The videos were helpful because they focused on many types of difference; for example, they covered race, ethnicity, and gender. What a Girl Wants focused on the TV and media's presence in young girls lives and how it alters their perceptions of what is normal. They focused a lot on the role of channels like MTV and music videos and how these both sexualize women and provide unrealistic expectations of how a girl should look and sex in general. The second video, Edward Said On Orientalism, they explore the stereotypes assigned to people in the Middle East by Westerners. They ask that instead of trying to second hand represent those in the "Orient" we need to allow for self representation. This applies to races and ethnicity on a much broader scale than the just the Middle East and calls those in the West to be more accepting and less quick to judge and assign stereotypes. The final video, Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising's Image of Women, takes an at first humorous outlook on women's role in advertising then leads into the very serious issue of how women are overly sexualized in the media and print, which is very similar to the first film. Advertisers make women into helpless, vulnerable sex objects because they know that it will sell.
One gender specific signifier is a high heel shoe. These are almost exclusively associated with women. Some men, for example a drag queen, may wear them, but they are considered a women's shoe. By using the empty space, overlay, spotlighting, and repositioning techniques, we are able to view the high heel in a new way. First, there is empty space. In this photo, there is a woman with no shoes being given a pair of flip flops. We can often forget how not everyone has access to high heels or even shoes in general. According to an article by the Huffington Post, nearly 300 million people cannot afford shoes. Next, there is overlay. Many women say they wear high heels because they "look nice." I wore a pair for several hours last weekend for a formal and could not wait to take them off. The more honest reason women wear them is because they make us look good; they show off legs, make a woman taller, and add an overall nice touch to an outfit. We often try to ignore the association with high heels such as the pain the cause our feet, the oppression and heteronormativity they represent and how women who wear them are often sexualized. There is also spotlighting. With this, we can draw on the past concept of foot binding in ancient Chinese culture. Many compare this awful practice that deformed countless women's feet to the current practice of wearing high heels. In many ways, they are similar. We stick our feet in extremely uncomfortable footwear generally to impress men or show some type of social status, very much like foot binding. Finally, there is repositioning. Recently at Penn State, there was an event called "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes." This gathered men and women together to walk a mile in high heel shoes for domestic abuse awareness and prevention. We can use this event not only to put an end to domestic violence but also to see how men can wear high heels if they want to. It is different, but different is OK. The image of high heels relates to the What a Girl Wants film and how women wear and do things because of society and because of the norm not really because they want to.
Another gender signifier is makeup. Again, this product is targeted for women and men generally do not wear it. If they were to, they would most likely face opposition and harassment. These same strategies can be used to unpack the idea of makeup. First, we can use makeup and the idea of empty space as an opportunity to again discuss domestic abuse. Something we forget is how women feel ashamed to be abused and try and hid the bruises with makeup. With overlay, we can discuss some of the stereotypes associated with wearing makeup, especially wearing a lot of makeup. When guys and even other girls see someone with a lot of makeup they almost automatically assume they are a slut or a whore. Spotlighting can also address the issue of how people associate wearing a lot of makeup with being a whore or a prostitute. An article by The Gloss discusses some of the dumbest stereotypes associated with wearing red lipstick and one is the idea that if you wear it, you must "work" in the Red Light district. Finally, the idea of straight men wearing makeup can be used for repositioning. In this photo, a model for Chanel is putting on a lipstick. They use a beard and nice suit to help show masculinity while still highlighting the makeup and how this goes against the norm. This signifier also relates most heavily to the What a Girl Wants film. One of the young girls in that video discussed how she wore foundation to even out her skin tone and even shared a "makeup tip" with the camera crew. This shows again the influence of the media and how it sets expectations we feel we have to live up to by doing things like wearing heels and makeup.
Images courtesy of:
Red Stiletto: orderbeautyshoes.com
21st Century Foot Binding: weheartit.com
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes: mcall.com
Homeless Woman: cavemancircus.com
Lipsticks: gemmagazines.net
Man with lipstick: thomaspluck.com
Red Light District: thatdamguide.com
Women Covering Bruises: care2.com
Pick: amazon.com
Guy using Pick: bustedcoverage.com
Sources:
Escobar, Samantha. "12 Of The Most WTF Stereotypes About Women Who Wear Bright Lipstick." TheGloss RSS. N.p., 25 July 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
Goldberg, Eleanor. "Man Going Barefoot For A Year For 300 Million People Who Can't Afford Shoes." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
