Over the course of the year, I have researched in depth my topic, ranging from theoretical research, examples of media practices and articles that draw upon my chosen subject to looking at photographers who explore my explore my subject. This blog along with a following blog will be an overview of all my research and involvement during the course of this year, in some ways you could say a miniature essay that puts all my research in one main blog-which articles, photographers, theorists have aided me the most and been the most influential and how my research as helped me to develop my idea. This will be divided into 4 separate topics-subject search, media research, media articles/books/essay and theorists that relate to my work:


Original Proposal that i wrote:"As a final piece, i aim to produce pictures that challenge the norms of society and play on the idea that women have become puppets and dress up dolls in a media ruled society, but also how women are presented to men.Therefore through my project I aim to explore the idea of sexual fetishism-the use of women in selling men’s products but also the concept of ‘the male gaze’ and the idea of how women gain and learn to be ‘feminine’ "
                                                                          
 
Before i summarise all my work, this was something i had to do before for my pilot. Originally i believed that i had fulfilled what i had said i would do in my proposal. However my feedback was that my proprosal was interesting but i had confused myself in what i was doing and my photograps had not expressed that. However i believe that threw more research, experimentation i have achieved what i said i would do in proposal. -need to quote something from proposal and show and link it back to what i have done now!

Subject search:


   Since I had started doing photography, photgraphing people has always fascinated me. But what I find interesting is going against the norms of society and challenging what we normally see in the media. When first coming up with my idea I decided to look at advertising products and got on to the subject of women and advertising and how they look and are made to look. Within this I came across sex appeal, women as objectsa, products of the gaze-providing me with plenty of theoretical research to do, media research and lots og photographers that exploe this. Advertisements that i looked at that sent me on my way to plenty of research:


Picture inserts




These advertisements were the basis of my subject research which then led me on to my media research, artists and photographers research and theoretical research:






Media research:


Within media research this was simply looking up news articles, and events to do with women as objects and how they are  used as sex appeal. At the start of my research i already had decided i wanted to go against the norms of how women are normally viewed in advertising-which from my subject research-womens bodies are used to sell products-usually they are half naked-sexual facial expression

articles to do with my subject that particualry helped me develop my ideas:describe and relate


http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/upload/article_sexualized_images.pdf

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-437343/The-little-girls-sexualised-age-five.html


http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-19/health/women.bikinis.objects_1_bikini-strip-clubs-sexism?_s=PM:HEALTH



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2125921/Jennifer-Love-Hewitt-seen-natural-AND-digitally-reduced-bosom-differing-ads-The-Client-List.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2126399/Lily-Cole-wipes-make-thought-provoking-film.html






Theoretical Research

Power of the gaze:

panopticon:

all articles you looked at-scholarly not daily mail.



To summarise, throughout my theoretical research I explored many theorists as mentioned earlier, Foucault and the gaze, Laura Mulvey and the male gaze, Freud and his concept of sexual fetishism- all of which have helped me identify what I really wanted to base my pictures around. Although I have experimented with lots of ways of how to portray my topic i believe my theoretical and practical research has aided me to fulfill what i intended to do in my proprosal at the beginning of the year.



Through looking at men’s adverts, fetishism photography and product photography I saw that all the women were thin; all had perfect skin and were modelling in an erotic confident way. To summarise, all the women in these advertising pictures looked as society, the media and men believe they should look.

These theories I have explored have enabled me to experiment through my photographs. They have helped me both challenge the topic and come up with original ways of making a statement. Through my photographs I have explored the idea that we as members of society are mannequins that the media dress up and play with while also exploring young girls wanting to be grownup and knowing how to pose.

Artists and photogrsphers:

all these photgraphers i have done an indpemedent blog for each, this is just summarising the main influence surrounding the most important photographer. I obviously researched lots of photographers.

John Heartfield: Particularly influential as it helped me come up with my final ideas about montage and collage in photography. He was if not the most influential in helping me with the unsexed object series. His work ticked all the right boxes that i proposed for my own work-wanting to go against the norm, doing something original yet simplistic. He made a point through his photography and made people look and stop-his work about hitler was an alternative to what people were seeing in the media at the time. My own photography-is an alternative to what people at the moment see and how they see women in advertising.


Linder sterling: Also extremly influntial in manipultation, collaage, montage idea behind my final series of photographs. Her work furthermore is actually on a similar topic to mine that is to look at women in the media and how they are portrayed. Furthermore the photograph below (forks and spoons) was the initial photograph that triggered the idea of house hold objects and can any object be sold if it is put togwether with sex appeal?


