Category: OUCP703 Professional Context 1

This is working towards objective 1.

After looking into the new Barbie Doll line-up for 2016, this resonated with theories of Feminism and the Male Gaze theory which were slightly touched upon, and are extremely relevant to my current practice and research question, therefore wanted to look into these more intently.

The Male Gaze:

“The male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase male gaze was coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975.”

In addition to this, John Berger in ‘The Ways of Seeing’ stated that, “according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome — men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”

Furthermore, theories by Lacan surrounding the idea of “seeing oneself and seeing the ideal” can be noted in related to both theories of Mulvey and Berger in the sense that each relays back to ones self-perception as an impact of external influences and triggers, such as the Male Gaze for instance, in addition to the pressures of the media in the 21st century. Perhaps that this can be said especially in relation to Lacan is the difference between looking at a still photograph and that of a ‘real’ person allowing for a comparative nature to take over. In addition in regards to the Male Gaze, this is evident across the media with magazines such as Vogue to those such as Playboy, for example, amongst many other forms of print and digital based media.

Furthermore, as times have changed and women have become more conscious of how one and another perceive themselves, be it in real life, or on social media for example, Mulvey also notes that the ‘Female Gaze’ is the same as the ‘Male Gaze’ stating that women see themselves through the eyes of men, therefore influencing our choices on what is perceived and deemed attractive by the opposite sex, or the ‘male gaze’. Again, this is reflected though the likes of Playboy models whom tailor their appearance purposely to obtain such roles and careers.

Feminist Perspectives on The Male Gaze:

“A good deal of feminist criticism has been focused on eighteenth-century philosophy because of the many influential works on beauty, pleasure, and taste that were written at that time and that became foundational texts for contemporary theories. “Taste” refers to the facility that permits good judgments about art and the beauties of nature. While the metaphor for perception is taken from the gustatory sense, these theories are actually about visual, auditory, and imaginative pleasure, since it is widely assumed that literal taste experience is too bodily and subjective to yield interesting philosophical problems. Judgments of taste take the form of a particular kind of pleasure—one that eventually became known as “aesthetic” pleasure (a term that entered English only in the early nineteenth-century).”

“The phrase “male gaze” refers to the frequent framing of objects of visual art so that the viewer is situated in a “masculine” position of appreciation. By interpreting objects of art as diverse as paintings of the nude and Hollywood films, these theorists have concluded that females depicted in art are standardly placed as objects of attraction (much as Burke had lined up women as the original aesthetic object); and that the more active role of looking assumes a counterpart masculine position. As Laura Mulvey puts it, women are assigned the passive status of being looked-at, whereas men are the active subjects who look (Mulvey 1989).”

“Theories of the gaze reject the idea that perception is ever merely passive reception. [The approach] assume that vision possesses power: power to objectify—to subject the object of vision to scrutiny and possession. The male gaze has been a theoretical tool of inestimable value in calling attention to the fact that looking is rarely a neutral operation of the visual sense.”

Naomi Scheman states: “Vision is the sense best adapted to express this dehumanization: it works at a distance and need not be reciprocal, it provides a great deal of easily categorized information, it enables the perceiver accurately to locate (pin down) the object, and it provides the gaze, a way of making the visual object aware that she is a visual object. Vision is political, as is visual art, whatever (else) it may be about (Scheman 1993: 159).”

“Since the turn of the last millennium there has been a veritable explosion of interest in beauty among philosophers, artists, critics, and cultural theorists–feminists among them (Brand 2013: 4-6). While some of this work continues to consider the general traits of beauty in art and nature, quite a lot of it focuses on the norms of appearance of the human body, and the “violation” of “standard” norms according to race, disability, age, history, and variant sexual morphologies. Such standards govern not only artistic depictions, but also the way that real people shape and reshape their own bodies to conform to reigning standards of attractiveness (Devereaux 2013; Wegenstein 2012, 2006). Feminists and critical race theorists have been especially mindful of diversity and suspicious of general norms and the harms that they can occasion.”

Sources:

Mulvey, L. (1999). Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look. In: Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism : Introductory Readings.. New York: Oxford UP. p.837.
Unknown. (2016). Male Gaze. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze. Last accessed 9th November 2016.
Berger, John (1973), “Section 3”, in Berger, John, Ways of seeing, London: BBC Penguin Books. p.45.
Sturken, Marita; Cartwright, Lisa (2001), “Spectatorship, power, and knowledge”, in Sturken, Marita; Cartwright, Lisa, Practices of looking: an introduction to visual culture, Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, p.81
Sassatelli, Roberta (September 2011). “Interview with Laura Mulvey: gender, gaze and technology in film culture”. Theory, Culture & Society. Sage. 28 (5): p. 123–143.
Korsmeyer, C. (2012). Feminist Aesthetics. Available: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-aesthetics/. Last accessed 10th November 2016.

