Gender Representation

Gender Representation

I believe that these two GQ magazine covers clearly display the gender representation in todays society. They objectify the female gender due to the nudity on this front cover which influences the male audience to believe that females in todays society are not worth simple luxuries such as clothing and shoes and therefore become objectified. This further influences the audience to nullify females in todays society. However, in the second GQ magazine cover, it shows Tinie Tempah well dressed with a dominant, stylish stance. This influences the male audience to believe that they are firmly dominant whilst deserving to have such luxuries such as being well clothed and represented.

Male gaze

The characteristics of Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, released in 1975, consist of the representation of the female gender as 'visually pleasurable', denies woman human identity and influences females to view movies from a second perspective rather than an original first perspective. An example of  the male gaze being represented is Robin Thickles Blured Lines music video.

This music video obviously represents females through Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory through its visuals, audio including lyrics and mis-en-scene. I will include screen shots of this music video as evidence to show how this theory was represented.

The videos visuals include well dressed males, sexually dressed females, connoting colours and sexual actions and bodily expressions from males and females included in the video. The well dressed males in this screenshot of the video clearly demonstrate the dominance of the male gender since it implies that males deserve to have such recognition and luxuries. This could possibly further the male audiences ego. This ego would translate to the everyday lifestyle of the average male which causes controversy in todays public such as objectification of females.

The sexually dressed females include attire such as jewellery and revealing clothing. This impacts the audience to believe that females are clearly objectified.

The clip of the car scene from Transformers portrays Megan Fox as a sexual figure, which objectifies females as objects of pleasure. The camera angles used in this film highlight the curves on her body, further showing the actress as a sexual object. These camera angles go to the extent of not even including the actresses head and only includes her body. Megan is also performing such movements that attract the attention of the male audience. This further objectifies women as a sexual figure. This could also imply males viewing have a fetishistic scopohilla. 

Advertisers sexualise products such as lynx fragrances to gain audience and consumers in the market. This would then lead to more consumers of the product. The sexualisation of the product includes the phrase 'The cleaner you are, the dirtier you get'. 

Categorising facial expressions

Women :

Chocolate box

Invitational

Super-smiler

Romantic or sexual

Marjorie Ferguson (1980)  

Men :

Carefree

Practical

Seductive

Comic

Trevor Millum (1975)

Charlies angles full throttle trailer.

5 examples of empowerment:

• fighting
• stunts
• weapons
• wrestling
• motorbike riding

5 examples of sexuality:

• clothing
• pole dancing
• make up

Jonathan Schroeder's theory: "to gaze implies more than just to look at - it signifies the psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"


Stereotype - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Counter stereotype - an idea or object that goes against a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment.

misogyny - dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.\

sex - biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women

gender - socially constructed rolls, activities, behaviours and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and woman.

These magazines clearly differentiate what a young male and female like. The magazine on the right implies that males enjoy 'action activities' as seen on the cover while females should enjoy clothing 'wardrobe secrets'. Furthermore the colours included also differentiate what males and females should  like regarding colours. To conclude, form a very early age, there has been a separation between males and females.

I believe that it is possible for gender representations to change since there is more encouragement from schools taking part in sporting activities such as rugby and football, in which these sports have been plastered with the male stereotype.

Masculinity:

• qualities associated with men
• strength
• power
• sexual attractive
• physique
• independence 

Metrosexual male

Confusion between a male between being homosexual and not begin homosexual.

The fool

Fool stereotype associated with men such as Homer Simpson. These people think they are in control when they are not.

Femininity:

• beauty (narrow conventions)
• size/physique (narrow conventions)
• sexuality
• emotional
• relationships

often linked to the domestic situation as a housewife or a sex object.

In advertisement, women are shown as young, slim, overwhelmingly white and beauty.

Music video: Pitbull - don't stop the party

The male characters in this music video are represented as wealthy and dominant since they are well dressed and body language. 

Female characters are presented as sexualised figures since they were wearing much less in comparison to the male characters. Furthermore they were performing sexually associated movements.

They represent the cultural norms since they clearly differentiate the social stigma of males and females. 

denoted - be a sign of; indicate.

connoted - imply or suggest (an idea or feeling) in addition to the literal or primary meaning

The magazines above shows a stereotype of a young male and a female magazine cover since it contains the stereotypes associating with masculine and feminine characteristics. This is usually a common representation within media texts. I believe that it is negative to an extent since they manipulate the young audience to enjoy stereotypical media text while in all possibility, they may find no interest in this media. However they may still show interest in media texts such as these magazine articles. Therefore it is only negative to a certain extent.