Gender Representation Theories

Earp and Katz
Butler
Steve Neele

Mysogyny- Googles Meaning- a Dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women (Prejudice- judging a book by their cover).
  For example- Tiber- Kesha and Pitbull- the purpose of women is for the sexual enjoyment of men- the male subject was dressed up in a suit whilst the women were dancing around in little bikinis and short shorts.
 
WHAT IS GENDER?
  "Sex" Refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
 "Gender" refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
Transgender...

Girl and boys magazines.

Girl magazine- Pastel colours, pinks and yellows, with doodles across the front cover- hearts, stars and flowers, "soft" and "swirly" font.

Fashion, jewellery, princesses- damsel in distress.

Boy magazine- Bold text, blue and reds, lots going on. 

Action, superheros, strong- can't cry.

Men magazines- health magazines- they aren't a real man unless they are ripped/ Hentch

Women used as an accessory to men on front covers- if you get ripped and eat well, you will have lots of women after you.

Women- Losing weight- what people should look like

Are gender representations deeply engrained in the cultural psyche?

They are, baby toys are giving at the birth- pink clothes, pink balloons, toy kitchens iron boards. Blue clothes, blue balloons, giving tools and building.

Can these views change?

The suffragettes are examples of how when thoughts are shown for long enough, movement can occur. 

Barbara Kruger:

Men don't need to be tough to be a hero and women aren't always the ones who need the help.

Masculinity and Femininity 

The stereotypes- assumptions that are held about a social group. They are often used in a  negative or prejudicial sense and are frequently used to justify certain discriminatory behaviours. Stereotyping is an important concept in terms of representation.

• Simplification
• Exaggerated/ distorted. 

Stereotypes changing with time- Germans- all Germans are not considered as Nazis anymore. 

       "All black people are uneducated thugs"- broken by People such as Martin Luther King and Barack Obama.

MASCULINITY: 

 a concept that is made up of more rigid stereotypes than femininity.

representations of men across all media tend to focus on the following:

• Strength- physical and intellectual
• Power- 007.
• Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above) 
• Physique
• Independence (of though, action, finances)

Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they submit to being part of a family, it is often part of the resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral factor in the initial balance.

It is interesting to note that the male physique is becoming more and more important.

Earp and Katz- 1999- studies male representations in the media and found "a widespread and disturbing equation of masculinity and pathological control and violence."

They claim that the media is responsible for a steady steam of images that define "manhood" as connected with violence, dominance and control and create it as a normal and accepted part of masculinity.

The metrosexual-

One recent development in the representations of masculinity is the metrosexual (1990s)

The young single man with a high disposable income, living in the city- as it is near to the best shops. Metrosexual man is not gay but is often confused with being homosexual. 

He is objectified and sexualised (turned into a sex object) which goes against traditional representations of masculinity.

The Fool/ Buffoon

The fool stereotype is a tried and tested formula- e.g.. the bungling father in TV ads and sitcoms. Usually well intentioned and light hearted, these characters range from slightly inept to completely hopeless in work or parenting and domestic situations. 

On the surface it may seem a very pejorative representation of men however they still always come out on top.

For example Homer Simpson.

Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following:

• Beauty (within narrow conventions)
• Size/ physique 
• Sexuality
• Emotional
• Relationships

Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object, passive rather than active (Mulvey)

Often their passivity extends to victimhood. Men are still represented as TV drama characters up to 3 times more frequently than women and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories. 

Women and femininity.

Women have often suffered from a narrow set of representations in the media 

They are often linked to the domestic situation.

Women as housewives or mothers. 

OR as sex objects (sexualised and objectified) represented to entertain and titillate the male. 

In advertising and magazines...

• They are shown as..
• Young
• Slim
• Overwhelmingly white
• Conforming to our image of ideal beauty (perfect skin, hair and alluring gaze) 

In Non Fictional media- 

Women's roles tend to be smaller and fewer than their male counterparts.

