OUGD401 Study Task 03 - Summarising & Referencing

OUGD401 Study Task 03 - Summarising & Referencing 

While discussing our topic and themes, we had to create a mind map for our chosen topic and share our ideas. We had to consider these points below and document our knowledge and areas of interest.
- Context
- Historical
- Visual
- Aesthetic
- Technical
- Style
- Technological
- Language/Communication
- Concepts
- Ideology/Politics
- Identity
- Values/Ethics


Book Research:

• Heller, S. (2000) Sex Appeal, New York, Allworth Press
• Macdonald, M. (1995) Representing Women, New York, Oxford University Press
• Centre for Contemporary Arts. (1997) The Women on Art Book, Glasgow, CCA
• Assirer, A & Carol, A. (1993) Bad Girls and Dirty Pictures, London, Pluto Press
• Gough-Yates, A. (2003) Understanding Women's Magazine, Oxon, Routledge
• Suthrell, C. (2004) Unzipping Gender, Oxford, Berg 

This was really useful to me as after creating the mind map and comparing ideas, I found three topics that interest me the most which I then compared, and feel that I will take the third and final topic forward of transgender. These being:

1. The gender stereotypes of childrens toys

- when it comes to the world of children – the toys they play with and the clothes they wear – stereotypes have never been so defined, or rigidly enforced. Pink and blue have triumphed in the toy market, and there are often serious social penalties for children who breach the divide. The rise of highly gendered toys is a result of capitalism, but it also suggests a deep, subconscious unease with the advances of the past few decades. The justification for this kind of gender segregation is usually that it's natural and traditional – that it's always existed.
2. Representation of women as sex objects

- Women are presented as sexual objects to be enjoyed by men. The 'male gaze' presents women through the lens of male objectification. One way of creating the male gaze through advertisement is to reduce the female body to pieces. This targets the gaze to a specific (and genrally sexualy stimulating) part of the body. This creates the false consciousness of the 'beauty ideal' and that you need to be alluring and attracting to be accepted in society.

3. The role of the transgender society in todays media

- The transgender and LGBT community have highly negative and inaccurate depiction and are battling over negative media and overcoming stereotypes. Although the media has helped with the acceptance of the LGBT community, the transgender is the only one of four to lose representation in the media. Many people have a profound lack of understanding of what it means to be transgender. Consequently, transgender people commonly face a wide variety of discriminatory barriers to full equality.


Hypothesis:

To what extent does advertising construct our ideas of transgender? A great deal of progress needs to be made for fair and accurate depictions of the transgender community. Advertising encourages our sustaining stereotypes of transgender, along with the media with its negative highly negative and inaccurate depictions of the transgender and LGBT community.  Although the media has helped with the acceptance of the LGBT community, the transgender is the only one of four to lose representation in the media. Many people have a profound lack of understanding of what it means to be transgender. Consequently, transgender people commonly face a wide variety of discriminatory barriers to full equality.



Chapter 27 Summary - Transgender, Transmedia & Transnationality

Carter, C, Steiner, L & McLaughlin L. (2013) The Routledge Companion to Media & Gender, New York, Routledge

This chapter focuses on the celebrity Chaz Bono, who is a transgender man and his narrative of being transgender. He is openly transgender and has appeared on shows such a 'Dancing with the Stars' and the 'David Letterman Show' discussing his choice and how he felt he was 'trapped inside the wrong body.'  The New Times however, called him a 'reluctant transgender role model.' Bono utilised his importance on being on such mainstream shows as he felt 'so little is known about transgender, there is so many completely inaccurate stereotypes and thoughts that people have.' Although there were right-winged backlash against the show after Bono's appearance, this media coverage did give Bono unprecedented publicity for transgender visibility.