In society today gender identity means to classify with either the cultural notions of femininity or masculinity and what it means to be either of the two genders, male or female (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). When looking at intercultural communication you must understand how a culture views the roles of men and women in their societies because this directly affects communication. Gender identity not only affects communication between cultures but effects an individual on a personal level by communicating who we want to be and who we think we are (Martin & Nakayama, 2009). One of the most startling examples of gender identity and the notions of what it means to be feminine or masculine are splattered all over the advertisements in popular magazines today. Magazine advertisements like this one (see image below) for the high end fashion retailer Valentino show a man dominating a woman. The advertisement isn’t selling clothes but rather the ideology that masculinity in men means being aggressive. One could argue that the man also appears to be successful, sexual and self-reliant, all terms associated with U.S. society masculine themes that are all mentioned in our book Intercultural Communication in Contexts. The woman in this advertisement accepts U.S. society femininity themes as well, including accepting negative treatment from others and appearance still counts because she still looks gorgeous while being treated poorly (Martin & Nakayama, 2009).
Understanding how gender identity affects communication in our society especially stereotyped gender identities allows us to be empowered in our daily decisions when dealing with not only our own gender but the opposite gender as well. Understanding that these stereotypes of gender are prevalent in society, especially in advertising, is the first step to overcoming these stereotypes and not letting history repeat itself. The stereotypes of being masculine and feminine, like all men are successful and all women accept negative treatment, not only create false images but often create unrealistic ideologies of men and women. I’ve realized that the notions of what it means to be masculine or feminine aren’t just created by one person but rather by society as a whole through communication within and are reconstructed and reinforced throughout time (Martin & Nakayama, 2009).
Works
Cited
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K.
(2010). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition ed.). New
York, NY: McGraww-Hill.
University of Minnesota. (2010). Introduction.
Retrieved from Advertising and Sexual Assault: The Relationship Between
Advertising, Gender Roles, and Sexual Assault: Picture from http://blog.lib.umn.edu/brun0305/advertisingandsexualassaulttherelationshipbetweenadvertising,genderroles,andsexualassault/blog/
Here is an interesting video I found on youtube about transgender school age kids and their identity in sports. If you were born a female but are becoming a male and want to participate in basketball whose team do you play for? High school athletic programs are now having to create standards for this new age gender identity question.
The concept of creating new standards to deal with transgender acceptance is an interesting concept. Application at the high school level could be expanded to professional sports teams.
ReplyDeleteThis concept on masculinity and femininity is a lot broader and looked at in different ways than I originally thought. Very interesting video that you posted from youtube as well. Great blogpost Katie!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering what the most startling example of gender identity is? You seem to have tried to explain a specific example at the beginning of the second paragraph but then switch from a singular to a plural subject by the end of the sentence. On another note, I would agree somewhat with your statement about the Valentino advertisement. Like you said, they are depicting the ideology of male masculinity as it relates to aggressiveness, success, and self-reliance. However, this representation plays well with male desires; which in my opinion, is what Valentino is trying to do. By showing the audience what they want to see and the name of the company, they are sending a subliminal message that Valentino is what it means to be masculine. In conclusion, they are selling their product, subliminally.
ReplyDeleteI like that you used the high end fashion industry as your example. It's amazing the amount of sex & violence that goes into staging an ad for Dolce &Gabbana.
ReplyDeleteFor future blogs, watch the APA formatting at the end. Make sure that everything is kept consistent throughout. Here's a guide for citing images, web pages, etc.:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/
Also it was a bummer that the video had been taken down:-( I was really excited to watch it!