Graphic Design Post #7

Graphic Design

Post #7

Gender in Sports Advertisements

By Sammy McCracken

            Advertisements seen in sports magazines such as Sports Illustrated, usually have been known for depicting males as the dominant humans and females are sexual objects. But when looking at magazines for children, are the same results seen? The academic research article, “Selling Girls Short: Advertising and Gender Images in Sports Illustrated for Kids”, explores just that.

            Susan Lynn proposes 5 different questions, which she addresses in her research of advertisements in Sports Illustrated: Kids. Her first question is there a different number of males and females portrayed in advertisements? Second is: How is gender framed in terms of participation in team and individual sports in SIK advertisements? Third is: How are activity levels portrayed in males and females? Fourth is: Are males and females more often represented in different kinds of sports? And finally, the fifth question is: Do camera angles of males and females in advertisements support the cultural stereotype of dominant males and inferior females (Lynn 78)?

            Lynn collected and studied 36 different articles of Sports Illustrated: Kids from July 1996 to June 1999. Not surprisingly, her results showed that 80.9 % of all advertising the magazines were male dominated. Males were shown as being more dominant 33% of the time in comparison to females being portrayed as dominant only 6.5%. But males were also seen 48% of the time in non-dominant advertising as well. This shows that males are used much more often in advertising in the SIK than females; dominant or not. Males were shown in team sports in 53% of the advertisements and females were shown in only 5% of team advertisements and only 5% of individual sports advertisements. The ratio of males and females in active poses in sports advertisements was 6:1. This is not surprising since many more males are depicted in advertisements anyway. The magazine used mostly straight photographic angles and it did not matter if the kids were male or female.

            The results from this study shows that stereotypes and sexism are still major parts of the advertising industry, even for young kids. Even though this fact is not surprising, it still shows just how influential graphic media can be and how much it needs to change.

Works Cited

Lynn, Susan. "Selling Girls Short: Advertising and Gender Images in Sports

Illustrated for Kids." Women in Sports and Physical Activity. 11.2 (2002):

77 - 85. <http://search.proquest.com/genderwatch/docview/230669658/1365469B16779E9902D/12?accountid=10650>.

Loren Cameron

Photography Post #8

Alysha Reed

Loren Cameron is an award-winning photographer that was born as a woman and today is a man.  He tells the story of how he became the man he is today and the trials and tribulations he had to go through in order to reach the point he has reached.  Starting out from playing with G.I Joes to hiding breasts, Cameron always knew he did not feel comfortable in his own skin.  Initially Cameron identified as a Butch Lesbian, which included dressing and appearing to be male yet maintaining the female genitalia. 

Around 1993, Cameron picked up a camera for the first time.  His photographs started off similar to those of high school girls that stretch their arms out as far as they can reach in order to snap the shot.  Shot after shot was taken to show the unfamiliar transformation his body was undergoing: “the surgical reinvention of self”.  It was then that he decided the Transsexual community needed an insider to photograph them. 

Slowly Cameron was introduced to more trans and learned more stories.  As he learned the stories he photographed the people and the changes their bodies underwent as the hormones kicked in stronger and stronger. 

It may be of interest to check out some of Cameron’s work.  A collection of Cameron’s photographs Body Alchemy was published in 1996 and the book shows everything you could ever want to know about female-to-male bodies.  More recently Cameron has put out a new e-book Man Tool: The Nuts and Bolts of Female-to-Male Surgery.

Cameron’s photography shows the stark straight up truth about a female-to-male body.  His photographs are not taken at crafty angles or in artsy lighting, they are blunt and to the point.  The way he takes his photos make a point that the body of a female-to-male transgender is not a specifically crafted body with perfect angles, or always seen in an artsy light; rather it is a body, nothing more, nothing less. 

If you are interested in a glance of what Cameron’s ebook looks like, simply follow this link:

http://www.lorencameron.com/mantool/open/about.html

Works Cited

Cameron, Loren. "Portrait of a Man." The Advocate May 25 1999: 46-9. Alt-PressWatch; GenderWatch. Web. 26 Apr. 2012.

Tristan Taormino.  "Building a better cock. " The Village Voice  14  May 2002,Alt-Press Watch (APW), ProQuest. Web.  26 Apr. 2012.

