Masculinity – It is a set of attributes, behaviours and roles that are generally associated with men and boys.
Femininity – It is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles that are generally associated with women and girls.
Binary Opposites – Two things that relate to each other that have an opposite meaning, e.g. strong vs weak or young vs old.
Stereotypes – A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. There are many stereotypes about men, women and others, some of these stereotypes are that men can’t wear dresses and must be very masculine. Another example is that women must stay at home and do house work.
The different influences on identity
Many things can affect people’s identities, here are a few examples:
Different cultures may play a role in people’s identities, for example you may have a different way from doing something compared to someone from another place because that’s how you have been brought up or taught, or you have a different way of thinking because of social standards in certain countries, for example a women’s role in a marriage.
Another way that impacts identities is social class. For example, according to stereotypes, someone with a poor background may turn out to be more rebellious, however if they were born in a much more richer environment and social class they be more authoritative. Social class affects people’s identities by giving them different ways of seeing the world, this can play an affect on who they want to be.
Gender roles or stereotypes also have a huge impact on people’s identities. Society has created gender roles which affect how people expect for example women to act or look. In some cases gender roles only state that there are only two genders and both have to look and act a certain way. In some places these expectations are very reinforced among several cultures.
New ideas about sexuality and gender helps and encourages some people to explore and discover their true identity. For some these new ideas can explain how they feel about themselves and their own preferences. It can help determine what they actually identify as instead of identifying as something they feel like they aren’t.
New technology allows people to change their identity by, for example, fully converting into the opposite sex and start taking e.g. testosterone which makes them more masculine.
Definitions and other words that associate with identity politics and culture wars
Identity Politics: A wide range of political activities and theoretical analyses rooted in experiences of injustice shared by different, often excluded social groups. This term was coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977, it later took on a widespread of usage in the early 1980s, then it had gained currency with the emergence of social activism.
The identity politics’ aim is to support and center the concerns, agendas, and projects of particular groups, in accord with specific social and political changes.
Some examples of volatile issues that are usually addressed in identity politics is abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, pornography, multiculturalism, and racism.
Social Activism: Working with other people to bring about a change in society. It aims to defend human rights wherever they are threatened or violated, and at whatever level.
It has played a huge role in ending slavery, challenging dictatorships, protecting workers from exploitation, protecting the environment, promoting equality for women, opposing racism, and many other important issues.
Some examples of this being seen is in a protest, strikes, petitioning and so on.
Social Injustice – The unequal treatment of a group of people within a society, which results in one group being at a disadvantage.
Some examples of social injustice are discrimination, income gaps, racism, food insecurity and many more.
Culture Wars: A conflict between groups, especially liberal and conservative groups, that have different cultural ideals, beliefs, or philosophies.
An example of a culture war is the controversy over gay rights and homosexual marriage.
Marginalization – It is the treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral.
Examples of marginalized populations include groups that are excluded due to race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical ability, or language.
Own view on identity politics and culture wars
I believe there are many positives and negatives with identity politics and culture wars, some of which have a huge impact of society.
One of the positives are that identity politics are an effective strategy to combat discrimination and marginalization. It helps people who are more exposed to hate and discrimination get equal rights or at least have their voices heard. These political debates challenge established views on equality and bring about an alternative demand for identity-based equity as a better approach.
These debates demand that the world becomes more equal. It threatens people in power and forces them to make a change because it destabilizes their control over people.
On the other hand, identity politics identifies and addresses the differences between people which could prevent people with, for example, different backgrounds, ethnicities, identities or experiences find commonality between the rest of society. It also primarily focuses on experience.
A negative that comes identity politics is culture wars. These wars tend to result in violence and conflict because of miscommunication or tension build up from opposing social groups who often have different ideas and beliefs.
I think identity politics helps people who suffer from discrimination and marginalization get their voices out and be able to fight for equal rights, but it can lead to consequences such as violence and criminal activity and because of different beliefs and views about certain subjects like abortion.
qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.
