following the Wolfenden Report and the Sexual

Offences Act of 1967 which decriminalised same-sex relations among consenting

adult men in private) provided the opportunity for more open expressions of sexual

difference. The area that became known as the Gay Village had a history of

prostitution which may have deterred ‘mainstream’ developers from reinvesting in

the area. It emerged as a publicly gay space in the 1980s and even then faced

opposition from a number of quarters. Chief Constable James Anderton adopted a

high-profile offensive against public expressions of ‘homosexuality’, including

much-publicised raids on gay venues such as Napoleon’s and Rockie’s nightclubs

(leading, in one case, to a prosecution for ‘licentious dancing’). Raids continued

after Anderton’s resignation in 1991. Meanwhile, opposition to the Conservative

Party’s championing of ‘family values’, mobilisation around ‘safer sex’ and the

HIV-AIDS epidemic and resistance to the government’s attempt to prohibit the public

promotion of ‘gay lifestyles’ (under Section 28 of the Local Government Act, 1988)

all served to increase support for gay rights.

But it was the economic potential of the ‘pink pound’, coupled with support from the

Central Manchester Development Corporation, that provided the impetus for the area’s

commercial development as a Gay Village. Canal Street and the surrounding area now boasts

at least fifteen gay or mixed pubs and clubs, three cafés and a range of other services aimed

primarily at young gay consumers. Commercial success has had its downside, as well as its

more celebratory aspect. Some have argued that Manchester’s gay ‘scene’, targeting young,

high-spending gay consumers, is a form of discrimination towards older, poorer gay men,

driven by commercial motives and supported politically by narrow interest-group

considerations (Taylor et al., 1996:189).

Others have also capitalised on the commercial success of the ‘Madchester’

phenomenon. Among these, Shami Ahmed probably best embodies the ‘rags-to-riches’

dream of many immigrant entrepreneurs. Arriving from Pakistan in 1964, Mr Ahmed

worked on his parents’ market stall in Burnley before setting up his own company to

manufacture and market jeans under the very ‘English’ name of Joe Bloggs. His business

is now estimated to be worth some £50 million, making him Britain’s thirteenth richest

Asian businessman. Significantly, however, his company trades not on Mr Ahmed’s ‘ethnic’

identity but on the associations of his product with the city’s club scene, emphasising

youth culture, sports and leisure. ‘Throughout the world, people know about Manchester,’

Mr Ahmed claims, ‘they know Manchester United and Joe Bloggs’ (Guardian, 29

September 1997).

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The men’s magazine market

If the ‘Madchester scene’ represents the successful commodification of youth culture,

then the growth of the UK men’s magazine market represents an equally successful

commodification of contemporary gender anxieties. Until the 1980s, the only men’s

magazines were so-called soft pornographic titles like Penthouse and Playboy, or ‘special

interest’ magazines that addressed their readers in terms of their specific interests in football

or cars, fishing or photography. As recently as 1986, the conventional wisdom in the UK

publishing industry was that ‘men don’t buy magazines’ or, at least, that ‘men don’t

define themselves as men in what they read, they define themselves as people who are

into cars, who play golf, or fish… Successfully launching a general interest men’s magazine

would be like finding the holy grail’ (Campaign, 29 August 1986). The initial breakthrough

came with a smaller independent publisher, Wagadon, who were persuaded by Nick Logan

to launch Arena in 1986, capitalising on his experience working on The Face and Smash

Hits (Nixon 1996). The major publishers (like IPC, EMAP and Conde Nast) still regarded

the sector with suspicion. Interviewed in The Observer in 1987, for example, Mark Boxer

from Conde Nast argued that English men simply weren’t ready for such a magazine:

‘The only area where there might be a gap’, he concluded, ‘is for a style magazine—but

in that area Englishmen are uneasy; they don’t admit to taking fashion seriously’ (26

April 1987).

Within ten years, however, the men’s magazine market had been transformed, with

the trade press describing it as ‘The fastest growing of all consumer magazine markets

[with] currently the highest profile’ (Keynote 1996). Loaded (‘for men who should know

better’) was voted ‘magazine of the year’ in 1995, reaching a circulation of over 200,000 in

the first half of 1996. It was shortly overtaken by FHM (For Him Magazine) which now

reportedly outsells Cosmopolitan (Independent, 15 August 1997). Several US men’s

magazines launched UK editions (GQ in 1988, Esquire in 1991 and Men’s Health in 1995).