This is working towards objective 1 and 3.

I have been researching HE Institutions in Tokyo, Japan, prior to my visit in January 2017, in regards to locating large groups of people whom sit within my target demographic audience to conduct research with if possible.

I have targeted Fashion and Beauty-led institutions, resonating highly with both my practice, and my working research question.

I have found that there are 3 main HE Institutions which cover a range of Design-led programmes such as Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Beauty Therapy. I feel by targeting these Institutions I will be targeting young females, whom are interested in the topic of my study, whilst also being with a relevant age bracket of around 17-22 years old, which also again resonates with the target audience of focus in the UK, for example, especially in relation to my recently developed project, “what’s my name again?!” I would aim to either carry out interviews with a group of students, or perhaps even a focus group which may help with time-restraints, however again this may be harder to organise especially with the language-barrier, however this is something I plan on looking at in the next 2 or so weeks, allowing for me to review my ethical policies and consent forms with my supervisor, Anne-Marie prior to contacting Institutions overseas.

During the next semester, I am hoping to begin carrying out interviews and focus groups in the UK with groups of the public, in addition to looking at this in Japan, as I would like to be able to compare and contrast the results from the same, or similar bank of questions, which would be tailored to the audience and topic of research intently. However, I feel by researching into these HE Institutions now, and planning whom I will contact and why, I feel that the process of arranging and conducting interviews/focus groups will be easier.

Furthermore, if unable to book a meeting with the Institutions, I would perhaps like to consider the option of sending a digital questionnaire which could be filled in remotely and digitally, and emailed back to myself, or processed through an official data collection website such as Survey Monkey. Again, I also want to look further into which forms of questionnaire’s, survey’s and interview styles may be used to assess my options and also allow for contingency plans if I am unable to meet with students in Japan, or collect the desired data whilst overseas.

The HE Institutions I have come across can be found listed below, and in due course over the next 2 weeks will evidence any further planning and communication in regards to this particular element of my field-research trip. Contact details and addresses can also be seen below in preparation for contacting the Institutions.

As a back up I also plan to contact the following HE Institutions in the UK due to having such a wealth of international students on their fashion courses. I have began contacting the below institutions by both phone and email to attain contact information for course leaders.

• CSM
• Manchester Met
• Leeds Beckett
• Leeds Uni

Tokyo:

• Bunka Fashion College

Image/Contact Details Source

• Tokyo Mode Gakuen College of Fashion and Beauticians

Location:

Google Maps

Image Source

I was told my my supervisor Anne-Marie during my most recent tutorial about downloading Google Translate prior to my Japan visit in January as not much signage features English, and if so it is usually written in Roman format. Having used online translation tools in the past, I wasn’t aware that technology has so rapidly advanced to the point of taking a photograph of a sign, swiping your finger across the translatable text and the English translation will appear. This text can then be spoken in either English, or the desired translated language, in this case Japanese.

The app also also allows for me to speak directly in English for this to then be translated and spoken back in Japanese. The opposite is also available, i.e. Japanese spoken language to either a spoken, or written English translation to appear.

I feel whilst asking for the simplest of things such as directions this will be extremely beneficial, whilst also being beneficial if interviews are carried out for example whereby there are language barriers. I have discussed with my contact in Japan the idea of using a translator if need be, however this may be costly and depends on the situation at the time, and also depends on how much of a language barrier there is in Tokyo city with the people I will be hopefully talking to.

 

This is working towards objective 1.

As a Graphic Designer, I feel researching into Shannon and Weavers Communication Theory model, will allow for myself to understand my practice better, in regards to how the end-user receives the message which I, the sender, am putting out there for public engagement, feedback and communication of a message or idea.

