Femininity

~Characteristics or qualities of women or girls

Masculinity

~characteristics or qualities of men or boys

How identity can be influenced by places or belonging

A persons identity can be influenced by where they live and if that particular area has a positive or negative image. The positive or negative image of the place that someone lives in can have an affect on the peoples identity around them aswell.

Gender Identity

Children from a young age who are told whether its appropriate or inappropriate for them to participate in activities because they are a girl or a boy tend to keep these teachings in their adult life which can influence their view on gender identity.

Cultural Identity

The physical environment can affect someone’s cultural identity because they might feel a sense of belonging and community ties to there environment.

Social Identity

Social Identity is affected by many internal and external factors such as family, ethnicity, race and culture.

Geographical identity

The connection to a place or an environment or a physical space is essential to our identity and can play a crucial part in shaping our identity and self perception.

Political Identity

Factors such as family, education, media and peers influence political lenses that frames ones perception of political values, ideas and attitudes.

Loss of Identity

Peoples backgrounds and the way they were brought up can affect the attitudes and beliefs people have on themselves and how they make decisions.

Identity

Identity is ‘the fact of being who or what a person is’, it is a combination of your physical and behavioural traits that define who you are. For example, your name is part of your identity, as is the form and colour of your eyes and your fingerprint. This set of characteristics allows you to be definitively and uniquely recognisable. For example here are five words that ‘define’ identity:

• personality.
• character.
• selfhood.
• individuality.
• individualism.

Identity politics

Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity, such as race, nationality, religion, gender, sexual orientation, social background, caste, and social class. The term was coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977. It took on widespread usage in the early 1980s, and in the ensuing decades has been employed in myriad cases with radically different connotations dependent upon the term’s context. It has gained currency with the emergence of social activism, manifesting in various dialogues within the feminist, American civil rights, and LGBT movements, disabled groups, as well as multiple nationalist and postcolonial organizations, for example: Black Lives Matter movement. Harnessing your identity with someone else and banding together can be a very positive thing, you may come to learn more about yourself but also see how you relate to other peoples identity’s, this can help you know that you are not alone. On the other hand joining identity’s may end out bad, as you might feel like your not the same as everyone else and you may try change yourself, loosing your true identity.

What is the argument against identity politics?

The nationalist argument against identity politics is, therefore, that, regardless of one’s individual ancestry, cultural background, religion, statehood, race, creed, etc.

Culture Wars

‘cultural conflicts’, 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.

What was the culture wars in 1980?

The culture wars had flared up during the 1980s, enjoined by a rising movement of conservatives who charged that American society had lost its way. The root of the problem, in their view, was a decline of cultural and moral values, rather than economic or other political issues.

Dangers of tribalism dividing communities

These negative aspects of tribalism are often fueled by competition and the perception of a common threat. They promote fear, anxiety, and prejudice, all of which make us more susceptible to fake news, propaganda, and conflict. Tribalism can take many forms in our modern society. Main problems include:

• Poverty and exploitation.
• Economic and technological backwardness.
• Socio-cultural handicaps.
• Problems of assimilation with the non-tribal population.
• Illiteracy among tribals is a major hindrance to their development.

What is masculinity?

“Handsome, muscled and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity.”

Masculinity is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviours considered masculine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. Masculinity is constructed and defined socially, historically and politically, rather than being biologically driven. Boys and young men who embrace positive masculinity are more likely to have positive outcomes in their lives, such as better mental health, stronger relationships, and greater success in their careers. However, toxic masculinity refers to the notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates domination, homophobia, and aggression. Toxic masculinity involves cultural pressures for men to behave in a certain way. And it’s likely this affects all boys and men at some point in their lives.

Men are often stereotyped as the following:

• Powerful
• Strong
• Dominant
• Independent
• Violent
• Courageous
• Assertive
• Leaders

The concept of masculinity alters through history. For example, in religion or even Greek myths, stories are told of men being powerful gods and heroes, battling to protect their wives, setting the stereotype and expectations for men to be strong and fierce. This led to the idea that men or boys must act a certain way too, for example they were expected to be unemotional or to not cry otherwise this made them weak. However, through time, this idea is slowly being broken down similar to femininity, as while society grows people find more ways to express themselves and try to not fit into set categories of behaviour.