“she alternated between embracing her femininity and concealing it”
This can be understood as being a social construct, a characteristic interpreted differently in each culture around the world. Generally speaking, this is associated with women or girls and is used in photography as a form of self-expression of someone’s identity. However, the use of this in magazines for example can create societal expectations such as beauty standards, as these images can present an unrealistic idea of a woman which can be damaging. Traits traditionally cited as feminine include gracefulness, gentleness, empathy and sensitivity, typically very stereotypical expectations of how a woman should behave or act. The term ‘femininity’ has been adapted over decades, for example during more traditional times women were seen to be fragile and loving, to stay home and be maternal. However, this idea is stereotypical and moving forward, women are breaking this boundary that was created.
A good example of femininity photography is Cindy Sherman:
Cindy Sherman is a female photographer who portrays female stereotypes of the 1950’s and 1960’s. When creating her images, she is not only the photographer but the subject too, masquerading as different women in society. Each image creates a high level of suspense, mystery, disguise, melancholy and vulnerability. These stills encapsulate femininity during this era playing on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies. This is extremely powerful because it represents the underside of the ‘definition of a woman’, breaking a barrier from the idea that a woman or girl should act a certain way in society.
The definition of Masculinity:
qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.
“handsome, muscled, and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity”
Masculinity is also considered as a social construct, with an altering meaning in different cultures and societies. Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western cultures include strength, courage, leadership, power and assertiveness. When women’s labour participation increased instead of having to consistently be maternal, there were men who felt less comfortable in their masculinity because it was increasingly difficult for them to reconfirm their status as the breadwinner, due to the fact that they were no longer the only provider for the family. 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.
CLAUDE CAHUN:
“one of the most curious spirits of our time.”
Claude Cahun is a perfect example of someone who wanted to push the boundaries of gender roles in a stereotypical society.
Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor and writer. her most well known work is her surrealist self-portraits in which she represented a multitude of different personas. Moving to Jersey in 1937 with her stepsister and lover, Marcel Moore, she resisted the occupation taking place on our island. During their lives together in Jersey, the women decided to mount an underground resistance campaign following the Nazi’s occupation of the Island in June 1940. The two campaigned against them, provoking them in a risky manner for four years until 1944 when the Gestapo investigated them. Narrowly avoiding a death sentence, the two were freed from prison on the 9th of May 1945 following Jersey’s Liberation. Remaining on the island until 1953, Cahun suffered from ill health which unfortunately resulted her passing in hospital on the 8th of December. After this, Moore continued to live on in Jersey for many more years until sadly ending her own life.
Her life was a representation of resistance, defying the conventional ideas of beauty and femininity with her shaved head and male attire, challenging them. This was almost revolutionary in the 1930’s, being in a same-sex relationship and exploring her identity in a difficult time period of traditional values. Whilst Claude Cahun was alive, she produced many pieces of work which The Jersey Heritage Trust collection represents. Her work challenged the politics of gender and identity, alongside the work of many male Surrealists who depicted women as objects of male desire. She used domestic settings such as a cupboard at home and introduced something interesting and new to this environment, exploring gender fluidity.
For example, in this double exposure image, Cahun is seen with a shaved head in men’s clothing in a monotone way. Her explanation was “Under this mask, another mask; I will never finish removing all these faces.”1 (Claude Cahun, Disavowals, London 2007, p.183)
Claude Cahun’s work is important in society today because it breaks down the idea that females must be feminine or males should be masculine, being a vision of gender fluidity and breaking down the gender roles that were traditionally assigned. This pioneered gender photography.
CLAUDE CAHUNS WORK:
I especially like this image because holding the mask in her hand represents taking the mask off and being yourself, acting the way you feel most comfortable in. This screams out her views on life and represents what she believes in which I find really powerful.
The themes of ‘Femininity’ and ‘Masculinity’ are a binary opposite – a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Using binary opposites can be helpful when gathering ideas for a photographic project as it provides a set of boundaries to work in when creating photographs.
The term ‘binary opposition’ originated in Saussurean structuralist theory in Linguistics (scientific study of language).
Examples of other Binary Opposites:
Good and Evil, On and Off, Up and Down, Strong and Weak, Black and White, Hot and Cold
Themes surrounding Identity:
gender identity, cultural identity, social identity, geographical identity, political identity, lack of/loss of identity, stereotypes, prejudices, etc.
