I created a mood boards representing stereotypical view of femininity and masculinity, I searched for these specific images to create a general view of how i could start looking into femininity or masculinity. i could use the theme of these mood boards as a starting point in exploring this identity topic.

as i searched for the most common images on google, many of them included very soft colours, as well as the images, they were very ferry-tale-like, and had a dreamy effect to them. many also included movement and free-like spirit, where women would be doing something rather than posing. i found there are much more variety in images of women rather than men. this could be because women were taken as muses for centuries and carried the “beauty” in the definition of women. hence to why the photographs appear gentle and beautiful, they are of many colours and show the definition of femininity. there are many hints in some photographs that make the photograph more “feminine” like many including flowers, which is also a symbol of beauty, or dresses, which were taken as the most feminine clothing for centuries. what i noticed after the mood board was made that nature is very important when producing a feminine base photograph, this is because nature was taken as a sign of beauty for centuries and people have showed this even in historic paintings and art.

once i had 2 different mood boards to compare, i have noticed a drastic change. the theme was contrasting with the previous one, and almost every idea in the previous one was reversed and opposed. The main thing displayed in all the images , images that are taken as masculine, was strength and toughness in men. where women were more associated with nature, men are more associated with innovations, and man-made objects. this relates to the idea of men being stronger then women. this is the main value taken from masculinity, toughness, and is displayed clearly in the above images, where most men in the photographs have a bigger built and are also doing what are seen as more man dominated jobs, like war, mechanic or a kind of sport, these fields are man based because a greater strength is required. regarding how the photographs have been structured, there are the opposite of feminine photographs. they are much darker, and have less colour variety, i tried to include a bigger range of different photographs representing masculinity, however most of the pictures i came across were in black and white and of close ups of a muscled bodies of men. this related to the idea of strength once again, however it is shown in a less creative way, than feminine images.