feminism in contemporary visual culture
TRANSCRIPT
Binming Li | 27428486 | University of Southampton| Postgraduate
Feminism in Contemporary Visual Culture
Brief introduction of the history of feminism
The influence of media on feminism
Visual analysis Explore how women are portrayed in cotemporary advertisement The use of feminism in advertising
Conclusion
Introduction
Concept Activities and actions that aim at gaining equal political, social, personal, cultural
right as well as opportunities of employment and education for women (Beasley, 1999).
The development of feminism 1ST wave: from 19th century to early 20th century 2nd wave: mid 20th century 3rd wave: late 20th century to early 21st century
Feminism ≠ Man-hatingFeminism = Gender Equality
A brief history of feminism
1st w
ave
Liber
al
wom
en’s
right
m
ovem
ent Ea
rly
Socia
list
fem
inism
2nd w
ave
1960s~1970s
postwar
Western
welfare
societies
1980s~1990s
women’s
empowerme
nt and
differential
rights
3rd w
ave
Theo
retic
al
ques
tion
of
equi
tyPo
litica
l qu
estio
n of
ev
oluti
on
A brief introduction of history of feminism
History
Krolokke & Sorensen, 2006
As a means of disseminating feminist information
The intersection between feminism and media was increased
Mass media has played an important role for the feminist movement
(Bradley, 2003)
However…
The adoption of stereotypes and promotion of opposite ideas exaggerated the antifeminist movement
The role of mass media during the 2nd wave
Advertisement: has essential influence on the content and shape of media in contemporary society
(Gill, 2007) Is a representation of popular culture that both reflects and produces social
meanings (Williamson, 1978) Reflects the common sense of society and social life (McCracken, 1988)
Portrayal of women: The description of women in advertising is presented as accompaniment of
masculinity, inferior and dependency (Blloshmi, 2013) Women’s magazines: emphasize on beauty, sexuality, motherhood and domesticity
(Winship, 1980).
The representation of women in advertisement
Different ways women being depicted in advertising Materialized: objectifies women’s body, present them as objects and accessory of men fragments women’s body, present only a single part, deny the humanity of women (Gill, 2007) Sex object: present women’s body as posture of sexual implication highly emphasis on appearance and exaggerates the display of women’s body Inequality: shows images of men violently abusing women—inequality in power implicates violence against women disparage the value of female
The representation of women in advertisement: 1. Patriarchal
(Loose Garment, 2012a) (Loose Garment, 2012b) (Loose Garment, 2012c)
Examples
The representation of women in advertisement is an important part of the history that affects the consciousness of female of everyday life (Goldman, 1992)
Feminism becomes a single icon to enrich the content of commodities Two ways to use feminism in advertisement As a visual style: Signs relate to feminism are utilized by advertisers to sell commodities, make
them lose their political meanings, i.e. Independence, freedom, narrows the ways feminism is being portrayed (Gill, 2007)
Use feminism ideologies as a promotion of the product: advertisers attempt to reflect feminism in their advertisement to sell product, feminism become a tool for advertisement just as female bodies (Gill, 2007).
The representation of women in advertisement : 2.Commodity feminism
Materialization
Visual analysis
Figure 1 (Loose Garment, 2012) Figure 2 (PERFECTLYdull, 2011)
Figure 3 (Stampler, 2014)• Presents a woman’s body as clothes stand
• Naked body suggests sexuality• Men’s shoes trample on her body
suggests depreciation of female status
• Covered face suggests the deny of her personal identity
• Cutting lines are drawn on the woman’s body suggests disrespectful of her humanity
• The slogan implies animalization of female
• The presentation of unrealistic body style
• Fragmentation of female body• Visually dissects female body
(Gill, 2007)• Suggests female body as an
attached object to male
Sex object
Visual analysis
Figure 4 (Loose Garment, 2012) Figure 5 (Marginal Musings, 2013)
Figure 6 (Weibo, 2015)
• In both images, male are presented in a dominant position, either physically or verbally• The presents of female possess sexual implication• A denial of the independent personality of female, treat them only as sex objects
(Job=woman,do what you want to do
most)
Inequality
Visual analysis
Figure 7 (Green, 2013) Figure 8 (Green, 2013)
Figure 9 (Caixin, 2015) Figure 10 (Weibo, 2015)
• Figure 7 and Figure 8 indicates violence against women• Figure 9 is a comparison of the advertisements posted on 2015 Women’s Day between Baidu and Google. While
female was objectified as a doll standing on a music box in Baidu, Google presented female in different career• Figure 10 was an advertisement of Beijing Civil Administration, it said ‘why competing with men in such a great effort
while the best work for women is to be a good housewife and mother’.
Commodity feminism
Visual analysis
Figure 11 (uelvistheories2012, 2012) Figure 12 (Advertising & Society, 2014) Figure 13 (Burgess, 2015)
• Using female empowerment as a selling point to sell products• Relating self-confidence and freedom to consumption• Reducing the political meanings of the concept of feminism and connects it to a personal life style
Advertisement reflects the common sense and public aesthetics in contemporary society, in this case, how female are treated by the public
Advertisement reflects the stereotypes of female, from mother and wife to sexual signifiers
Female has been objectified, treated as sex object and violently against in advertisement, and nowadays feminism is utilized as a selling point to promote products.
Commoditized feminism lessens its political meanings
Conclusion