In American usage, “culture war” may imply a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. This usage originated in the 1920s when urban and rural American values came into closer conflict.

What is the argument against identity politics?

Many socialists have deeply criticized identity politics for its divisive nature, claiming that it forms identities that can undermine proletariat unity and the class struggle as a whole.

Eight major social identities are:

ability, age, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status.

Political identity is a form of social identity marking membership of certain groups that share a common struggle for a certain form of power. This can include identification with a political party, but also positions on specific political issues, nationalism, inter-ethnic relations or more abstract ideological themes.

Positive aspect

Specifically, social identify can enrich and make people stronger and healthier because it provides them with self-esteem, a sense of belonging, existential sense and a feeling of control.

What are the examples of political identities?

This can include identification with a political party, but also positions on specific political issues, nationalism, inter-ethnic relations or more abstract ideological themes. Political identities develop in individuals and evolve over time.

How does your identity impact your perspective?

Key facets of identity (like gender, social class, age, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, religion, age and disability) play significant roles in determining how we understand and experience the world, as well as shaping the types of opportunities and challenges we face.

Tribalism
A tribe is defined as a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognised leader. When we hear the word tribe, we may think of Native Americans, but in modern usage the term can also refer to people who share common ideas and allegiances. Tribalism is defined as behaviour and attitudes that stem from strong loyalty to one’s own tribe or social group. Tribalism has societal and individual benefits as well as costs.

In terms of benefits, tribalism gives us a sense of
belonging and trust.

We needed communities we could completely rely on in order to survive. Group affiliation can bring cohesion to communities and inspire individuals to act on behalf of others. Psychologically, humans find comfort and security from feeling that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

Tribalism can have very negative consequences when it is used to exclude individuals or groups or to take away their rights, status, and independence. These negative aspects of tribalism are often fuelled by competition and the perception of a common threat. They promote fear, anxiety, and prejudice, all of which make us more aware of fake news, propaganda, and conflict.

What are the dangers of tribalism?

These negative aspects of tribalism are often fueled by competition and the perception of a common threat. They promote fear, anxiety, and prejudice, all of which make us more susceptible to fake news, propaganda, and conflict. Tribalism can take many forms in our modern society. Social pressure created cultural norms and collective tribal life might cause tribe members to fulfill their cultural obligations through corrupt actions such as favoritism and nepotism.

Cindy Sherman has probed the construction of identity, she plays with the norms of gender, art and photography. She came to light in the 1970s and continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images.

Her images seem to focus a lot on femininity and sexuality enhancing certain aspects of female identity.

Her work has inspired mine quite a lot, and id like to use aspects of here work in mine to show femininity.

She only photographed herself and dressed up for shoots to almost imply a masking. Through that showed empowerment and self. Which is a very strong message to show during the time, where holly-Wood was massive and everyone was watching these actors while Sherman was portraying different people in her own way.

Artist analysation –

This photo is a very famous one of Cindy’s, it represents femininity in a very different way to how it would be seen in that era. She focus’ on normalising independent and strong women through the use of photographing herself and the way she presents herself in each photo. The short hair is a main focus as woman at the time would only be ‘socially acceptable’ with long hair because that was the norm – this shows the theme of social desirability bias.

This photo shows a different side to Cindy’s work then the other photos as the use of morphing different photos together show how people may not seem comfortable showing who they are because of the social desirability bias that surrounds normality in the modern day world.

What is masculinity?

Masculinity involves attitudes and behaviours that signify and validate maleness.

4 types of masculinity:

Hegemonic – Men power over woman

Complicit – Not physically strong but shows traits of hegemonic masculinity

Marginalized – Racial identity other than white, or poor men.

Subordinate masculinities – Men who do not fit in with the hegemonic masculinity and therefore are treated as lower on the gender hierarchy

Different stereotypes of masculinity :

Self sufficiency – Men should figure out things by themselves without help of others

Acting Tough – Men should always defend their reputation and be willing to use physical aggression to do so

Physical Attractiveness – A man should be physically attractive but do it effortlessly

Men are stereotypically seen as big and strong, they are seen to protect their family and to make money to support their family. However not all men are like this, these days men can be perceived in lots of different ways.