Everything to do with Sexuality, Gender, and Visual Art

Collaborative Post #2

            Although we have all enjoyed delving off into our topics separately, I believe it is about time everything visual got together once again to discuss our findings collectively. So let’s get started!

            Racism, sexism, prejudice… Gender and sexuality are everywhere, which is extremely prevalent when looking at graphic design, film, photography, and sculpture through the years and around the world.

Springfield's Historical Monument
1908 Race Riot Depiction

            The great thing about visual art is that it, historically, reminds us of events so tragic that we are shocked into realizing a truth about our society. This is just the case with a sculpture that was placed in downtown Springfield, Illinois in August of 2008 commemorating the Springfield Race Riot of 1908. According to an article by The State Journal-Register, Preston Jackson made two sculptures, each made of bronze, that represent brick chimneys standing in the riot’s ruins. On these chimneys, Jackson decided to shy away from violent images, “opting instead for those that represent the riot’s role as a catalyst for change in race relations. …Barack Obama is there, depicted as a drum major. There’s a handbill announcing, ‘Rally of Citizen’s to End Race War’—an allusion to the race riot’s central role in the founding of the NAACP.” And that’s the wonderful thing about sculpture; it does not have to depict violence to have a strong emotional impact on an individual viewing it. The article finishes with the strong words: “Jackson’s artwork needs to stand as a permanent reminder that these incidents must be addressed immediately, forcefully and accurately—and discussed openly. Only then, as with the race riot, can response to them become a message of unity.” In Springfield, one sculptor was able to use his work to not only commemorate a very moment in Illinois history, but also remind a population that change only comes with constant reality checks and lots of hard work.  

           By looking at visual arts from the past, we can see how our society has (or hasn't) changed, especially along the lines of sexism. Since the beginning of human kind, men have been seen as the "superior" beings. The late 1900s were a very prominent time for ads which were very sexist against women. Looking at the image to the left, we can see just how far some of the ads of the early and mid 1900s went with their sexism. Even though we don't see ads nearly as graphic as these anymore, the ads around us still contain a great amount of sexism; though some may be more subtle than others. Ads today contain much more erotic sexism toward women; and they seem to get worse every time someone opens photoshop.  "Miller, Michele and Ford from Old Dominion University argues that today, sexism is more align with sexist, and the implication of sexuality in the advertising and media" (Chics). It's interesting to look at advertisements from over 50 years ago to see how people viewed women as almost slaves to their men. But not so much as sex slaves as women are mostly seen as today, but house slaves. It would be nice to see a change in the world of graphic design as more and more women begin to enter that career path.

            Throughout the years Disney has reinforced many stereotypes about women and often promoted negative ideas about them. This is prevalent in their movies from the first Disney princess Snow White being hunted down and almost killed by another woman for her beauty only surviving because her beauty attracts a young man, whom she has never actually talked to, and his kiss is the only thing that saves her showing to young girls that looks are the most important thing because they will attract a man who will eventually save you. These negative messages are still prominent in Disney princesses today including their latest one Rapunzle, although she is able to be adventurous and free spirited she still relies on a young man to set her free which she has literally been waiting her whole life for. This doesn’t seem like it’s very empowering for women at all does it? 

Works Cited
Chics, Chinese. "Evolution of Sexist Ads." Less Is More. WordPress.com, 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://whatremainsbaby.wordpress.com/2009/07/30/sexist-ads/>.

"Our Opinion: Sculpture Reminds Us to Take Action against Racism." Http://www.sj-r.com. GateHouse Media Inc., 8 Aug. 2008. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. http://www.sj-r.com/opinions/x1701873655/Our-Opinion-Sculpture-reminds-us-to-take-action-against-racism.
Bell, Elizabeth, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells. From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1995. Print.
Bennett, Jessica. "Disney Princesses and the Battle for Your Daughter's Soul." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/01/26/disney-princesses-and-the-battle-for-your-daughter-s-soul.html>.

Females recognized by the Oscars for portraying character of the opposite sex or who a character who challenges sexuality norms.

