What do I want to focus on?

Possible themes:

How women are perceived?
How men are perceived?
Gender stereotypes?
Advertisements directed at children?
How adverts have changed over time to reflect societies views?

Children.
Ideas about gender are constructed from a young age?
Stereotypes- Pink for girls, blue for boys?
Have these stereotypes changed over time? Are they still being used?
Social leaning theories?
Adverts that go against stereotypes?
Other influences- toys and books?

Study Task 2

Feminist Perspectives on Sex and Gender

Published May 12, 2008.

Tone of voice:

•       Formal 

Key Points:

•       Gender terminology: There is a distinction between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Sex refers to biological features and gender refers to social factors.
•      Gender socialisation: feminine and masculine gender-norms are engrained in society and we are influences by these throughout our lives.
•       Gender Realism: woman share certain characteristics or a common condition/ criterion that defines their gender.
•       Sex models, sexual dimorphism & intersexes: there is a lot of biological research that suggest that feminists are wrong to believe that humans are strictly male or female.
•       Women as a group: in order for women to end gender inequality and women’s oppression there must be something that binds all women together as a group, even though many feminists don’t support this idea. This is problematic.

Key Quotes:

•      “Provisionally: ’sex’ denotes human females and males depending on biological features (chromosomes, sex organs, hormones and other physical features); ‘gender’ denotes women and men depending on social factors (social role, position, behaviour and identity).”
•       “Feminism should aim to create a “genderless (though not sexless) society, in which one’s sexual anatomy is irrelevant to who one is, what one does, and with whom one makes love” (Rubin 1975, 204).”
•       “Social leaning theorists hold that a huge array of different influences socialise us as women and men. this being the case, it is extremely difficult to counter gender socialisation.”
•       “women as a group are assumed to share some characteristic, feature, experience, common condition or criterion that defines their gender and the possession of which makes some individuals women (as opposed to, say, men).”
•       “in order to respond to oppression of women in general, feminists must understand them as a category in some sense.”

Summary:

The article discusses a few different ideas on feminist’s perspectives on sex and gender and how this is relevant to the idea of ending women’s oppression.

It first begins to discuss the difference between the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Sex is said to refer to an individuals biological features whereas gender is determined on the basis of social factors. Though these are seen to compliment each other in most cases. The text suggests that feminism should “aim to create a genderless (though not sexless) society”.

The text then goes on to discuss gender socialisation, which is the idea that an individual’s gender is determined as a result of social and cultural upbringing. Certain ideas about gender are now engrained into society, creating what we know as feminine and masculine gender-norms. This refers to the idea that certain behaviours and characteristics are associated with a particular gender and these must be conformed to in order to fit into society.  As a result, parents subconsciously treat their children in certain ways. Children are then influenced with these ideas throughout their life, and this has resulted in gender socialisation. The text states that feminists should attempt to diminish the idea of social roles in order to create a more equal society.  

The text then mentions the idea of woman as a group. It discusses how feminists are against the idea that women can be defined as women due to social roles, behaviours and bodily features but still want to make demands on behalf of women. The text questions how this can be possible as “in order to respond to oppression of woman in general, feminists must understand them as a category in some sense.”

In conclusion, the text discusses how gender distinction is still an on-going issue that needs to be addressed and whether or not distinguishing the difference between gender and sex is helpful in feminist’s aims to end women’s oppression.

Session Task

Choosing an Essay Question: 

Today we looked at possible themes for our essay. Below are the options:

1. How did Postmodernism impact on Illustration?
2. To what extent does advertising construct out ideas of gender
3. Discuss the role that illustration can play during periods of political and social upheaval.
4. What is the relationship between branding and The Consumer Self?
5. What is the role of print media in the digital age?

We were set a task for the session. We were given one of the themes of the questions mentioned above and were told to go the library and find a definition of each of the terms, one image that relates to the essay title and two books around the topic. 

We were given the question about political and social upheaval.

Definition:

Political- 'of or relating to the government or public affairs of a country.'

Social- 'relating to society or its organisation.'

Upheaval- 'a violent or sudden change or disruption to something.'

Image:

Books: 

The question I am going to choose is 'To what extent does advertising construct out ideas of gender?' 

