Women and femininity have been portrayed very differently to men and masculinity in the media both recently and historically. Just three areas where they differ are:
Close to nature
Women are now, and have always been linked to nature; this is most possibly due to the fact they produce (give birth to) life and (historically) have been given the role to nurture that life, whereas men cannot produce life. I believe that that is key idea to the link.
Men therefore historically have always had the role as the provider, or the dominant sex i.e. as culture. This basic concept (female is nature and male is culture) pretty much still remains in the media today and I found it difficult to found an example of a male as nature. Here is an example the way males are portrayed:
As you can see from this image the man is young and has a muscular physique. He is standing tall, chest pushed out and is viewed from below. We are looking up at him, this creates a strength and a power. He is holding an axe in his hand to suggest he he is deadly and a fore to be reckoned with. The other hand on his hip suggests he is not at that pount going to use his axe and confirms how in control he is. He is looking away and up as if to sa you are not worthy of eye-to-eye contact. He looks to have conquered nature rather than being close to it. He appears to have more power than the females example that I uses later on.
Passive Submissive and Dependent
Women are also viewed in the media as passive, submissive and dependent on males (either in the picture or the viewer). But can they pull off a powerful role? This is an image that was used for Virgin Atlantic for their “upper class” range. The two obvious techniques used are (1) the male is shoe-shining her shoes. This is a job that used to be done by children. (2) The male is below her looking up her. The high leather boots worn are also often used when portraying a woman in power. Her face is partially covered by her hair so the man can only look into one eye. This is another technique. Her chest is completely covered up by clothes which suggests that she does not want to be treated as an object, however she is wearing a short skirt which is exposing the thighs, maybe this is to keep the man under her spell so to speak.
Males
Man are rarely seen as passive, submissive and dependent, and I struggled to find an advertisement portraying men in such a way. I did think of the following image though. It is the album cover for The Libertines’ second album ‘The Libertines’. It is an album that was produced in turbulent times, with Pete Doherty (right) constantly being kicked out the band and brought back due to his drug use. I think that the image typifies the relationship between the two front men.
You can see that Pete appears to be all things mentioned above, passive submissive and dependable. He looks like drugs have got the better of him and all he can do is out stretch his arm as if he is waiting for more. The other is trying to protect him but looks bewildered, and unable, also passive, submissive and dependable in a way as he can’t cope.
They create this effect by shining the light in Carl Barat’s (left) face- it looks almost rabbit in the headlight like. He is holding onto Pete probably holding him up, and by Doherty looking down and being in an uncomfortable looking position you can tell that he is not in control of himself.
Stupid
Again it was difficult to find an image of men as stupid so I used the genderads website to help. It is advertising caffeine, which obviously contains caffeine, a substance known for keeping you up and awake. It is well known that if you fall asleep around your friends (especially if they are male and/or drunk) then you are bound to be punished; being drawn on being one of the most common punishments. They way they make him look stupid firstly is his mouth is open and eyes half open. Also his hair is messy and it looks as though he has just woken up. Also the fact that he has been drawn on doesn’t make him look too clever; the statement “I am a knob” makes him look increasingly stupid.