There are a few females who have won or at least been nominated for an Oscar for playing a character of another gender or playing a character who has a sexuality that is different from the norm.There are a few actresses with their first Oscar nomination in particular who won one for role that fall under this category. Namely Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan, a male dwarf who is the lead (a reporter)'s photography contact, in the movie The Year of Living Dangerously,

 Hillary Swank as Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry in which she plays a female who is male identified and raped and murdered when she tries to enter a relationship with a female who discovers Teena is indeed female bodied,

and finally Charlize Theron as Aileen Wuronos in Monster, in which Theron plays a older prostitute who falls in love with a woman, murders men for money and then is later sentenced to death and executed.

Finally I will take a look at two women who recieved Oscar nominations this past year for the same film Albert Nobbs Glenn Close and Janet McTeer recieving nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. In this film both women portray women who pretend to be men in order to find employment in the harsh workforce of the time, both women also express the want to find wives in the movie.

Soriano, Rianne H. "Oscars Recognize Women for Roles Reversing Sexuality, Gender."Yahoo! Movies. 16 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. <http://movies.yahoo.com/news/oscars-recognize-women-roles-reversing-sexuality-gender-184500698.html>.

"Albert Nobbs." IMDb. IMDb.com, 15 Apr. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602098/>.

Sculpture – Post #8

Body Casting and Body Sculptures

Own your Sexuality as a Woman

Alina Szapocnikow (1926-1973) was both a sculptor and graphic artist who experimented with new materials, especially polyester and polyurethane which she used to make casts of her body. “All I am able to produce is ungainly objects…I try to preserve the fleeting moments of life…I am convinced that in spite of all the symptoms of impermanence, the human body is the most sensitive and in fact the only source of all kinds of joy, pain, and truth,” Alina was quoted saying in a research article by Amy Chmielewski. Szapocnikow was obsessed with the human form, which may in fact be one of the reasons her work is compared to major feminist artists Louise Bourgeois and Hannah Wilke. But being obsessed with the human form, as an artist, may have just been the thing that brought out the best in Szapocnikow’s work—it gave her a greater connection with the gender and sexuality roles she was working with during her short 46 years of life (Szapocnikow passed away from cancer in 1973).



Mary Magdalene



One of her earlier works involving the abstract form of women revolves around Mary Magdalene. With distorted features and limbs, Mary Magdalene was a sculpture by Szapocnikow that many individuals are still unsure about. Mary herself was a biblical figure who held the title of “abject sexuality” (Chmielewski 40) or prostitute—until 1969 when the Second Vatican Council removed the label—because of the belief that her and the “unnamed sinner” (King’s College) were the same person. The distortion in Szapocnikow’s sculpture may have to do with the similar “distortion” of Mary Magdalene’s name. During those biblical times, Mary would have been expected to be an asexual individual, per say, because women were not seen as having a sexuality at all. Although not a perfect analogy (it does not take into account the fact that asexual individuals may still be attracted to people, though not in a sexual way), it gets the point across that any sort of semi-sexual activity by Mary would have most likely ended in her being labeled a whore/prostitute. Through Szapocnikow’s plaster and iron-fillings sculpture, it is able to be deduced that gender roles played a part in her decision to make Mary Magdalene an abstract or distorted work.



Striding Lips



Another way to look at Szapocnikow’s work is through her use of fragmentation. “While representations of deformed or fragmented bodies, especially female ones, can pose interpretive difficulties for contemporary viewers, Szapocnikow may have seen fragmentation as a liberating gesture, freeing the body from its ideological baggage and the constraints of an externally imposed identity” (Chmielewski 42). Striding Lips, a sculpture of bronze that Szapocnikow created in 1966, may have disturbed some viewers, but it also ties into gender and sexuality themes. For one, just searching information about “lips as sexual” brings up websites with taglines such as “Shape of a woman’s pout may mean better sex” and “Lip colour affects perceived sex typicality and attractiveness of women.” Through the mass marketing of lipstick, women have been made to believe that lips, especially ones colored red, are seductive and tied to their sexuality. Striding Lips makes bounds toward trying to reclaim lips for women in general by making them “bronze…and creepy” (Chmielewski 42).

