From Carrie
I decided to title my photo 'Lost Innocence' because my photo shows how a young girls innocence is lost through Gender Socialization. This is shown through Gender Schema, Gender Identity, and Gender Stereotyping which we learned about in our text book. In my photo I've tried to incorporate all of these either through symbolism or through literal objects or pictures. My photo consists of a doll representing a stereotypical 'girl' toy. She is playing the role of a woman fixing her shoe in front of a mirror. Reflected in the background is a photo of a television, which represents the influence of media on children. The media also relates to gender socialization because it is a way children learn their gender. I decided to dress her in white to represent the innocence of her childhood that she longs to go back to. In her pose she looks down, in part because of fixing her shoe and also to show sadness and insecurity about herself. Our textbook also mentions that girls tend to have a lower self-esteem than boys. That is what helped me decide to have the camera angle looking down on her. The downward angle symbolizes the pressure girls receive from their environment to look good. This pressure, in turn, causes girls to think less of themselves. She is wearing a dress, which I decided to have her wear to show that she identifies as a girl. Her dress is short and has a low neckline. Girls learn from their environment, the media, and friends that in order to 'get guys' you have to dress 'sexy'. I chose to contrast the white and pink mirror and black background to symbolize how the media can negatively influence a child's future. Overall, this photo shows how the media impacts a girls entire life and how she feels about herself. All of these factors contribute to Gender Socialization and how children learn their gender.
3 comments:
The dim lighting of the photo and the subject’s head angle gives a real sense of insecurity and sadness. The subject seems to be doing all the correct things based on cues, yet she seems so melancholy and unsure. The camera’s downward angle is really a good touch because the audience is physically looking down on her, making her look completely inferior. The photo’s simplicity, I think, says a lot. The pink and white could easily represent femininity and purity, respectively, and only those traits. By using only those colors show that society’s expectation of girls is to simply be innocent and a lady and nothing more. This is a point in her life where she is turning the corner from girlhood and innocence to womanhood and sexiness. It’s definitely a struggle for women to try to keep innocent, while also being sexy, when society calls for women to be both.
I think this picture is really good because it shows how young girls lose who they are when they are trying to fulfill the gender socialization that the media has created. The doll definitely has a strong meaning in the picture, i think it shows the whole plastic aspect of the media and what they portray as being perfect. The media portrays beauty and perfection as plastic, and as by losing your innocence.
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