Judith Butler Notes:

• Butler states that gender is ‘performative’ and a ‘social construct.’
• Best known for her book “Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. ” 
• Butler says that historically we have viewed gender in a binary fashion- dividing gender into categories based on stereotypes or characteristics which cannot be changed. She believes this limits us.
• “gender should be seen as a human attribute that shifts and changes”
• views are complimentary to modern identities 
• believing that gender is fluid and changeable- dependent on who we are with/situations/ different times
• links to David Gauntlet’s theories about identities being fluid, constructed and collective.- and how cultural norms are constantly changing.
• Butler believes gender promotes the patriarchy and suppression of feminism where we constantly compare men and women to each other.
• ‘nobody is a gender from the start’
• ‘no “repetitive” acts can determine who you are’

Score Notes:

The man is sat at a higher position to the women who are holding the seat at shoulder height. This could foreground the patriarchy and the negative connotation that he is more superior then the women. Which is a reactionary representation of the relationship between men and women as the patriarchy is a dominant ideology and can still be seen in present day society. In the 1960s it was typical for men to go out to work and to provide the money for his family and for the women to be stay -at -home-wives/mums who would do the cooking and cleaning because woman weren’t seen as capable of the things that men were. Men were superior and sexism was an accepted way of living. The women in the advert are seen in less clothing or clothing that has been altered to accentuate their body figure. This links with Feminist Laura Mulvey and her theory of the “Male Gaze” where women are as objects to be looked at and men are the “lookers”. They have been over-sexualised in order to help promote this product, however this has negative consequences on how women are perceived by both men and women. This also shows the link to voyeurism as this is encouraged in order to increase the sales. Furthermore this shows the growing number of men conforming to toxic masculinity and believing that by over-sexualising and objectifying women makes them masculine. It teaches women to also sexualise themselves as they believe that they will be considered attractive if they are submissive and their body is owned by the male perspective. The women are also seen as trying to ‘stroke’ the man and touch him in some sort of way. This makes him seem desired and irresistible to women which they have justified with the hair product “score”.

Maybelline:

This production is a radical representation of gender and masculinity and connotates to Judith Butler’s theory of gender being ‘performative‘ and not in a binary fashion. Gender is fluid and can change depending on many different things. The Maybelline’s advert shows this with including their first male influencer (Manny MUA) to promote this product which is counter-typical to the kind of model who would normally be used in a cosmetic advert as make-up is considered feminine and only for those who identify themselves as female. It creates a new representation of what it means to be a ‘man’ and that wearing make-up can still be masculine. As an influencer he is constructing his own identity in a positive way and helping others around him to embrace their feminine side as well as their masculine side and that having interests that would normally be considered feminine doesn’t make them less masculine.