Cindy Sherman is a prominent photographer when it comes to looking at gender and identity. She is based in New York, however grew up in New Jersey, Her work since the early 60’s has been relevant and as time has progressed her work has too, using the modern day improvements to develop her themes and work. Her frame started when she had worked on a project in the 70’s with other prominent photographers, however she studied art at collage until 1972 when her attention firmly turned to just photography. Throughout her career artistic aspects have peaked through with her designing sets, props and costumes to create a snapshot of seemly un created time when in fact everything was designed to look that way. Cindy has been the model in most of her photos, following and unusual style of dressing up for self portraits disguising herself, can they still be considered self portraits? This is where Sherman’s photography has become prolific in the modern world as she discusses themes based on characters she creates and story lines she makes in her work. As her work expanded her work grew to more grotesque themes, starting with one of her projects in 1992 ‘Sex pictures’ which included the photographer using prosthetics and mannequins to almost recreate men’s erotica at the time. As times progressed into the early 2000’s Sherman started to use digital adjustments along with her array of characters she has created within herself by using costume and makeup. Sherman has progressed with times and kept up with new technology developing her own individual style to keep up with times, keeping her work ever developing and relevant for reasons other than the idea of identity behind them.

Image Analysis

Untitled film still 1979

I chose to analyse this photo in particular because it has given me an idea for a photoshoot I want to do while being a great representation Sherman’s style. It spoke to me as a photo for many reasons, technically it’s an interestingly but well composed photo however looking at the emotional response to it it’s a great photo. By being composed interestingly it makes the viewer think it was a snapshot someone else took of someone, probably close to them, working in the garden. The rule of thirds isn’t placed in the most common way instead the subject is in the the last third and there is a pallet board in the corner of the first third in the foreground. In the middle third there is nothing in the foreground instead there is a pile of bricks in the background. The branches in the top section of the photo are in the foreground and out of focus but the soft black and white stops them being too distracting away rom the model. Sherman is dressed in a white oversized shirt, hat, sunglasses and sandals. The bright white of the shirt contrasts the dark greys and light blacks in the rest of the tonal photo, which draws immediate attention to Sherman as the subject of the photo. The shot was taken by placing the subject, Sherman, as the only thing in the middle ground and the rest in the background or foreground, by also having the fence go diagonally doesn’t distract from Sherman and in fact leads the viewer towards her. On the more emotional side to the image, I think it is a great example of what a man expects a women to be like and what we look like in their perception, as what I saw when I actually looked at the photo was a women working in the garden in impractical clothing as white is not a great colour for working in a muddy garden, also it appears Sherman does not have any trousers on, she probably has shorts on as the lighting gives the impression that it is summer. The photo also appears that it was an unplanned photo taken by someone close to her like a husband or family member. Having looked into Sherman and some of the context behind her work it makes sense for the photo to appear to be taken by someone close to her as she her work is heavily influenced by how she grew up and heavily effected by her brothers suicide. “I will survive” “They are women who have gone through a lot and come out the other side,” she says. Sherman herself says that the photos are important to her and are made to look like the subject (herself) has been through a lot and survived. She feels she that she has never lost herself in her work but instead when she sometimes doesn’t recognise herself that she is amazed by what she sees.

Previously known as Lucy Schwob, Claude was a freedom fighter she defied the conventional ideals of beauty and femininity with her Masculine clothes and shaved head.

Her work blurs the gender and behaviours which serves to undermine the stereotypical ideas of gender bias. She lived through the Jersey occupation of WW2 and her work was very influential through those times.

Her work was meant to unsettle the audience’s understanding of photography as a documentation of reality. Her public image has become a commentary which challenges the publics notions of gender and beauty.

Artist analysation –

In this image, there is a clear representation of Claude’s feelings and thoughts for aesthetics. You can see that the models in this photo have quite masculine features showing that they were men but the makeup that is on their face proves Claude’s style of undermining the gender and identity stereotype at the time. The use of feminine men in her work showed how little she cared about the gender bias in the first place.