Szapocnikow's Lip Lamps

After making the bronze lips, Szapocnikow even went on to make another set which she fitted with electronic wiring so they could double as lamps. Chmielewski states this was to “explicitly tease the viewer in their capacity to be ‘turned on,’ a double-entendre also expressed by the French verb allumer” and also seemed to “celebrate the miniskirt-sporting, sexually liberated woman of the 1960s” (Chmielewski 42). Much like the reclamation of words such as “butch” or “lipstick-lesbian” for the LGBT community, Szapocnikow allows women to reclaim their bodies and the sexual aspects of them from the stereotypical idea of woman-as-man’s-play-thing. Even actress Julie Christie commissioned Szapocnikow to cast her one of these lamps. Only instead of her lips, Christie had Szapocnikow sculpt “somewhat racier breast lamps, with nipples aflame” (Chmielweski 42).



Silicone Breast Implants



Push-Up Bras

Like Szapocnikow’s lip lamps, Christie wanted to reclaim her sexuality as a woman. Although lips are one of the most sexual aspects of a woman, she understood that breasts are one of the most sexualized parts of a woman’s body. With things like breast implants and an inability to find cute bras without an “extra lift” of two cup-sizes, Christie understands that a woman’s chest just isn’t her own anymore. So, by commissioning Szapocnikow to create a cast of her own breasts as a sculpture, Christie is able to own her breasts and the realness that a mold is able to capture. “Rather than alienate female eros, Szapocnikow domesticates it, bringing just a touch of the red-light district into the home” (Chmielewski 42).

Like Chmielewski sums in her conclusion, Szapocnikow’s work has gone unnoticed and without proper credit for years since her death. “Her relation to feminism is particularly difficult to pin down” and “presents a definite challenge to contemporary viewers” (Chmielewski 46), but so much of her work allows women to break free from stereotypes and claim their bodies that today’s woman should feel liberated by her work. Although Szapocnikow does not have exact ties with the Feminism Movement doesn’t mean the movement didn’t have a huge impact on her work and the way she portrays women and their sexuality.

Works Cited

Chmielewski, Amy. "Alina Szapocznikow: And Her Sculpture of Plastic Impermanence." Woman's Art Journal 32.1 (2011): 39-47. Print.

"Mary Magdalene." Object Moved. King's College. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/marymagda.html.

Graphic Design Post #6

Graphic Design
Post #6

History of the Male and Female Symbols

By Sammy McCracken

        The highly recognizable male and female symbols have been used by biologists to distinguish between males and females for hundreds of years. But have you ever wondered where these symbols came from and how they came about? Well search no further!

Evolution of the Female Symbol

Evolution of the Male Symbol

These cave drawings were traced back to the prehistoric Mediterranean region. People believe that these symbols were derived from the human sex organs; with the triangle as the 'first' symbol for female and a semi-complex drawing of a penis as the 'first' male symbol (Desfayes).

        Biologists and other scientists also believe that the human sex symbols originated from the symbols for the god Mars and the goddess Venus. In ancient times, people connected the planets with certain metals of the Earth. They often compared spiritual beings, such as the gods and goddess, with physical materials of the Earth. “The Sun, the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn were often metaphorically used to signify gold, silver, iron, mercury or quicksilver, copper, tin and lead” (Stearn 109). Rusty colored metals such as iron were associated with the red planet, Mars and copper, which is a softer metal, was associated with Venus. Alchemists used symbols to represent metals as a short-hand in writing their reports. A chemist by the name of J. J. Berzelius created the symbols of ♂, representing iron and Mars, and ♀, representing copper and Venus. A scientist by the name of Linnaeus began using these symbols in his books about plants genetics around 1735 (Stearn 111). He used ♀ to represent the female parent plant, ♂ to represent the male parent plant and another symbol for hybrids of the parent plants. These symbols have become very popular among biologists and transferred their meaning to everyday life. 

Works Cited

Desfayes, Michel. "ORIGIN OF MALE AND FEMALE SYMBOLS." Biology Forum 98. (2005): 
               197-202. Print. <http://www.michel-desfayes.org/malefemalesymbols.html>.

Stearn, William. "The Origin of the Male and Female Symbols of Biology." Taxon. 11.4 (1962): 
               109-113. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. 
               <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.emich.edu/stable/pdfplus/1217734.pdf>.

Graphic Design Post #5

Graphic Design 
Post #5

History of LGBT Graphics

By Sammy McCracken

Symbols, logos and other graphics are extremely influential factors in today’s society. When you think of two golden arches, what comes to your mind? Or what do you think of when you see a curved check mark symbol on a pair of shoes? Symbols are all around us and many social movements, such as the LGBT, used different iconic graphics to represent their cause. For this post, I will be exploring some of the history behind the LGBT’s most iconic graphic arts and I will also be exploring the importance of these graphics and their influence on today’s society.

