For my photo essay I choose the topic, the representation of femininity and masculinity in media. In which the girl is only valued based on their looks. The smurfette principle has some hand in this as the female in television shows is usually “… a bunny in a pink dress and hair ribbons." (Pollitt) According to Pollitt. This puts girls in a position in which brains, ambition and character are not reflective of their femininity but only their looks. The core of a person; character, ambition and brains is “a passenger car drawn through life by a masculine train engine.” (Pollitt). The stylistic choices that represent this issue are as follows. The dress is the primary focus in the picture because beauty is the primary aspect of femininity and what it means to be a girl. Putting the textbooks and the glasses below the dress represents the hierarchy of what is valued from what is represented about femininity. However, it is an enclosed staircase to represent the entrapment a female feels by only being valued for superficial aspects of themselves. Lastly the light represents hope for change in what is valued/represented in the media for females.
Pollitt , Katha. “Hers; The Smurfette Principle.” The New York Times , 7 Apr. 1991.
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