Study Task 1

Image Analysis 

The first image, titled ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ was produced in 1876 and is an advertisement by Schumacher & Ettlinger. The image features several men sitting around a table, the most obvious being Uncle Sam himself. It is also apparent that the world, who has been drawn as a person is sitting at the table amongst them, and Uncle Sam’s position suggests he is serving him food or in other words, feeding the world. Looking into the detail of the image you can see a clock on the wall with the dates 1776 and 1876 written on it. This represents the idea that America has been feeding the world for 100 years as the United States emerged as an independent country in 1776. This idea is also apparent in the use of the American flag, which is plastered everywhere- showing a very patriotic attitude.

The second set of images, titled ‘East African Transport Old Style’ and ‘East African Transport New Style’ are from an Empire Marketing Board, produced by Adrian Allison in 1930. The image is aimed at buyers who could afford to invest in products. The images are trying to represent how technology has greatly improved the transport in Africa. In the first image you can see men, women and children in their traditional clothing carrying supplies whereas in the second image, the main focus is on the white man at the front, standing tall and proud. It is evident that he is also standing with his back to the men working, who are all black. These men are wearing minimal clothing, unlike the white man, and there is no clear shot of their faces, suggesting that they are not important within the image. This represents the idea of a hierarchy and the fact that racism was acceptable at the time. There are also no women present showing how attitudes to women have changed. These ideas are similarly evident in The Uncle Sam Range poster. In the bottom left-hand corner you can see a black child working. This conveys the idea that slave labour was present. The child is doing most of the work, however, Uncle Sam appears to be taking the credit. This brings me on to talk about another main feature in the image. The large, cast iron, hi-tech cooker- advertising ‘The Uncle Sam Range’. The world appears to be looking at a large list that features various other countries and traditional foods that they eat. This could suggest that the Uncle Sam range can cook just about everything, and would appeal to the whole world so everyone should invest in one. It appears as though the world is buying into it so the purpose of this poster may be to celebrate this idea.

In terms of the font and the style of illustration, in the first image, a very flamboyant typeface has been used, alongside a few other typefaces. This makes it appear quite busy, and dated. This could be due to the way the poster was produced, or when. At the time, they probably didn’t have much knowledge about composition and layout.  In the second image the font is quite different. It is very bold and obvious on the posters, ensuring that you understand exactly what the posters are trying to show, straight away. It draws your attention.

The main themes in both images are very similar in the fact that they are based on the idea of a social hierarchy. They are trying to show the improvements that America have made to the rest of the world and how proud they are of this.

Preparatory Task

Historical

Definitions:

• Of or concerning history or past events 
• Belonging to the past
• Important or famous in history 
• Based on or inspired by history 
• Concerned with phenomena as they change through time 

Historical Image:

Historical Photo:

Quote:

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever" - Gandhi

"I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past"- Thomas Jefferson 

Social

Definitions:

• Of or relating to human society and its modes of organisation
• Of or relating to rank and status in society
• Interacting with other people and living in communities 
• Inclined to seek out or enjoy the company of other 
• Spent in or marked by friendly relations or companionship

Social Image:

Social Photo:

Quote:

"In the social jungle of human existence, there is no feeling of being alive without a sense of identity" - Erik Erikson

Cultural

Definitions:

• Of or relating to artisris or social pursuits or events considered to be valuable or enlightened
• Of or relating to a culture or civilisation 
• Denoting or deriving from or distinctive of the ways of living built up by a group of people

Cultural Image:

Cultural Photo:

Quote:

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision whereas it takes him" - John F. Kennedy 

Political 

Definitions:

Of or relating to or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics or the state

Relating to, involving or characteristic of political parties or politicians 

Exercising or seeking power in the governmental or public affairs of a state

Political Image:

Political Photo:

Quote:

"The activists is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river" - Ross Pevot

Technological

Definitions:

Relating to or involving technology, especially scientific technology

Affected by or resulting from scientific and industrial progress

Resulting from improvements in technical process that increase productivity of machine and eliminates manual operations done by older machine. 

Technological Image:

Technological Photo:

Quote:

"The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want"- George Lucas