Due to the patriarchal nature of lout society- women are less likely to be the source of leading news stories (politics, business, law and religion stories.) 

Since their roles int hess areas tend to be fewer in number. 

How does society treat people who do not conform to gender norms (i.e.. men who are feminine and women who are masculine)?

Negative. looking at a younger generation, there may be bullying involved. Looking at the older generation they may look at it as wrong. 

it isn't accepting, it is improving but not massively. It's changing- there is more diversity. 

What is our societies dominant ideology about gender (i.e.. what gender attributes and behaviours are valued most in our society on the whole)?

Women should be submissive and men being dominant.

Gramsky- hegemony-men being in charge

Vern & Bonnie Bullough (1993) 

Gender roles are equated with masculinity and femininity, male as provider female as nurturer.

These two concepts can help us understand how gender is social construction directly linked to heterosexual roles. 

• Gender Identity- self conceives. 
• Gender role- as it is perceived by others. 

Camp as a subversive mode of opposition

Gay subtexts- pre-gay rights movement

Camp as the intellectual subversive presence in mass culture

Gender play/bending- David Bowie , Prince. 

This image of Bowie can be used as an example here because of the use of makeup- makeup stereotypically is used by women, yet here, Bowie has a full face of makeup, with strong pink colours- the key colour associated to women.

Judith Butler

Gender is not the result of nature but is socially constructed.

That is to say, male and female behaviour and roles are not the result of biology but are constructed and reinforced through media and culture.

Butler argues that there are a number of exaggerated, disruptive "tongue-in-cheek" representations of masculinity and femininity, which draws attention to the idea that gender is socially constructed and cause what she refers to as "gender trouble".

"Queer Theory"- exploring and challenging the way in which heterosexual is constructed as normal and the media has limited the representations of gay men and women. 

It challenges the traditionally held assumptions that there is a binary divide between gay and heterosexual, and suggests that sexual identity is more fluid. and example of the fluid of gender/sexualitiy can be Caption Jack Sparrow. 

The Gay Gaze. Steve Neale (1992)

Images which show men in passive, submissive, sexualised poses' lying down, looking up at the camera so that the viewer is dominant can be described as homoerotic. 

22% of reporters are female compared to 77.4% male.

Narrow representations...
young
slim
Overwhelmingly white
Conforming to our image of ideal beauty.
Feminism.
Compared to the past women nowadays have more rights.

At least 4 examples including historical text
include collective identity.
What the press say about these collective identities.

Buckingham- "They don't just present reality they re-present it".
Run by men for men. effected how the news is mediated.
A hegemonic view of society "fundamental inequalities in power between social groups. Groups in power exercise their influence culturally rather than by force.
Example- Fairy liquid 1966- advertiser was a male= "Make your hand look pretty" Its a female child as well- showing how boys wouldn't be in the kitchen. The reinforcing of female gender roles to recreate these gender roles in the new generation- the false consciousness- women should be conceded with keeping the houses clean.
The evolution

Scopophilia- The pleasure of looking a voyeuristic gaze directed at other people.
Gauntlet- negotiated acceptance of the media influenced by the media but not overwhelmed.

(STRINATI 1995)- "women are usually shown as being subordinate, passive, submissive and marginal, performing a liited number of secondary and uninteresting tasks confined to their sexuality their emotions and their domestic work".

Hav the roles changed? To an extent they have changed- they are given "more powerful" roles for example Harley Quinn appearing "powerful"- yet is still submissive to an abusive relationship- displaying have they haven't progressed far enough in order to say that there is no longer a division of the roles of women and males.

Wonder woman- This is a feminist icon and objectification of women.

It shows a powerful control of a women but at the same time suggesting in order for her to be notice as powerful her skin needs to be exposed- wearing as little clothing, showing all her legs and chest. 

Three reasons why wonder woman shouldn't be a un ambassador.

Genderfuck- submersing the traditional roles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06svrw2