Fashion and Gender Identity
Photo by Pablo Roversi for Pop magazine A/W 2008
Fashions Role in the Socialization of Gender Identity
Word count: 925
By Uniqua Hardy
PHOTO ANALYSIS:
In this photograph by Pablo Roversi, the young girl’s outfit is constructed of garments, textures, accessories and colors that send out feminine messages. Soft pastel colors, pearls, butterflies, purple eyeshadow, a beautiful velvet hot pink bow backgrounded with satin are all undoubtedly considered feminine in our society and by surrounding a young girl around these things gender socialization is being reflected on. The matureness of the make-up and jewelry seem extreme and contradict the child-like piggy tails held with pastel pink hairties and the butterfly stuck on the girl’s face. This could indicate that society has begun to teach girls to be women from an way to early age. The child’s body language and facial expressions seem nonexsistent. This forces the viewer to consider that maybe pink and pretty is not what all girls want, maybe the girl does not identify herself with what she is dressed in. The age of the girl, the ultimate feminine codes that her outfit sends out and her body language all put together indicate that this photograph reflects on gender socialization, implying that through this socialization individuality and uniqueness are being taken away from the individual.
INTRO:
This essay will explore the feminine gender role and reflect on how our society’s set gender codes work to limit both individuality and self-expression. After visiting the roots of gender and gender socialization, fashion’s role in constructing gender identity in the modern world will be explored by reflecting on ideas from the books Fashion as Communication by Barnard, Fashion, Culture and Identity by Davis and Men and Women: Dressing the Part by Paoletti and Brush.
Being the basis of social identity, gender identity is a person’s private sense and experience of their own gender. Gender socialization refers
Fashions Role in the Socialization of Gender Identity
Word count: 925
By Uniqua Hardy
PHOTO ANALYSIS:
In this photograph by Pablo Roversi, the young girl’s outfit is constructed of garments, textures, accessories and colors that send out feminine messages. Soft pastel colors, pearls, butterflies, purple eyeshadow, a beautiful velvet hot pink bow backgrounded with satin are all undoubtedly considered feminine in our society and by surrounding a young girl around these things gender socialization is being reflected on. The matureness of the make-up and jewelry seem extreme and contradict the child-like piggy tails held with pastel pink hairties and the butterfly stuck on the girl’s face. This could indicate that society has begun to teach girls to be women from an way to early age. The child’s body language and facial expressions seem nonexsistent. This forces the viewer to consider that maybe pink and pretty is not what all girls want, maybe the girl does not identify herself with what she is dressed in. The age of the girl, the ultimate feminine codes that her outfit sends out and her body language all put together indicate that this photograph reflects on gender socialization, implying that through this socialization individuality and uniqueness are being taken away from the individual.
INTRO:
This essay will explore the feminine gender role and reflect on how our society’s set gender codes work to limit both individuality and self-expression. After visiting the roots of gender and gender socialization, fashion’s role in constructing gender identity in the modern world will be explored by reflecting on ideas from the books Fashion as Communication by Barnard, Fashion, Culture and Identity by Davis and Men and Women: Dressing the Part by Paoletti and Brush.
Being the basis of social identity, gender identity is a person’s private sense and experience of their own gender. Gender socialization refers
Bibliography: Barnard, Malcolm. (1996,2002) Fashion as Communication. Routledge. Oxon, New York Davis, Fred. (1992) Fashion, Culture and Identity. University of Chicago Press. Paoletti, Jo B. and Kidwell, Claudia Brush. (1989) Men and Women: Dressing the Part. Smithsonian Institution. Washington, DC