Review: Semiotics 101 Sign / Signifiers - images/actions/objects (example: jeans) Signified - implied meaning of signifier (jeans = casual clothing) Codes - links between signifiers/signified Denotations - shared, agreed-on meaning Connotations - broader, ideological meanings related to a culture

GENDER MEDIA LECTURE BY AYESHA MULLA HISTORY OF CULTURE - WINTER 2015 INDUS VALLEY SCHOOL OF ART & ARCHITECTURE

DEFINITIONS Sex The biological and physical characteristics that make up an individual’s reproductive anatomy Male / Female Gender Social roles based on the sex of an individual Masculine / Feminine

GENDER AS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION Every individual is bound by two major factors that shape their gender: 1) their initial biological endowment at birth 2) the social environment in which they are raised

REPRESENTATION: RE - PRESENT - Media do not simply reflect/mirror “reality” -Media create or re-present a new reality -Concept of “misrepresentation” assumes that there is a “true” or “fixed” meaning (through semiotics, we learn that meaning is constructed) -We can think of representations as constitutive of events: the meaning depends on who controls the means of representation

FAIR & LOVELY AD

BOYS DON’T CRY AD

STEREOTYPING: FIXES/LIMITS MEANING Stereotypes limits meanings assigned to groups Shapes perceptions of that group Leaves out/over-generalizes meaning Contesting stereotypes by increasing diversity of images that open up new possibilities of identity “Where do images come from?” “Who produces images?” “How is meaning closed down in representation?”

PROBLEM OF ESSENTIALIZING Essentializing differences in terms of gender, class, and race reflects stereotypes “Boys always do X / Girls always do Y” “Working-class people are like X.” Essentializing fails to consider variations in identities, contexts, and cultures It is based on biological/behaviorist perspectives, rather than cultural perspectives