They have been joined by several more specialised magazines such as Xtreme (focusing on

‘extreme sports’), Escape (on the Internet) and Attitude (for gay men). Several other titles

have ‘spun off’ from their successful ‘parent’ magazines (GQ Active from GQ, Stuff for

Men from Maxim, XL for Men from FHM).

But what does the success of the magazines tell us about the UK’s changing geography?

To begin with, it is clear that the magazines are written by and for a very metropolitan

audience. Most of the fashion stockists and restaurants listed in the magazines are

concentrated in London and the South East. While the images of masculinity portrayed in

the magazines might extend to Brighton or Bristol, even to Manchester and Leeds, cities

like Sheffield or Sunderland hardly ever feature in their pages. There is little sense in the

magazines of how men, across the UK, are responding to changing economic and political

circumstances. Rather than interpreting these changes as a generalised ‘crisis of masculinity’

(Connell 1995), a more complex pattern of local dislocations and reconfigurations might be

anticipated. Instead of seeing changing masculinities in terms of a comprehensive shift

from ‘new man’ to ‘new lad’, as implied by current media stereotypes, most academic

studies actually show that gender relations are changing quite slowly (Segal 1990).

Our own research on the production, content and readership of these magazines used

focus groups to examine how different groups of men were attempting to ‘make sense’ of

the changes that are taking place in contemporary gender relations and ‘consumer culture’.

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The research shows that men are currently facing a number of contradictions, being called

on to be more ‘natural’, ‘open’ and ‘honest’ while simultaneously seeking reassurance for

their insecurities and using the magazines as a form of cultural approval for ways of behaving

that are sometimes regarded as offensive. Some readers spoke of the magazines as a response

or ‘backlash’ to feminism, helping men feel easier about themselves. Others thought that

there had been an opening up of the very narrow definitions of acceptable roles for men, but

that the gap had soon narrowed down again as the market settled on more ‘laddish’ versions

of masculinity.

While some readers regarded the magazines as a reaction against ‘political

correctness’ or a response to what they called ‘extreme’ forms of feminism, others saw

the magazines in purely commercial terms. Our research (Jackson et al. 1999) suggests

that the men’s magazines have succeeded commercially by commodifying men’s gender

anxieties. As men are encouraged to ‘open up’ previously repressed aspects of their

masculinity (including health, fashion and relationships) they face an increasing sense of

risk and anxiety about their gender and sexual identities. By providing advice and

information in an entertaining format, often using an ‘ironic’ sense of humour, the

magazines have succeeded in reassuring men, responding to their anxieties about job

insecurity, health worries or the problems of establishing and maintaining a relationship.

A recent MINTEL report on British Lifestyles showed that men’s anxieties focused on

money and health problems, with a third of 20 to 54-year-olds worried about losing their

jobs within the next five years and nearly half anxious about their health. The same report

showed that expenditure on treats and rewards, such as magazines, chocolates and jewellery,

had increased significantly (Guardian, 12 February 1997). While the magazines signify

the possibility of significant change in men’s identities and gender relations, they are

simultaneously reinscribing more traditional forms of masculinity (celebrating

‘laddishness’ as a legitimate response to the perceived excesses of feminism and political

correctness). As with many of the examples in this chapter, a complex cultural politics is

at work here that defies easy explanation.

The limits of cultural tolerance?

This chapter began with Lord Tebbit’s recent speech on multiculturalism as an example of

the ‘denial of difference’. Before concluding, I want to consider some other indications of

what might be called the limits of cultural tolerance. The ‘Rushdie affair’ provides a striking

example where an individual’s right to free speech came into conflict with the demands of

a minority community (or of some groups within it) to respect its religious values. Following

publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, a fatwa was issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini

calling for the author’s execution as a religious duty because of the novel’s alleged

blaspheming of Islam. The situation was immediately complicated by the British legal system

which only recognises blasphemy in relation to Christianity. Forced into hiding, Salman

Rushdie has frequently criticised the Foreign Office’s reluctance to pursue his case with the

Iranian authorities, suggesting that his earlier public involvement in anti-racist politics had

done little to endear him to the British establishment.