Yurie Nagishima: Very useful in promting the idea of unsexed objects although not going along the same topic-helped develop my ideas hugely.



Nigel Tomm:His photos offer an angle of how to look at womens bodies and how we are bombarded with magazine pictures of naked women in sexual positions.
aided me in developing my intital ideas and producing images of magazine cut outs and the perfect face-although not my final images they were step in the right developing direction.

Spoof Ads also very influetial: insert some pictures

Notes From tutorial:

The more Mundane the object , the better!

potential further ideas for objects in between breasts:

• Computer mouse
• socks between boobs-showing how a lot of womens boobs are 'shown' to be big- dirty pair of socks
• plastic cup
• egg cup
• salt and pepper shaker

sexual expressions and pretending to cover boobs as if its a sexual picture-un sexed object-takes this aspect away-playing on this idea of what are sexed and unsexed object?

£

First 3 finals of My exhibition:

Potential blurb to go with this set of images:

This series of photographs exposes the ways in which women in media and advertising are used as sex objects in order to sell products. It aims to challenge the stereotypical products that women advertise whilst also posing the question can sex appeal sell any product?

These are my first set of finals for my exhibtion and how they will be set up against the wall. Additionally, i plan to have a further 3 or 4 more on the pictures I have taken which are in an earlier post, i just have not quite decided which ones yet. I really like these three images as a set, as I think along with my potential blurb they really show 3 mundane objects which crudely contrast with the idea of sex appeal. Furthermore I like that they are all landscape photographs which makes them go together more. I think that my other set of images for the exhibition will be portrait and they hopefully sit nicely under this set.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2125921/Jennifer-Love-Hewitt-seen-natural-AND-digitally-reduced-bosom-differing-ads-The-Client-List.html

article i found and how it relates

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2126399/Lily-Cole-wipes-make-thought-provoking-film.html

need to discuss in comparison to relevant literasture and media and cultural studies-how i can relate this to my essay and pictures for exhibtion

Can sex appeal sell any object? Household Objects

PHOTOS

Installation ideas and layout for the exhibition:

what pictures to chose, how to frame, what sizes to print? 

The overall colour of the images is an important factor to consider. The images should not only work well together but also compliment the décor of your target area. All the images should come together as a set. Ten sepia and two black and white just looks as though you ran out of images, regardless of how good they are.

The colour of your mounts and frames is also very important. Black, white or cream are the classic colours that compliment most images. The purposed of the mount and frame is to concentrate the eye on the photograph, so regardless of how much pink there is in that fantastic sunrise, a matching pink mount will only serve to dilute the image.

Framing:

  No Colored Mats or Frames:

This means black or white frames and black or white mats only (grey and cream mats are not acceptable). While natural wood frames are not exactly a “color”, they stick out as the only non-black or white frame in the show. This is why it is important that the framing is restricted to black or white. Hanging a show should depend on the image, the flow of the room, and the size of the work. Color of frames and/or mats should not be a factor in assembling the show.

-       Black Frame vs. White Frame:

White frames have had a recent surge in popularity, particularly with color images. For images with cool or muted tones, I think white frames are a great option. They remove the “black border” effect often used in silver gelatin printing, and rarely used in color photography. They also bring more attention to the image. However, I do not think that white frames are the best option for black and white prints. For the most part they should be left to color images, in my opinion.

-       Metal Frame vs. Wood Frame:

As a photographer, I do not have a preference for either wood or metal frames. As a gallerist concerned with esthetics, I do not have a preference either. But as a gallerist who hates to tell her artists that their work has been damaged, I much prefer metal frames. Metal frames will not crack or chip in shipping and will not split if the wire is screwed in too tightly. If something happens to the photograph (such as an image slipping in its frame), I am able to open it up and address the problem. They also tend to be lighter and thus less expensive to ship.

Whilst researching the framing of my photographs, i believe I either need a black frame around my images, or to not be framed at all. I think that my photographs will look good with no frame as all of my images have all white background. -need to see if michelle like the idea of a no frame? is this a good idea or not?

