COP3 PROPOSALGEORGIA ROBERTS

MAN, WOMAN AND THE MEDIA/CULTURE: GENDER FLUIDITY AS A SOCIAL NORM

I would like to discuss how gender fluidity, especially this year, has become a positive means of expression amongst individuals, almost a sexuality in its own right. The power of the media/celebrity has allowed this to be-come a social norm using examples such as Jaden Smith becoming the new face of Louis Vuitton’s womenswear campaign in January 2016. I would like to discuss how this has had a positive impact on people who maybe in the past have been ostracised for expressing their male or female sides outwardly. In addition I will explore how fashion brands such as Zara and Diesel may have capitalised on these new social norms.

AIMS: • Discuss how gender has been viewed historically• Explore the relation between gender and sexuality• Explore the media’s influence on changing attitudes towards gender• Illustrate how fashion brands are capitalising on the changing social climates

(From left to right) Jaden Smith for Louis Vuitton

Womenswear, Diesel’s gender neutral campaign and Zara’s

unisex clothing campaign.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER:I would discuss how David Bowie paved the way for expression of gender and sexuality within his characters and how this has been portrayed in the media. Why is now the time where gender fluidity is accepted? Examples of gender fluidity within fashion campaigns such as Zara and Louis Vuitton. Are they jumping on a bandwagon in order to make money? IS there any oppression or opposition against gender fluidity? Who are these people and on what basis do their opinions lie? Which forms of media or social media have assisted in gender fluidity be-coming a social normal eg twitter, tumblr (which is very fashionable) or instagram.

Could discuss the introduction of the internet and its giving power to the media in order to widen the span knowledge of gender differences. Social media has allowed gender fluidity to become a norm. Gender roles and gender stereotypes could be discussed. I could explore how stereotypes have changed with time with reference to laws, revolutions and culture e.g. sexuality laws, feminism.

BOOKSIDENTITY, BAUMAN. Z 2004MEDIA, GENDER AND IDENTITY, GAUNTLETT. D 2008CULTURE AND IDENTITY, KIDD. W 2001CLASS, GENDER AND IDENTITY IN CLOTHING, CRANE. D 2000

WEBSITESWWW.DAZEDDIGITAL.COMWWW.TUMBLR.COMWWW.THEGUARDIAN.COMWWW.TIME.COM

FILMTHE GENDER SPECTRUMTHE YOUTH AND GENDER MEDIA PROJECTMIDDLE SEXES: REDEFINING HE AND SHEBEYOND BINARY

CAMPAIGNSLOUIS VUITTONZARADIESELMASON MARGIELA

“Gender identity is our internal response to a social construction that attempts to make a connection between a person’s biological makeup and their eventual role in society.”

- SAM KILLERMANN

PRIMARY RESEARCH:For COP3 I would like to research more into gender as a part of society and culture at present day and compare to findings and discoveries or changes in attitudes in the past. I would like to conduct interviews of a range of different people from different ages/backgrounds etc and explore their opinions on what gender fluidity is and what they think it means in todays society. This could reveal the change in psychology between the past and present regarding gender fluidity. How will I gather people to interview who come from different backgrounds/ages etc? How will I prevent bias within the answers? Will I have to interview people in neutral surroundings as done in clinical psychological investigations or interviews? Will different surroundings affect the answers I will receive. I would have to create unbiased questions as to not sway the answers of the participants. I will have to carefully consider which questions to ask my participants and how many in order to generate the most effective findings possible. A main flaw in my investigation could be that I did not ask these same questions - for example - 30 years ago when the opinions towards gender were more conserved therefore will have nothing to compare it to, they may however form a large opinion about what people now think of gender fluidity.

In addition I would like to create a survey to gather peoples opinions on the media in relation to how individuals see themselves and its assistance in oppressing or revealing gender fluid people within contemporary society. I could complete this via survey monkey and ask people to participate. Could this however people the people I know who answer this may form the same opinions as they are from a similar background? How will I go about expanding the field of participants to outside of my social circle? Can I use the forms of media which have al-lowed gender fluidity to become more of a social norm to expand my field of participants eg twitter and tumblr? However that also does not guarantee people will answer the survey. In addition, it could be argued I would not receive answers from older participants due to their lesser use of internet compared to my generation. The way I share this survey would be an integral part of getting a range of answers from the survey. Making an online survey would certainly allow me to gather more evidence as opposed to paper based. Factors such as a limited audience could limit my creative practice as I would need a wide range of answers in order to produce factual evidence on how people’s opinions on gender have changed and opinions on how the media has assisted with this.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bauman, Z (2004). Identity. Polity: Cambridge. p27.

Calhoun, C. (2012). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. In: Calhoun, C. Gerteis, J. Moody, J. Pfaff, S. and Virk, I. Contemporary Sociological Theory. 3rd ed. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. p46-47.

Goffman, E. (1959). Belief In The Part One Is Playing. In: Goffman, E The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Random House. p28-32.

Serunjogi, M. (2015). Diesel Fuels Gender Fluidity. Available: http://verycommunities.com/diesel-fu-els-gender-fluidity/. Last accessed 5th Jun 2016.

Siebert, V. (2016). Jaden Smith, 17, revealed as the new face of Louis Vuitton Womenswear. Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3384070/Jaden-Smith-17-revealed-new-face-Louis-Vuitton-WOMENSWEAR-dons-skirt-pose-three-female-models-luxury-brand-s-spring-campaign.html. Last accessed 5th Jun 2016.

Stansfield, T. (2015). Meet the boys leading Margiela’s gender revolution. Available: http://www.dazeddig-ital.com/fashion/article/26770/1/meet-the-boys-leading-margiela-s-gender-revolution. Last accessed 5th Jun 2016.