This photo clearly shows that the models have masks on which clearly states the theme of identity through the idea of covering up how you look. This also shows the theme and style of social identity bias, showing how you may not fit in to society’s norms and needing to change yourself to feel normal and comfortable to b e around others.

I spent time on 3 different days taking photos at the Arts Centre, a house in St. Peters and multiple locations in St. Lawrence and St. Helier.

During my photoshoot with Jaime I used a tripod with camera settings approximate to this for most photos:

Most other photos I stuck to a low aperture (4-6.3), 400-800 ISO and a shutter speed of about 1/60.

Most my photos were rejected because I was not happy with the exposure, focus or pose. Because I had medium-dim indoor static lighting I had trouble figuring out how to take clear photos without blurs.

Some photos were taken with a mix of natural light which contrasted heavily with the indoor lighting and also meant I had a hard time selecting white balance.

Photos that I deemed to have potential made it into the so-so rating as there wasn’t anything inherently great about them and they could have been improved by sharper focus or lighting, or a more intentional pose. Others in the yellow category had good composition but too harsh lighting.

Finally, the 32 photos I have approved are sharp, have balanced exposure and capture the formality of environmental portraits.

Most of the photos I have selected where taken after I had experimented with the cameras settings in the same shot to understand and intentionally capture what I wanted.

Best Photos (unedited):

Final Edits:

This photo was taken in the early morning (8:30ish) to have a soft lighting coming in from the right side and is taken outside of his work van where he carries all of his equipment and resources.

Using the van door frame I framed Jaime against the dark interior of his work van for some contrast. Additionally, the saturated power tools strike quite boldly against the monochrome background.

I think the photo is quite sharp, so I increased the saturation as much as I could to accentuate different objects, bone structure and shadows.

Also, to remove any distraction from the background above and beneath the vehicle I placed a light vignette which also softens of the sides of the image as a nice break from the strong colours and lines in the focal point.

“handsome, muscled, and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity”

Femininity : femininity is defined as qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics of women or girls.

Masculinity : masculinity is defined as qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics of men or boys.

Masculinity theme

Masculinity = social expectations of being a man: The term ‘masculinity’ refers to the roles, behaviours and attributes that are considered appropriate for boys and men in a given society. Masculinity is constructed and defined socially, historically and politically, rather than being biologically driven.

Male stereotypes –

• Powerful
• Strong
• Tough
• Independent
• Assertive
• Leaders
• Courageous
• Dominant

Men are generally expected to be strong, aggressive, and bold. Every society, ethnic group, and culture has gender role expectations, but they can be very different from group to group. They can also change in the same society over time.

Men are seen to be strong minded, not emotional, to look after the house or people around them, powerful, dominant or in control, very independent tough and aggressive when provoked or questioned. This could could bring a lot of pressure on men to not do the wrong thing and not make any mistakes.

There is also a thing called binary opposite’s.

As you can see, men and women are a binary opposite and have many opposite characteristics which makes it harder for people to accept them.

MASCULINITY HISTORY

In the 1950s, males purpose was to make the money and living for the family but still able to go to the work environment meanwhile the female looked after the children. The male was to make a family and be powerful and strong minded enough to do both. This could’ve created a lot of pressure on men as they also have the stereotype to not express emotions.

What is the difference between masculine and feminine posing?

A closed or clenched hand tends to be more masculine while a relaxed or lightly curved hand has a feminine inference. Unlike feminine poses, masculine poses avoid softening the pose with rounded shoulders or exaggerated shoulders, hips, and legs.

What makes a pose masculine?

Stereotypical male model poses all involve making the man look fierce. Anything that can be done to convey power and dominance should be included in the pose. While females are always looking for ways to emphasize curves, men are looking for hard angles and straight lines.

What makes a pose feminine?

Create Curves-They’re what make most women feel feminine. Highlighting a female model’s curves also has the added benefit of making the waist look more defined. In standing poses this can be achieved by having the model put her weight on her back foot. Add in a knee bend away from the camera .