Some observers saw the fatwa as evidence of the growing strength of Islamic

‘fundamentalism’, tapping into deep veins of Orientalist prejudice (Said 1978) that had

been reinvigorated by Britain’s recent involvement in the Gulf War. Reactions to the

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‘Rushdie affair’ were further complicated by the complex local politics of Britain’s

Muslim communities in Bradford, Tower Hamlets and elsewhere, providing activists

with an opportunity to articulate a variety of grievances. In Bradford, for example,

earlier events, such as the provocative remarks about multicultural education made by

a local head teacher, Ray Honeyford, in 1984 had heightened tensions with many Muslim

residents which were compounded when the two-year dispute ended in the teacher

accepting a generous early retirement deal. In Bradford and elsewhere, the ‘Rushdie

affair’ also provided an opportunity for ‘traditionalists’ within the Muslim community

to reassert their authority over those (including many Muslim women) who had begun to

challenge their power.

A second example of an apparently intractable form of cultural difference is provided

by the (contested) right of the Orangemen in Northern Ireland to parade along their

‘traditional’ routes, even where these pass through predominantly Catholic

neighbourhoods and where they are vehemently opposed by local residents. Unionists

trace the history of parading back for 300 years, celebrating the victory of William,

Prince of Orange, at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 which guaranteed the Protestant

ascendancy to the British throne. As with all such ‘invented traditions’ (Hobsbawm and

Ranger 1983), its significance and continuity can be disputed. Though parading in

Northern Ireland certainly has a long history, evidence of its declining popularity during

the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is often conveniently ignored. Following the

signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, interpreted by many Unionists as a

weakening of their constitutional position and a threat to their sense of national identity,

parading experienced a revival in popularity.

In cities where residential segregation is intense (signified by the painting of curbstones

and murals, the establishment of ‘peace walls’ and formal and informal means of

surveillance), parading has become ‘the most prominent means of asserting collective

identities and claiming political dominance over territory’ (Jarman 1997:79). While

Nationalist parades are represented as a threat to public order, Loyalist parades (which are

nearly ten times more numerous) are seen as a key element of Unionist culture and tradition,

to be defended as an inalienable civil right. The parading season lasts from Easter to the end

of August. Within this period, the Twelfth of July parades in Belfast have become a pivotal

event, attracting an estimated 100,000 people. The parades are noisy and spectacular events

dominated by aggressive ‘blood and thunder’ bands (Figure 14.3). While some participants

wear the ‘respectable’ regalia of an Orange sash and bowler hat, others carry the insignia of

Loyalist paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association and the Ulster Volunteer

Force, as well as more traditional banners depicting William of Orange and other Protestant

heroes. The route of Belfast’s Twelfth of July parade extends for six miles from Carlisle

Circus, up the Lisburn Road (following the route that ‘King Billy’ is supposed to have taken

from Belfast in 1690), down to the Lagan valley and along country lanes out to the Field.

By the end of the day, as Neil Jarman argues in his recent study of parades and visual

displays in Northern Ireland, ‘the city is claimed by the Orangemen as theirs and theirs

alone’ (1997:102).

Nationalists regard the parades as a triumphalist display of Loyalist superiority,

symbolising their resistance to the changing social geography of Northern Ireland by their

insistence on marching through areas that have become solidly Roman Catholic (such as

the Apprentice Boys’ parading around the walls of Derry). Major disputes occurred in 1995

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FIGURE 14.3a Showing faith, Belfast, July 1991

Source: Neil Jarman (1997) (reproduced with permission from Material Conflicts, Oxford: Berg).

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FIGURE 14.3b On the way home, Sandy Row, Belfast, the Twelfth, 1994

Source: Neil Jarman (1997) (reproduced with permission from Material Conflicts, Oxford: Berg).

