Judith Butler describes gender as “an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts”. In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns?

In this essay i am going to discuss how Judith Butler’s idea of identity being something that is performed is very useful to understanding gender in the Maybelline and Score adverts.

I would suggest that gender as performance by Butler shown in the quote  ‘nobody is a gender from the start.’ and that our gender identity and sexuality is ever-changing depending on the context of the situation. She expresses how gender is fluid, changeable, plural, and “a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space” implying that we are able to change our gender/ identityand shouldn’t be regarded as just one identity.

Futhermore in the past women were seen as a object of a man, which is suggested by Laura Mulvey and so their identity was fixed as being there to proivde for the man and the family and not able to do anything else.

These theoretical approaches around gender, feminism and representation can be linked to both CSP 3 (Score) and CSP 4 (Maybelline).

Firstly, in the Score advert there are a number of theories relating to how the characters in it are portrayed. It is created by considering the social and historical context of what was happening at the time. For example during the 1970’s there was emerging acceptance of homosexuality and a slight lead towards change of gender roles. In this CSP it is evident that the company doesn’t support these new ideas and that you are born a gender and sexuality (heterosexual) and this doesn’t change throughout your life time. Judith Butler suggests that the “lack of alternative representations in media helps reinforce heteronormativity” which could be an explanation as to why the society was unwilling to change and the Score advert (CSP 3) further enforces heteronormativity.

However, in the Maybelline advert (CSP 4) there is a significant change in the way that gender and sexuality is portrayed. It features 3 character Manny Mau, Shayla and a bell boy. Manny is could be seen as a countertype to your stereotypical makeup artist for a few reasons. Firstly, he is a male, in the 1960’s if a male would have wanted to be in involved in ‘feminine’ activities it would have been frowned upon and the audience positioning of such advert would have been non-existent. Secondly he is a homosexual which back in the day, this trait wouldn’t have been featured for the public.

Butler’s work is very useful in allowing us to understand CSP 4 because it is clear that Manny doesn’t portray a masculine look, rather more of a feminine kind with a gentle posture. Butler says that men don’t have to perform to the masculine standards and can perform however they like and that their gender can somewhat be shifted according to a situation eg. getting ready for a party and wanting to get glammed up, proving that gender is performed.

Another idea i would like to raise is about the different waves of feminism which can be seen in both CSP’s. There are 4 different waves of feminism. The first wave of feminism occurred in the early 20th century with movements such as the suffragettes and the international council of women. Virgina Woolf was part of first wave feminism said that women don’t have equal opportunities and were encouraged not to pursue their ambitions but instead stay home and do housework. This encourgaed a second wave years later.

The score advert (CSP 3) was created in the times of the 2nd wave of feminism which was about was about civil rights, equal rights for women (equal pay, decriminalisation of abortion, exposes mechanisms of patriarchy). Although this advert doesn’t appear to support this ideas it does however give us an insight into how corrupt situations were in the 60’s due to the way women are shown. Jean Kilbourne suggested that the way in which females are seen in adverts almost encourages idea of abuse, institutional behaviour stems from sexualised female adverts. Leading it to be seen as acceptable because it is the constructed reality that media influences who we become.

Next came the third wave feminism in the early 21st centuary when the Maybelline advert was created. The third wave feminism included things like intersectionality, raunch culture and queer theory. I believe that intersectionality plays an important part in the representation of a modern day world. Shayla (the woman in the Maybelline advert) is what would be described as a positive stereotype because she doesn’t fit the ‘ideal’ beauty standards but still goes out there being confident. Additionally she is a black woman which can be seen as double burden ‘in a postcolonial context, women carry the double burden of being colonized by imperial powers and subordinated by colonial and native men’. But Maybelline wanted to show how they are breaking free from stereotypes and having a less selective representation, appealing to all kind of people across the world leading it to be a very successful business.

