Social Action and Social Media Production - Sexism Poster

Final Campaign Poster - Sexism

My final campaign poster is of a woman wearing a shortish white dress with her legs elongated in demi pointe whilst wearing ballet shoes. The words written boldly just under her dress are "This is not an invitation" and just on the calf the words say " So don't claim that it is". I wanted the background to be clean and to blend in so I used a plain white room to shoot the model in. I also wanted the dress and shoes to be of plainer colouring to not overshadow the bold writing. I placed the model right near the window to get the best possible lighting and in post production I retouched the legs in the photo, I brightened the colour of the legs to make them stand out more.

The message that I wanted to put across with this poster was that it doesn't matter what the person is wearing, they are not asking you to abuse or sexually assault them, and also that the victim should never be blamed for what they are wearing because they didn't ask for it to happen.

What I like about this poster is the simplicity of the photo and how it helps the words to jump out at the audience. I also like the message and I wouldn't change that.

What I would change about that is the lack of content on the poster, I would maybe add something else at the bottom and maybe a helpline web address or telephone number. I would also add a boarder maybe.

Social Action and Social Media unit: Sexism - Photography

I took these photos to match my slogan "This isn't an invitation" to show that women who wear short skirts aren't asking to be raped.

These two pictures were taken by myself of a women wearing a dress with the majority of her legs exposed. The message behind these photos is that for a woman what something bad happens to her, what she is wearing should not be the main focus or what is blamed, the one who should be blamed should be the attacker.

                                                                       Final Photo

 

This is my final retouched photo which I will be using for my poster. I chose this image specifically because the legs look long making the skirt look shorter unlike my other one which actually made the skirt look longer. The reason why I wanted the skirt to be short is because I wanted it to portray the message that it doesn't matter what you wear, it's never right to blame the way a woman dresses for abuse, sexual assault or rape.

What I like about this image is the simplicity, there's not too much going on and when the writing is added there won't be any distraction from it. 

What I would have improved would be the variety of shots, I could have asked my model to do a wider variety of leg poses or I could have done a couple of outfit changes to show what the message is about with a different variety of clothing, saying it doesn't matter what you wear because no form of dress is asking another to harm you.

Social action and social media unit: Poster research and Photography plan

For my Photography I was very much inspired by the woman on the right wearing the words "Still not asking for it" on her partly naked body. The idea that women are asking to be assaulted and raped by the way in which they are dressed is absurd and this is the point in which I would like to put across on my Sexism poster. I don't think the poster will bear an image exactly like that however, the point that a women is not inviting you to rape her needs to be shown in the photograph in one way or another needs to happen

This poster also gives off the message that rape isn't the victim's fault as clearly expressed in writing at the bottom of the poster. On this poster there are also 6 female figures all dressed differently and below the words are clearly stated "Not asking for it" which is the same words on the woman's body in the picture above. The message is that no matter how you are dressed, what the circumstances are, it's not the woman's fault and by dressing in a certain way you are not encouraging it.

This is my own plan for my poster, it doesn't look like much but the idea is that I have one image and the slogan will stand out as the main message. The slogan will be "This is not an invitation" and the picture will be of a woman's legs wearing a short skirt. This idea stems from the "Not asking for it" poster and picture. This is the message that I will be trying to get across.












 The Image I will take will be of the bottom part of a woman wearing a skirt with a lot of leg showing. I may retouch the photo to smooth out any marks on the legs or if the picture goes well enough I won't. I'm going to be using a female model for this.

Social action and social media production: Resources and Survey Evaluation

Resources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25138455
http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/10/women-should-ads
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/23/why-india-bad-for-women
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
http://everydaysexism.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism


Survey Evaluation:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/analyze/SlZUbq4WbEX1wtppsNX0y1_2FdIa6FWleeBsicPOsxIsE_3D

When I conducted my survey I had a sort of clear idea of how the responses were going to go. What surprised me was the experiences and solid opinions which came from the young people I asked. As my target audience were teenagers of the later years I managed to survey people from the ages 17-20 to gain the responses I needed for my report. This also helped me get an idea of the type of things that normal people experience in their everyday lives just for being a woman.

When asked whether they'd ever seen or experienced a form of sexism the majority responded with yes which is actually quite sad in today's society since we're supposed to be evolving as a society yet sexism is still very real for a lot of people. After asked to explain further one person said "I saw a bunch of older guys wolf whistle at a young girl in the street for wearing shorts and thought it was gross", to me this is disgusting because you don't see women do that to men even when they're not wearing a top. Many people would say to just cover up but as women we shouldn't because that isn't fair and it's other people making it seem alright for men to treat women like that.

Social action and social media production unit: Sexism Report

Sexism is a prejudice or discrimination that is based on a person’s sex or gender. Although sexism can affect any gender, it is particularly documented as affecting women and girls (Age doesn’t matter). Sexism can come in the form of a comment such as “Women belong in the kitchen” and extend to extreme sexist crimes such as rape and other types of sexual violence. There are many ways in which people can express sexism and it typically extends from stereotypes and gender roles society forces upon us. Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior to the other and this belief is acted upon in one way or another.

As long as there have been people walking the earth there has been sexism. In biblical times it was a man who chose their woman, it was a man who would divorce their wife if they simply found her annoying, they only had to hand her a letter explaining that they were divorced. Up until the last centaury women had no rights to vote for who lead their country and were unable to enter into many professions just because of their sex. Although much sexism has been and still is aimed towards women, they are not the only ones who can experience sexism. Men everyday experience their own form of sexism, not only from women but also from other men in society. The idea that their worth is determined by their traditional masculinity is what society puts on men, this idea is completely bogus. Whether you are a man is not determined by what kind of job you have, by how much muscle you have or your sexual orientation, you’re a man because you say and who you know you are.