Definitions
Femininity: a set of qualities, attributes, behaviours and roles generally associated with women and girls.
Masculinity: a set of qualities, attributes, behaviours and roles generally associated with men and boys.
Cindy ShermanClaude Cahun
Cindy ShermanClaude Cahun
Masculinity and femininity can be understood as a social construct, and there is also some evidence that behaviours considered as either feminine or masculine are influenced by societal expectations and cultural factors, rather than being biologically driven. This means that a person’s upbringing and environment can influence their identity and way of expressing themselves.
Some photographers, such as Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman, challenge and play with the stereotypes and expectations of femininity and masculinity and examine the construction of identity.
Claude Cahun
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer who was born on 25th October 1894 in Nantes, France and died on 8th December 1954 in Saint Helier, Jersey. Cahun referred to herself as ‘elle’ (she) in her writing, but also said that her actual gender was fluid. She began taking self-portraits as early as 1912 (aged 18), around 1914 she changed her name to Claude Cahun, and continued taking photos of herself throughout the 1930s. In Cahun’s work, she incorporated the visual aesthetics of Surrealism, which in photography, represents unconscious ideas, dreams, and emotions.
Photomontage is where you create this new piece of work by (if you are doing it by hand) cutting and sticking different images onto a photo or (if you are doing it digitally) editing different photos on top of anotherto make a whole new image.
some famous photographers who have used photomontage before would be Hannah Höch who was said to be one of the origninal creators of this style, man ray who is well known for his hand photo with eyes in the center and raoul hausmann who was well known for using writen work underneath his images.
Photomonatge is often used to show and express peoples minds and how they think without words and it doesnt always have to make sense or be logical.It was most used and popular during the 1970’s and 80’s during the postmodernist era.
Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls. “she alternated between embracing her femininity and concealing it”.
Masculinity-
maskjʊˈlɪnɪti/ noun
Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.”handsome, muscled, and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity”.
Binary Opposition
Examples of binary opposites could be –
Good and bad
Positive and negative
Up and down
Black and white
FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY are seen as ‘Binary Opposites, this is because of the theory that “Man” and “woman” have been opposed as binary oppositional terms since patriarchal society was formed.
Patriarchy relates to denoting a system of society or government controlled by men. Women make up less than a quarter of all professional photographers, this emphasises the true message of femininity and masculinity in photography especially.
Identity can be influenced by multiple factors such as:
Family
Self- expression
Life experiences
Interests
Culture
Ethnicity
Opportunities
However, identity can be PARTICULARLY influenced by the factor of ‘place’. This ties into a feeling that you belong to a particular place. This represents a place in which a person would feel comfortable and ‘at home’, an example of this could be literally at home, this is because a person is seen as having the ability of symbolizing certain qualities of that place.
Gender Identity
Gender identity is known as ‘deeply-held inner feelings’ of whether you’re female or male, both, or neither.
A few different gender identities may consist of…
Male
Female
Transgender
Gender neutral
Non-binary
Cultural Identity
Cultural identities are the different and more distinct identities of people or groups in cultural or subcultural categories and social groups.
A few different cultural identities may consist of…
Sexuality
Gender
Religion
Ethnicity
Social class
Region.
Social Identity
Social identity aims to specify and predict the circumstances under which individuals think of themselves as individuals or as group members. The theory also considers consequences of personal and social identities for individuals.
A few different social identities may consist of…
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Sex Socioeconomic status
Sexual orientation
Age
Religion/religious beliefs
National origin
Geographical Identity
An individual or group’s sense of attachment to the country, region, city, or village in which they live.
The key characteristics with which a particular country, region, city, or village is associated.
Political Identity
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 multiple political parties.
A few different political identities may consist of…
Nationalism
Inter-ethnic relations
Abstract ideological themes
Loss of Identity
A person without a sense of identity can instead feel a disconnect from who they have been or have no sense as to who they will become next.
