Growing up, society tries to mold your personality into the type of person it expects you to become. These types of molds can be much more influential in girls that they are in boys, this is because of the tightly knit circles that girls tend to form. These circles pass judgment toward their members, collectively conforming towards a gender norm. “Because gender identity is likely the most prominent and significant identity that people have it should not be surprising that men and women strive to fit into their own gendered “culture”.” taken from the textbook, on page 132. These gender norms are selected by the media to feature over glamorized, unobtainable figures. They are unrealistic and can have a major effect on the self-worth of the individual.
The textbook
Hanging above the open doors and framed by the trees is a white dress. The white dress is symbolizing purity, natural beauty and the individuality of the woman in the picture. Contrasting the white dress below is a red dress, flanked by a manmade construct. Both the construct and the bright red dress symbolizes the strictly forced conformity to societal gender norms. Also in this picture we see a girl, faded into darkness, looking away from the camera. This is to symbolize the unimportance of individuality before choosing who she wants to be. If the girl chooses the white dress she can be herself free of the pressure society lays on us. But if she chooses the red dress she will become a product of learned gender norms and loose some of her individuality.
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The dresses also resemble the manifestations of the Third Wave of Feminism. The red dress reflects and symbolizes slang because they are described as proud and defiant labels. It also labels women as "passive, weak, virginal, and faithful, or alternatively as domineering, demanding, slutty, and emasculating" (Burkett and Brunell, "Manifestations). The white dress reflects and symbolizes power and the control of a woman's own sexuality, not just purity and a sense of freedom. The fact that the white dress is hanging above the red dress shows that purity and power overrides and dominates crude labels. In relation, the media manifestations of the third wavers portray Disney heroines and smart, independent females. In other words, the dark image of the female facing these two dresses and not looking into the camera addresses her insecurities and challenges of conformity versus independence. This young female needs to make a decision between being self-powered or being drowned in a sea of defiant labels.
The set up of this photo is interesting. The viewers attention automatically gets drawn to the dresses hanging up. The girl and the rest of the frame is out of focus making the main focus on the dresses. It begins to ponder through the viewers mind which dress they would choose. I think the interesting thing about this photograph is that while yes there is a decision to make on which dress to choose, the only real difference is in the color. Meaning, both choices are dresses and which you do have to choose if you wear the red one or the cream colored one, that is really the only difference. I think that it says a lot about the meaning of this photo. Had the photographer chosen to hang up jeans and a t shirt and a dress, this photo may have taken a different meaning to it. The meaning of this photo is what it is like to be a woman. Cultural standards tell us that a woman dresses up and she dresses to look nice. Where as a man may be more accepted if he wore jeans and a shirt. Society tells women that in order to be accepted you must choose only one way and that is dressing up and covering who you may really be.
From Hope
The set up of this photo is interesting. The viewers attention automatically gets drawn to the dresses hanging up. The girl and the rest of the frame is out of focus making the main focus on the dresses. It begins to ponder through the viewers mind which dress they would choose. I think the interesting thing about this photograph is that while yes there is a decision to make on which dress to choose, the only real difference is in the color. Meaning, both choices are dresses and which you do have to choose if you wear the red one or the cream colored one, that is really the only difference. I think that it says a lot about the meaning of this photo. Had the photographer chosen to hang up jeans and a t shirt and a dress, this photo may have taken a different meaning to it. The meaning of this photo is what it is like to be a woman. Cultural standards tell us that a woman dresses up and she dresses to look nice. Where as a man may be more accepted if he wore jeans and a shirt. Society tells women that in order to be accepted you must choose only one way and that is dressing up and covering who you may really be.
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