Theory: readings and articles found

Women as sex objects and victims in print Advertising: 

• Reading describes women "She is a sex object, who is completely powerless and out of control"
• ' Women are 'simultaneously sexualised and victimised in advertising'

Reading has case studies and content analysis of how many times women are used as sexual/victimised objects over a certain period of time. The reading Describes advertising as a very persuasive form of media and because of this if women are sexualised in adverts, people therefore see this as the norm-constantly bombarded with this image of how women should be.

• advertising provides social messages-that then go unquestioned-THE NORM
• Desirable objects and people-women make objects look more desirable especially if they are basically half naked

p3 "At the very least, advertising helps to create a climate in which certain attitudes and values flourish, such as the attitude that women are valuable only as objects of mens desire..."

• body positions, facial expressions-contribute a lot to adverts-half naked women-sexual power to buy a product
• Women presented as sexually powerful-objects of  mens desire to go along with what ever product they may be advertising
• Sullivan and O'conor-between 1970-1983-60% increase in images that portrayed women in sexualised roles. 

Huge increase in nudity as a way of advertisement

• Plous and Neptine (1997) actually compared body exposure and how much flesh was on show compared to that of men and women
• 2006-Millard and Grant-30% of advertisements in 3 popular fashion magazines featured nude or 'scantily clad' women and more then half of these suggested women as objects
• 2001- 70.9% of pictures in men magazines presented women as objects

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-437343/The-little-girls-sexualised-age-five.html

article

interesting article on men thinking women as sex objects-science is now there to back it up.

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-19/health/women.bikinis.objects_1_bikini-strip-clubs-sexism?_s=PM:HEALTH

OBJECT: Challenging sexual objectification of women

http://www.object.org.uk/

OBJECT is an award-winning human rights organisation specifically set up to challenge the sexual objectification of women. We were set up in 2003 because of an ever-accelerating culture of objectification:- Lads' mags were becoming increasingly popular, internet porn and lap dancing clubs were more and more mainstreamed. Despite the social effects of this culture, there was little or no public debate on these issues. Many individuals concerned by what they saw felt alienated and silenced.

The scene was set for the 'pornification' of society – a culture saturated by sexualised and one dimensional representations of women and girls, in a way which has little or no parallel for men or boys. This has been so successfully accomplished that in recent years mainstream retailers market pole dancing kits or Playboy bedding to children and jobcentres carry adverts for escort agencies and massage parlours (although, thanks to our campaigning, such ads were withdrawn in 2010!).

Articles

Frith, Katherine, Ping Shaw, and Hong Cheng. “The Construction of Beauty: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Women’s Magazine Advertising.” Journal of Communication 55.1 (2005): 56-70.
This study examined the cultural differences of female beauty ideals in the US, Singapore and Taiwan in the context of magazine ads. The study found that, based on magazine advertisements and depictions of female beauty, the US places more importance in terms of beauty on the female body, whereas Singapore and Taiwan focus more on a pretty face. They were able to come to this conclusion because US ads focused more on clothing, whereas the Asian ads focused more on cosmetics.

Lavine, Howard, Donna Sweeney, and Stephen H. Wagner. “Depicting Women as Sex Objects in Television Advertising: Effects on Body Dissatisfaction.” Pers Soc Psychol Bull 25.8 (1999): 1049-1058.
This study examined how women’s and men’s perceptions of their own body image changed as they viewed sexist or nonsexist ads. Both men and women that viewed sexist ads had a more negative perception of their body than those who viewed nonsexist or neutral advertisements. The study found that sexist advertisements cause women to want to be thinner and cause men to want to be more muscular, indicating that depression or loss of self-esteem may be indirectly exacerbated or caused by exposure to sexist TV ads.

MacKay, Natalie J., and Katherine Covell. “The Impact of Women in Advertisements on Attitudes Toward Women.” Sex Roles 36.9 (1997): 573-583.
This study examined the link between negative images of women in advertising and attitudes about sexuality and feminism. The study found a link between increased viewing of negative female sex portrayals in advertisements and attitudes supporting sexual aggression and a lower acceptance of feminism in both males and females. This implies that if women are shown as sex objects in advertisements, violence against them is seen as more acceptable, and that, overall, these advertisements are undermining major advances made by the women’s movement.

Reichert, Tom et al. “A Test of Media Literacy Effects and Sexual Objectification in Advertising.” Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising 29.1 (2007): 81-92.
This study analyzed how subjects’ responses to advertisements changed after watching a media literacy video. The study found that, after viewing the media literacy video, women respondents were more likely to be offended by ads containing negative images of women, compared to women respondents who did not watch the video. Conversely, men who watched the video did not have any different response than those that did not watch the video. The study proves the effectiveness of media literacy education, but also perhaps something else needs to be done to better reach men.

