GENDER, IDENTITY & REPRESENTATION

What is Gender?

​Gender is a social and cultural concept that includes the roles, behaviors, and identities associated with being male, female, or non-binary. Unlike biological sex, gender can be influenced by personal identity and societal and cultural norms.

Sex- Sex refers to the biological characteristics—such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive anatomy—that distinguish male, female, and intersex individuals. It is assigned at birth based on physical traits but is separate from gender, which is a social and cultural concept.

(I actually did a piece on being a woman while I tried to advance my learning of Graphic Design in photoshop.) >>

"One is not born, but rather,
becomes a woman’
Simone De Beauvoir – The Second Sex (1949)

• Gender is time- and place-specific – Definitions of gender vary across cultures and historical periods.
• Gender roles evolve – Changes in politics, economics, science, and society shape gender expectations.
• Media and visual culture reflect gender – Representations of gender are explored and influenced by media, art, and design.

‘Gender is a construction that regularly
conceals its genesis; the tacit collective
agreement to perform, produce, and sustain
discrete and polar genders as cultural fictions is
obscured by the credibility of those productions
... the construction “compels” our belief in its
necessity and naturalness’
Judith Butler — Gender Trouble (1990)

‘visual presence tends to work against the
development of a storyline, to freeze the flow of
action in moments of erotic contemplation’
Laura Mulvey — Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema (1975)

• Depiction of gender in visual culture – How gender roles and identities are represented in media, art, and design.
• The ‘gendered body’ – Cultural ideals shape how bodies are framed, presented, and perceived.
• Male/Female gaze – How perspectives influence the portrayal of gender in media.
• Media and gender norms – Do representations challenge stereotypes or reinforce traditional roles?

Style Magazines

​Themes:

• Leisure vs. Work – Magazines exist in the realm of leisure, promoting anticipation of pleasure.
• Status & Aspiration – Sell an idealized future self (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
• Consumerism & Identity – Link gender identity to consumption through ads and content.
• Sexuality & Norms – Reinforce or redefine attitudes toward sex, often normalizing heterosexuality.

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A Review of Laura Mulvey’s Essay – Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema.

Mulvey argues that mainstream cinema is structured around a male gaze, wherein women are objectified for male pleasure. The camera often adopts a heterosexual male perspective, positioning women as spectacles rather than active participants in the narrative. She introduces two concepts: scopophilia, which refers to the pleasure derived from looking, and narcissistic identification, where male viewers identify with the male protagonist, who controls the narrative and desires the female character.


In her essay, Mulvey discusses the dynamic of women being passive and men being active. In Hollywood cinema, men drive the plot, while women primarily exist to be looked at, reinforcing traditional gender roles. Women serve two main functions in film: as erotic objects for characters within the story or as objects of desire for the audience watching the film.


Drawing on Freud and Lacan's psychoanalysis, she suggests that men view women as a castration threat (as they possess the phallus). To cope with this anxiety, cinema either idealizes the female body, turning it into an untouchable beauty, or punishes her through narratives where women suffer or are controlled.