My picture is a picture of myself. It's titled 'Out of Bounds' because the purpose was to demonstrate the effect binary gender categories with very specific standards have on people who might not fit in them or live up to those standards. As we discussed in our topic 'Backlash toward Atypical Men', men in our culture are typically raised bombarded by media images of violent hyper-masculinity and emotional invulnerability. But in the occasion that a male is either raised outside of these norms or doesn't feel comfortable mirroring them, his worth as a man, a mate, and a person in some cases (such as in the workplace) in the society is lessened. In this picture, first off, the angle is off-kilter. I used this in an attempt to convey a disturbed feeling as opposed to if the camera was perfectly centered and straight. The magazine covers on the wall are my personal depiction of what society expects of a man and tries to imply to young people what it is to be masculine - violence, objectification of women, etc. I wore a skirt for this picture because it is something I quite normally do, but am judged for due to the fact skirts are associated with girls and a skirt on a man outside of comedic effect is seen as a flaw in his masculinity. The gruesomely written 'FAG' on the wall depicts the side of the coin that men fall on should they not uphold that standard. Men in our culture are seen as gay, 'sissies' or simply not masculine if they don't adhere to how men should look and act. It's also worth mentioning how homosexuality is seen as an antithesis to masculinity in general. This is why I chose to be facing away from the writing - being gay, bisexual or even submissive is generally, from my personal experience, something subtly looked down upon by most heterosexual men, to them it implies some sort of flaw, even if these traits would be perfectly desirable to them if they belonged to a woman. My music is something rather important to me - me holding a bass might seem like the focal point of the image. I did this because I feel it represents how I feel alienated in my music scene being a man who isn't comfortable conforming to this kind of masculinity, but has to close up and put on a facade to be able to fit in with the guys.
3 comments:
I really love the description for this picture, and also how it looks. The way it looks in its self is very unique and has its own symbolism. The red and blue colors seem to represent the 3D feeling, which could symbolize how close and personal the issues you discussed in your description really are. Since 3D is something that makes things come to life from a flat surface. So it really seems to symbolize you are bringing these issues to life, people have always been "hush" "hush" about being gay, and being a man is always thought of as being super tough so nobody thinks it would be a topic to be discussed. But the 3D brings it to life.
"The angle is off-kilter" is a great idea for this photo to represent the extraordinary role that you play in this society. But jus take a look at this photo, it is easy to make people relate to some sort of the guitar player or rock singer if not reading your blog. It's hard for people to make connections with binary gender. And the skirt you wear is not easy to identify even from a female's perspective. The entire color of the photo makes feel dark and a little bit bloody.
Musical instruments do not belong in a certain gender category, which are one of the few objects in this picture that aren't associated with a gender. It is important that the character is holding the guitar with such care because this emphasizes the author's desire to avoid gender categorization.
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