Lambda Symbol

            I will begin by discussing the Greek letter, lambda. This symbol is new to me with respects to representing the LGBT, but it has been around since 1970 when the Gay Activists Alliance of New York deemed it their symbol ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services"). Back in this time in history, the GAA was part of the Gay Liberation Front, but decided to break away. The GLF was interested in joining with black and women social movement groups in order to try and create more equality. The GAA however, was more interested in gaining equality for gays and lesbians. There is no official reason why this symbol was chosen, but there are many ideas as to why it was chosen and why it is still around today. Some of these reasons include, the Greek letter “L” stands for liberation, many believe lambda stands for unity, and lambda could be easily mistaken for a Greek community symbol on college campuses, so LGBT members could display it without any fear of being called out. In December 1974, the International Gay Rights Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland declared the lambda symbol the international symbol for gay and lesbian rights ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services").

            One of the most popular LGBT symbols is the rainbow flag. This symbol has had many changes and comes in many forms, but its universal meaning is LGBT rights. But what exactly is the meaning behind a rainbow? My biblical background tells me to look up the verse from Genesis 9, where God is speaking to Noah:

Original Rainbow Flag

“This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services").

This to me shows that a rainbow, due to its overpowering 

Most Common Rainbow Flag

beauty, means hope and symbolizes a new beginning, since God was about to destroy the entire Earth in a flood to start over. The rainbow of the LGBT flag means something very similar, hope for a new future with equality for all people. The flag to the left is the most used version of the LGBT flag and each color has a specific meaning. The artist responsible for the creation of this flag is Gilbert Baker. He came up with the idea in 1978 ("Lambda: GLBT Community Services"). He described his meaning behind the colors of the original flag: pink is for sexuality, red is for life, orange is for healing, yellow is for the sun, green is for nature, blue is for art, indigo is for harmony and violet is for spirit. Pink was removed from the flag when Baker went to get them mass-produced for the LGBT movement. Unfortunately, pink was not a readily available color, which is why most flags seen today lack pink. 

The Pink Triangle

            Another very prominent symbol for the LGBT equal rights movement is the pink triangle. This simple graphic was created during World War II in Nazi Germany. The Nazi’s used this symbol to separate homosexuals from the rest of the people in concentration camps. People display this symbol in memory of those lost during the war. Erik Jensen in his article, “The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness: Gays, Lesbians, and the Memory of Nazi Persecution”, states, “The readers attributed their political consciousness as gay women, at least in part, to a particular collective memory of the Nazi persecution of homosexuals” (Jensen 320). This symbol did not become popular until the 1970s when the gay liberation movements began. Many of the gay and lesbians victims from the war went into hiding. People in Germany were still very much against gays and lesbians and did not welcome them in public. Most people hadn’t even heard of the gay persecution because the people did not speak of it. “Elmar Drost, a West German gay activist, recalled only one time prior to the 1970s when an older acquaintance of his referred obliquely to the Nazi persecution; otherwise, as Drost flatly stated, "I never heard of it” (Jensen 322). In 1975, a LGBT activist group encouraged gays and lesbians to wear the pink triangle proudly to make people realize that discrimination was still taking place. It declared at its conclusion, "Show what happened to gays under fascism! Discrimination is still going on! Wear the pink triangle” (Jansen 327). The pink triangle is probably the most widely known LGBT symbol today and it can be seen almost everywhere.

           There are many other great graphics from the LGBT movement, but the lambda symbol, the rainbow flag and the pink triangle are some of the most popular graphics today and have the deepest histories.

Works Cited

Jensen, Erik. "The Pink Triangle and Political Consciousness: Gays, Lesbians, and the 

                Memory of Nazi Persecution." Journal of the History of Sexuality. 11. (2002): 319-349. 

                Web. 25 Apr. 2012.  

                <http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.emich.edu/stable/pdfplus/3704560.pdf>.

"Symbols of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Movements." Lambda: GLBT 
                 Community Servies. , 26 Dec, 2004. Web. 15 Apr 2012. 
                 <http://www.lambda.org/symbols.htm>.