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and 1996 along the Garvaghy Road in Portadown and in Belfast’s Ormeau Road. Attempts

to modify the parade routes or to request the consent of residents to traverse their

neighbourhoods, have been greeted with hostility by Loyalists, leading to weeks of

confrontation, road-blocks and rioting. Some Unionists have interpreted any curtailment of

their traditional rights as a capitulation to the IRA, an infringement of their civil liberties

and a threat to the Union.

Violent confrontation recurred in July 1998 following a ruling by the Northern Ireland

Parades Commission, banning the Orangemen from marching down the Garvaghy Road.

As armed police and soldiers dug trenches and erected barbed-wire fences, the ‘standoff at

Drumcree’ threatened to undermine the entire peace process inaugurated earlier in the year

by the Good Friday Agreement on constitutional change

One final example provides further evidence that ‘multiculturalism’ is rarely an easy

option. Living with difference demands mutual respect and a tolerance for other cultures

that may sometimes present quite daunting challenges. The example concerns the recurrent

battle within the UK over the state-funding of separate Muslim schools. Several thousand

Church of England, Roman Catholic and Jewish schools have received financial support

from the state while attempts to secure state funding for separate Muslim schools have

consistently been thwarted. Some state schools have provided Islamic teaching as part of

their religious studies programme and halal meat is available in some school canteens.

Compromises have also been reached over the provision of places in single-sex schools for

Muslim pupils and over the development of appropriate dress codes (though these are

occasionally contested).

While Muslim schools could, in theory, be established under existing legislation

regarding the funding of denominational voluntary-aided schools, efforts to establish such

schools in Batley (West Yorkshire), Brent (West London) and elsewhere faced constant

opposition. As Claire Dwyer’s (1993) research has shown, the Islamia school in Brent

became a national symbol for these struggles. An initial application for state funding in

1986, supported by Brent Council, was turned down by the Department of Education and

Science (DES) because the school was considered too small to be viable. Subsequent

attempts to expand the school were blocked by the Brent Planning Sub-Committee. An

appeal to the DES in 1988 was rejected because of the availability of surplus places in

neighbouring schools and because of the withdrawal of Council support, this now being

seen to contravene their policy on multicultural education. The application was formally

rejected by the Secretary of State for Education in 1990. Following a judicial review,

however, the High Court ruled that there was ‘manifest unfairness’ in the DES’s decision.

Meanwhile, a new Jewish voluntary-aided school was opened in Redbridge and grant-

maintained status was awarded to a neighbouring (non-Muslim) school in Brent.

Eventually, in January 1998, two Muslim primary schools (the Islamia school in Brent

and the Al Furqan school in Sparkhill, Birmingham) were awarded grant-maintained status,

the Education Secretary David Blunkett conceding that ‘This is an issue of fairness and

ensuring good community relations’ (Guardian, 10 January 1998).

Conclusion

The evidence reviewed in this chapter suggests that, as we look towards the new

millennium, there are several positive signs of growing tolerance towards cultural

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difference, informed by new ways of understanding ‘multiculturalism’. In the case of

food and music, for example, ‘hybrid’ identities are now common features of ‘British’

culture. Reflecting an increasingly complex cultural politics, representations of the

nation have also become more complex whether one takes the example of the national

flag or the Royal Family, and whether one looks at British cinema or television

advertising.

Examples of intolerance remain all too frequent, however, and serve as a reminder

that religious, racial and sexual tolerance have to be struggled for. Approaching the UK’s

changing cultural geography in a critical way, via concepts of hybridity and difference, we

have argued that the notion of ‘multiculturalism’ applies as much to dominant groups as to

minorities. Radically destabilising our understanding of ‘Britishness’ and unsettling

established notions of the ‘national culture’ provides one way forward in meeting the difficult

challenges of ‘living with difference’.

Notes

1 Media estimates place the size of the Muslim population in Britain at between one and two

million. The social geographer Ceri Peach has contested this view, arguing that the actual figure

is between 550,000 and 750,000 (Peach 1990).

2 The research was funded by ESRC under grant number R000221838 and was undertaken in

collaboration with Nick Stevenson and Kate Brooks at Sheffield University.

3 Among other interventions, Rushdie had argued that ‘racism is not a side-issue in contemporary

Britain;…it’s not a peripheral minority affair…. It’s a crisis of the whole culture’ (Rushdie

1991:129).

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