A few different examples of a loss of identity may consist of…
Having uncertainty about self image
Gender identity
Values
Long-term goals
Stereotypes
Characteristics that society instinctively attributes to groups of people to classify them.
A few different examples of stereotypes may consist of…
Age
Weight
Occupation
Skin colour
Gender
Prejudices
An unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc.
Masculinity and Femininity are binary opposites as they are similar terms with opposite meanings.
Masculinity definition: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics in men or boys
Femininity definition: qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics in women or girls
Qualities and attributes that define masculinity and femininity are created in the society we live in and may be seen as stereotypes. Different cultures and societies may define these characteristics differently.
Upbringing can also affect peoples ideas on masculine and feminine attributes as they could have been brought up with the idea that certain behaviours are more masculine or feminine than they really are.
Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, later known as Claude Cahun, was a French born surrealist photographer. Claude Cahun was an artistic name specifically chosen for its genderless associations. Reading the name would not instantly be identified as feminine or masculine. She is best known for her self-portraits. She moved to jersey in 1939 to avoid German captivity as a Jew since at the time it was not yet occupied and she’d assumed it would be safe since she’d come to the island previously on holidays when she was younger. She was sentenced to death in 1944 (after she moved to jersey) during the occupation where the Nazis destroyed much of her work. Fortunately the island was liberated the following year. She survived until her natural death in 1954 suspected to be influenced from her time in German captivity.
In life she did not conform to gender stereotypes, shaving her head and wearing male attire and as early as her teenage age years challenged conventional ideals of beauty. She also never exhibited her photographs and saw herself as a writer which rises question as to the purpose of her photographs.
Claude Cahun stripped back her appearance to a genderless face. She shaved her head removing a stereotypical feminine trait. She wore men’s clothes changing a feminine silhouette to an unidentifiable one. She changed her name to a unisex one to leave behind biases. All of these things are associated with a woman and by removing them she was questioning what truly makes a woman and if without dresses, makeup and long hair would people still see her as one.
This image is of two self-portraits layered together. She has a shaved head, no eyebrows and no makeup for an androgynous appearance. This is a common visual across her work linking to bigger themes she liked to tackle such as gender identity. Without long hair she’s not necessarily quickly seen as a woman which builds the question: What makes a woman?
She is positioned in front of a black background so that all focus is focused onto the faces. Her face is lit with bright lights to fully illuminate the whole thing. The shadows cast by her nose shows the light is coming from that direction which is consistent with the second face to create a full image as opposed to two separate portraits stitched together. I would say that he skin looks extremely pale because the images are slightly overexposed which makes her look ill or ghastly which paired with the two faces creates a surreal or supernatural appearing image.
She utilises tone to achieve a unique appearance to her images. The eye is drawn to the brightest things which in this case is her and is a stark difference to the background. There is no mid-tones present in the image which almost makes her look supernatural or like an apparition.
In my opinion, Cahun’s photographs were a way to explore her identity and what made her the way she is while still exploring and experimenting through the art from. She could portray herself however she wanted with the use of personas and ‘masks’. “Behind this mask another mask, there can be no end to these disguises,” is a quote from the writer herself which I believe supports this idea.
This photograph in particular caught my attention because it stitches two different images together. It is in black and white as it was created before digital and has lower resolution then modern images. She would have had to combine the two during production when she was developing. Claude Cahun is centred with two faces. One with darkened eyes whispering into the others ear. This use of lighting successfully creates a sinister appearance which helps to create a story of intrusive thoughts or the devil on her shoulder whispering into her ear. The turned face is used to act like a physical manifestation of her dark thoughts either internally or a representation of exterior influence although by using her own face it seems more like an internal struggle. The act of whispering has connotations of temptation and an act of evil. The use of a dark, smoky background again helps to the darken the image and create a sinister undertone.
I believe the message of this image is that Claude Cahun is her own demon of sorts. She is the one whispering into her own ear and tempting herself, she isn’t blaming anyone/thing else. In terms of identity this shows the two sides of a coin; the front side and the darker side. She cold be maybe repressing a major side of herself or it could be showing how she is two-faced.