Wiles, Judith A., Charles R. Wiles, and Anders Tjernlund. “A comparison of gender role portrayals in magazine advertising: The Netherlands, Sweden and the USA.” European Journal of Marketing 29.11 (1995): 35-49.
This study compared gender role portrayals in advertising in The Netherlands, Sweden, and the USA, and found that each country had similar portrayals. Specifically, the study found that all countries were more likely to depict men in working roles than women. The Netherlands and Sweden in particular were more likely to depict men as high-level executives.

Zimmerman, Amanda, and John Dahlberg. “The Sexual Objectification of Women in Advertising: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective.” Journal of Advertising Research 48.1 (2008): 71-79.
This study interviewed female undergraduate students, gaging their responses to female portrayals in advertisements. The students agreed that females are portrayed as sex objects in advertisements, but they were less offended than female respondents in 1991, if not entirely indifferent. This suggests that female portrayal as sex objects may have increased since 1991, causing women to become more accustomed and thus desensitized to the image. The study also found that a company’s use of negative female portrayals did not change the students’ desire to buy their products.

THEORY FOR PHOTOGRAPHY:

ARTICLE 1: Adolescents exposure to a sexualised media environment and their notions of women as sex object:

·         Gender stereotypes and beliefs-the idea that women are supposed to be sexually appealing-idealised to be sexual and look sexual

·         Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) the sexual objectification of women may be defined as the reduction of women to their sexual appeal in terms of their outer appearance and a focus on their body

·         Gives an inkling of sexual activity-if you buy these products

·         Men’s magazines-define women just by their image and sex appeal

·         Ward (2002) Though his research that young adults that watched TV and were exposed to multimedia content were more likely to believe that women are just sexual objects

·         Alternative explanations of women as sex objects-women as sex objects have cultural and social traits

·         Gender stereotypes-men in power-men be able and should be able to roam city-women in fixed places and should be able to be controlled-Simmel-metropolis of city life

·         Try to producer gender quality-and men superior to women-this links back to what i have talked about in previous posts of women being products of the gaze,

Yurie Nagashima

In one photograph, she holds an onion in front of her left breast while holding her t-shirt up by her teeth. This form of visual allegory and humorous photographic intervention locates Nagashima alongside artists such as Sarah Lucas who, in one photograph, placed two fried eggs in situ of her breasts. In the case of Lucas, the reference to female fertility and reproductive organs signified by the eggs is clear. In Nagashima’s case however, the onion is more difficult to locate since it does not immediately signify either the male or the female body. Instead, the onion might refer to the trope of perfectibility: the emphasis on aesthetic perfection of fruit and vegetable that is common in Japanese department stores. The perfect watermelon, the perfect carrot, the perfect onion, is, above all, determined by its symmetrical and even visual appearance. Nagashima’s photograph appears to question, even ridicule, this paradigm closely associated with consumerism and the representation of gender. Here, I am referring to consumerism in an economic sense but also consuming food as metaphor for consuming the female body. The onion thus functions as a pun on consuming and being consumed: in contrast to the soothing milk of the mother’s breast, Nagashima purposefully chooses a vegetable known not only for it’s acidic taste, but also, for causing tears. The unpeeling of the onion, and the allegorical pain associated with it, becomes the complete antithesis to the warmth associated with the mother

theoretical context

remember to type up notes in pink folder

Reflection on photographs and further notes:

Pictures taken are good, but need to be taken a step further:

• Need to take some more pictures of nude pictures and kitchen and house hold objects
• Really like the idea of cling film and suggesting that women are packaged and like products- really like the pictures because they look like they are plastic-but i think they need to go a step further and make them more original.
• De delicious products
  Clinge film-melting face-full face of makeup then smudge-melting plastis-katie price plastic
  More pictures with products-still do fried eggs-tribute to artist
  More house hold objects-need to use text as well-lots of experimentation
  More unsexed objects
  Different  types of packaging-anymore needed-polystyrene
  Clinge film needs to be pushed further-in a bath-cling film over bath-model under water-distrrted shattered glass
  Wrap up clinge film lots of times-gives more texture-vascaline on the lense-cling film over the lense-mummified 
  
  

Photos: 'The Perfect Face'

Film Strip of \photo shoot-women as objects

The perfect face?