The concept of identity politics and culture wars in photography is an important aspect to look at. This is because it studies your administrative identity combined with your physical characteristics, such as your date and place of birth. A photographic identity allows you to reveal yourself, to stand out among the crowd of photographers, to ensure your individuality and your irreplaceable artistic fingerprint. I believe this is extremely beneficial for modern day photography as it allows each and every person to decide how far they want to take either the masculine or feminine approach in their photographs. Identity politics also aims to eliminate negative misrepresentations (stereotypes) of particular groups that have served to justify their members’ exclusion or assimilation to the point of erasure. A great example of this is identity politics in the United States, which developed in the 1980s and ’90s as a reaction to the perceived failure of liberal civil rights legislation to eliminate identity-based inequities, such as racial and sexual discrimination. In the view of many critics, liberal ideals of equality, such as equal rights were misguided because their transcendent nature made it difficult in practice to justify policies designed to achieve greater social equity exploited groups, particularly African Americans. Indeed, during this period conservative activists and government officials frequently invoked the liberal value of “colour blindness” to resist racial affirmative action programs in education, employment, government contracting, and other areas.
Identity politics
Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity. Some examples of this are
- Race
- Nationality
- Sexual orientation
- Religion
- Gender
- Social background
- Social class
Culture wars
In political science, a culture war is a type of cultural conflict between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (beliefs, virtues, practices) upon their society. An example of a culture war is the gamergate controversy.
Impact on society
These stereotypes and identities had a very large impact on society because over recent years society has adapted to these changes, and they have become known and believed worldwide.