In conclusion, I believe that in both CSP’s gender and sexuality is presented very clearly, showing the beliefs surrounding these areas in a very coherent way linking in with Judith Butler’s theories nicely about how gender is something that is performed through actions as seen by the way they dress, the positioning of the characters and interrelationships portrayed in the adverts.

acts.” In other words, it is something learnt through repeated performance. 

How useful is this idea in understanding gender is represented in both the Score and Maybelline advertising campaigns? 

In the essay, my aim is to present how feminism and gender performance such as Butler and the representation of such topics in the two SCP’s, score, and Maybeline, which were presented to me. during my essay I will argue that over time, the media have changed their perspective on gender and feminism and how now there is an even larger number of people who are supporting the ‘new media’ and how Judith butlers work can be applied to such advertisements. 

Judith Butler talks about how in society, how gender roles play a part in day-to-day life. Butler suggests that specific qualities and other features do not define what gender you are and that gender is a choice. Butler suggests that gender is fluid, changeable, plural a set of categories to be played out and performed by individual subjects in individual moments in time and space. Butler implies things like lipstick lesbian, butch and femme and girly girl and how these traits determine the gender of the people based on attributes behavior and that being born male or female will indefinitely be the way a person acts or chooses to associate to. 

In SCP 3, score, we are presented with an ad promoting male hair groom. In the advert, the male is being carried be the females and although he is outnumbered, he is still the higher authority in the ad. In the 1960’s females where still very much below men in the social hierarchy. as such it can be examined productively by considering its historical, social, and cultural contexts, particularly as it relates to gender roles, sexuality, and the historical context of advertising techniques the audience of this ad is going to be middle-aged men who wish to look good and get the attention from the woman that the male in the add has. The second wave of feminism relates to this as it started to question things that are wrong with the way the ad is presented. ‘sexism was coined by analogy with the term racism in the American civil rights movement in the early 1960s. Defined simply, sexism refers to the systematic ways in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female Indeed, feminist critical thought became much more prominent and pronounced during the counter cultural movements of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which heralded, among other changes: the facilitation of birth control and divorce, the acceptance of abortion and homosexuality, the abolition of hanging and theatre censorship, and the Obscene Publications Act (1959)  ‘All this should not be seen as a straightforward displacement of dominant conservative attitudes ‘-Johnathon Dollimore, this shows how people were wanting a change and not wanting to continue the idea that woman must listen to men and must cater to the male genders every need. This however was starting to be abolished due to the innovative ideas being accepted worldwide by many people and how they were trying to modernize the way woman where treated and used in the media to sell product to males.  

In SCP 4, it is an advert promoting a mascara. In the ad we see that there are both a male and a female. “Maybelline’s first-ever partnership with a man as the star of a campaign. Manny’s encouraging everyone, no matter their gender, to “lash like a boss.”  this shows how the cosmetic industry are trying to change gender stereotypes and not adhere to the usual toxic masculinity and the idea that men cannot use make up, this is seen when they come back to the hotel room and the bellboy is now using the make up this shows that people are now more accepting of the idea that men can use makeup. Also, the fact that they have a woman of color in the ad shows how time has changed and emphasizes the differences among women due to race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion and how now all these factors should not affect the was a woman is treated. This is spoken about in the third wave of feminism and how Naomi Wolf, challenged and re-contextualized some of the definitions of femininity that grew out of that earlier period. In particular, the third wave sees women’s lives as intersectional, demonstrating a pluralism towards race, ethnicity, class, religion, gender, and nationality when discussing feminism and they are more accepting of newer ideas and of the idea of fluidity when it comes to gender. Things such as “promotes the dangerous sentiment that men are supposed to adhere to hyper masculine culture.” and “he encourages people to think of makeup as genderless. he thinks boys deserve just as much cosmetic recognition as their female counterparts.” shows how people are trying to advertise the idea that gender isn’t fixed and so certain things shouldn’t be applied to one gender. 

To conclude, butlers theory and feminism can both be identified in the two SCP’s I was presented with. It is seen in the use of a female person of color and a male being used in a cosmetic ad to move forward with the idea that gender and not letting your gender define who you are.