The only differences between the faces is the angle, expression, and amount of light reaching her eyes. This could show a number of things:
That she struggles to differentiate the two faces/ halves of herself as they are so similar.
The two sides are more similar that she would necessarily like to admit or it would seem at a first glance.
The two faces are equal parts of what makes her up.
Only half the second face symbolises she doesn’t fully understand it/she doesn’t see it it for what it is and blames herself. Its purpose is foreign/misunderstood.
I’m aiming to take at least 2-3 photoshoots exploring the themes of identity, masculinity and femininity, I’d also like to incorporate my ideas and inspiration from the photographers I have researched, Claude Cahun and Tsoku Maela, such as some of their dramatic but elegant poses but I would like to add my own style into them so that I’m not just directly copying the artists.
The theme I really want to focus on is identity, however I would also like to explore both femininity and masculinity. I’d like to do this by using poses, makeup and other items to try and challenge stereotypes and gender role. I would also like to include my own views and opinions of society and identity within my work to make it more personal and something I can relate to even more.
I might include a younger model such as my brother to represent modern society and this generation, I want to do this to convey a message that shows how more accepting this generation is when it comes to identity and stereotypes, however there is still some kind of discrimination among society against the ideas of identity. I also want to show how confusing and complicated identity can be for younger people as they start questioning who and what they actually are.
Femininity: The social expectations of being a women. It refers to the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristics of women or girls in a given society.
Masculinity: The social expectations of being a man. It refers to the roles, behaviours and attributes that are considered appropriate for boys and men in a given society.
Summary
Femininity and masculinity are a binary opposite, which means they are relative terms, which mean the opposite. Another example of binary opposites are good vs evil. Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist theory in Linquistics (scientific study of language). According to Ferdinand de Saussure, binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Using binary opposites can often be very helpful in generating ideas for a photographic project as it provides a framework, which provides a set of boundaries to work within.
Identity Politics
Identity politics is a term used to describe people of a particular race, religion, gender, social background, class or another identifying factor and how they are more or less venerable to oppression. Some social groups are more likely to be oppressed, such as women, ethnic minorities or sexual minorities, because they are seen to have less power or privilege. However, some people are less likely to be oppressed and are more favoured are mainly whites, or men, because they are seen to have more power or privilege.
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, eg. Black Lives Matter movement.
Culture Wars
Culture wars are cultural conflicts between social groups and the struggle for dominance of their values, beliefs, and practices. It commonly refers to topics on which there is general societal disagreement and polarization in societal values is seen.
The term is commonly used to describe contemporary politics in western democracies with issues such as abortion, homosexuality, transgender rights, pornography, multiculturalism, racial viewpoints and other cultural conflicts based on values, morality, and lifestyle being described as the major political cleavage.
In the photograph above it is Grayson Perry, who goes on a Big American Road Trip, where he travels across the US, exploring its biggest fault lines, from race to class and identity, making art as he goes along. He travels to the Midwest to find folks bitterly divided over identity politics and hot issues like abortion and vaccination.
Gender Identity
Gender identity is how a person describes there gender. This is your deeply-held inner feelings as to whether you are a female, male, both or neither.
Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is a part of a person’s identity, or their self-conception and self-perception, and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture.
Social Identity
Social identity refers to people’s self-categorizations in relation to their group memberships (the ‘we’). These categorizations are often assigned to us or something we are born into.
Geographical Identity
An individual or group’s sense of attachment to the country, region, city, or village in which they live. It is also the key characteristics with which a particular country, region, city, or village is associated.
Political Identity
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.
Lack of/ Loss of identity
The loss of identity can refer to a range of experiences in which an individual feels disconnected from their sense of self, purpose, or values. This can occur due to various factors such as major life changes, trauma, mental health issues, or societal pressures. This can also cause mental health issues for some individuals.
Stereotypes
A stereotype is a widely held, but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. There are many different gender stereotypes that influence femininity and masculinity. Examples:
• Women should be housewives and mothers
• Men should be tough and strong
• Women are too emotional
• Men should souly provide for the women
Prejudice
Prejudice is a favouring or dislike of something without good reason. It is having unfriendly feelings directed against an individual, a group, or a race.