Sexism isn’t just a few words or the way in which a peer treats you, it’s something that society pretends isn’t there or hasn’t been around in decades but the reality is that sexism is all around us, it’s very real today. Many people claim that sexism no longer exists and feminism isn’t needed, this is not the case. With fashion trends and job roles changing, the development of social media in recent years, people’s ways of behaving towards the opposite sex have changed. For example many people hide behind a computer screen and anonymously post sexist things online and these days the sad truth is that people haven’t changed, their methods are the only things that have changed so instead of a man saying in public “Go back to the kitchen, that’s the only thing you’re good for” he would take to an online forum and say the same thing in the form of a debate, maybe in a paragraph.

An example of a campaign where this is shown is the UN women ad series which shows images of women’s faces and google searches covering their mouth saying “women shouldn’t”, “Women cannot”, “Women should” and “Women need to”, and the searches below come up as all sexist finishes to the sentences. These google searches were real ones taken from online and used to make the audience think about the sexism that lives in our society. The same could definitely work the other way round with a woman degrading a man online in the exact same way. Our society today is full of cowards that hide behind facebook, twitter and instagram accounts.

I am lucky that I live in a country where I am free to vote and express my opinion as a woman however; in many other countries Women have no rights or freedom of speech. In places like India women are treated with the degree of sexism as it was in the medieval age in the UK. In India women are treated like property, especially in the poorer communities. Women are treated as the weaker sex and are abused and tormented. A horrible example of this is in an article from the guardian where a gang of 18 men attacked a student leaving a bar for 45 minutes before the police arrived, no by passers stopped to help her and when the police arrived none of the men were arrested and the blame was being place upon the young woman because she was apparently “drunk”. There are far too many similar stories of events like this occurring in countries like India. The fact that the east has yet to catch up with what has been in the west for nearly a centaury is simply appalling. I don’t want to see children grow up in a world where your place in society is determined by your sex.

However many campaigns have been put out there online, on Billboards and on TV to deter sexism. One campaign which gained a vast amount of popularity was Always’ “Like a girl” campaign. This is an advert where a bunch of young girls/young women and men are asked to do a bunch of different actions “like a girl” and they do the first thing that comes to mind which is usually quite weak and prissy for the men and young women. When the young girls are asked the same things like “throw like a girl” they do it the way they normally would which is strong and like they are trying. And when someone behind the camera asks one little girl what it means to “run like a girl” her response it “to run as fast as you can”. After that the question asked is “When did like a girl become an insult?” and the young kids are asked whether it was a bad thing to be called like a girl and their response it yes. The message that this advert is trying to give is that young girls don’t think that “like a girl” means to be weak and the older girls think they do because they have been constantly been told by society that it is and they lose their self confidence to do these things because of it. This campaign is really quite amazing because it makes you think about the sexist remarks that you make and how that can affect someone in the long run.

As well as researching campaigns online for opinions I took it upon myself to create a survey and ask young people of both sexes between the ages of 17-20 on their opinion of sexism and the relation to our society. The responses were unsurprising. When asked if they had seen or experienced a form of sexism in their life 75% said yes. And then when asked to recall a time one person said “Guys are always making jokes about women making a sandwich for them and telling them to go to the kitchen” whilst another said “I remember numerous times of people being surprised I enjoy playing video games such as COD or Crash because of my gender and because it’s a boyish or gore-ish game." The most shocking thing wasn’t that everyone taking my survey agreed that sexism is still a problem in today’s society but the further explanation that came after from one person, “in work places, if you’re a girl you’re not meant to do certain things or can’t and if you’re male there are certain things expected of you. For example girls should wear high heels for work. Some companies make women wear high heels which is very unfair” This survey proved everything that is said above in this report. However the fight for equal treatment is strong and campaign’s such as the “like a girl” ad and the UN women ad series will spread the word and help stop sexism around the world because there is so much still to be done and that can be done.

For any help or advice on sexist behaviour or domestic abuse please contact the National Domestic Violence Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or at www.nationaldomesticviolencehelpline.org.uk because asking for help is the strongest thing you can do. 

Social action unit - Sexism - Unfinished

Social action and social media production – Sexism

What is it?

Sexism is a prejudice or discrimination that is based on a person’s sex or gender. Although sexism can affect any gender, it is particularly documented as affecting women and girls (Age doesn’t matter). Sexism can come in the form of a comment such as “Women belong in the kitchen” and extend to extreme sexist crimes such as rape and other types of sexual violence. There are many ways in which people can express sexism and it typically extends from stereotypes and gender roles society forces upon us. Sexism is the belief that one gender is superior to the other and this belief is acted upon in one way or another.

Sexism in society and gender roles

Sexism isn’t just a few words or the way in which a peer treats you, it’s something that society pretends isn’t there or hasn’t been around in decades but the reality is that sexism is all around us, it’s very real today.

Reflective Journal #8

This week I spend a great amount of time on my own coursework for print which was on printing techniques. I finished off my article by adding part of the interview I'd done with Mary because it needed to be added partly even if I couldn't add the whole thing due to wording issues. I also started working on a new story for the media website which didn't all go to plan but hopefully next week more will get done. That is literally all for now but until next time.