The Shannon-Weaver model suggests that the Communication Theory has (taken from source):

• “Sender :  The originator of message or the information source selects desire message
• Encoder : The transmitter which converts the message into signals
• Note: The sender’s messages converted into signals like waves or Binary data which is compactable to transmit the messages through cables or satellites. For example: In telephone the voice is converted into wave signals and it transmits through cables
• Decoder : The reception place of the signal which converts signals into message. A reverse process of encode
• Note : The receiver converts those binary data or waves into message which is comfortable and understandable for receiver. Otherwise receiver can’t receive the exact message and it will affect the effective communication between sender and receiver
• Receiver : The destination of the message from sender
• Note : Based on the decoded message the receiver gives their feed back to sender. If the message distracted by noise it will affect the communication flow between sender and receiver
• Noise:  The messages are transferred from encoder to decoder through channel. During this process the messages may distracted or affected by physical noise like horn sounds, thunder and crowd noise or encoded signals may distract in the channel during the transmission process which affect the communication flow or the receiver may not receive the correct message
• Note : The model is clearly deals with external noises only which affect the messages or signals from external sources. For example: If there is any problems occur in network which directly affect the mobile phone communication or distract the messages”

However, even though this model accounts for ‘noise, or interference’ this can often represent a confused or distorted message which the receiver may not understand, therefore missing a key step of ‘feedback’. This was accounted for by theorist, Wilbur Schramm, whom focused on this additional stage in regards to allowing for overcoming barriers of effective communication. Schramm noted that “to understand human communication process, one must understand how people relate to each other” through communicating a message.

The modifications to this theory developed as shown below:

Thoughts:

I do feel that this theory is relevant in regards to my practice and the work carried out recently for my Instagram post project, in sense of having a sender, encoding a message, decoding and receiving a message, however feel that this theory applies more to verbal channels of communication, opposed to visual in the sense that this model allows for a continuous loop of discourse to take place between two people. I would like to look further into other communication theories which may apply to my practice more on a visual level.

Sources:
Unknown. (2015). Shannon and Weaver Model. Available: http://communicationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/shannon_weaver_model.jpg. Last Accessed: 6th November 2016.
Praccreditation. (Unknown.). Communication Models. Available: http://www.praccreditation.org/resources/documents/APRSG-Comm-Models.pdf. Last Accessed: 6th November 2016.

This is working towards objective 1. “©Dove conducts a social experiment exploring women’s view of their own beauty in contrast to what others’ see in them. A promotional piece for Dove, it exemplifies how we are, indeed, more beautiful than we think.”“Men are not their own worst beauty critics. Only 4% of men around the world consider themselves average looking. At New Feelings Time, we are committed to creating a world where illegitimate beauty is not a source of confidence. So, we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how men view their own beauty in contrast to what others see.”I came across these videos whilst researching the theory of Self-Perception as profoundly noted by Daryl Bem in 1972. Both are social experiments, the first being by Dove, a brand owned by Unilever, and the second by New Feelings Time, and both aim to showcase how Women, and Men perceive themselves in relation to others.

I found the first one interesting in how honest the women were in stating how they truly felt about their facial appearance, especially in relation to when they analysed each others faces for portraits, whereby they seemed shocked by how beautiful they were actually seen as.

The second video, showcases men whom describe themselves again honestly. Half used references from other peoples opinions of themselves, for example their Mothers, whilst others stated how they themselves feel. I was however surprised by the brutally honestly of the women describing the women at the end of the video describing a man. This seem to raise opinion with the men on how they were portrayed in and how they feel, with one claiming, “that does not look like me, and I refuse to believe it” giving the impression that in contrast to the female experiment whereby all were pleased with their portraits, men perhaps are not as aware of their self-perception.

As my research question focuses on the idea of self-perception within the fashion and beauty industries, I feel looking into this theory is key to successful practical projects, as well as academic research.

The below extracts summarise the theory whilst proving relevance to my research question and recent research topics of social media for example, whereby this can socially influence our behaviours and beliefs. Furthermore, I also found the statement, “we are what we do” resonant with the idea of ‘cultural icons’ and beauty bloggers, for example, in the sense that how they portray themselves through digitally curated galleries on Instagram, shapes that person, builds an image and a persona, being fully aware of their self-perception and self-awareness. But how does this affect the followers and their self-perception? Does this allow for us to change our identities in order to fit in and therefore become aware of our own self-perception once again?

I feel that this is heavily resonant with the Instagram/poster/zine project which has recently been experimented with, exploring this idea in relation with the theory of Identity for example, and changing to conform with an ideal such as Kylie Jenner. This form of marketing strategy, shapes our identity and perception due to being counterintuitive feeding off the actions of others in our individual ways to conform with this built sense of ideal.

Summary

“Self-perception theory describes the process in which people, lacking initial attitudes or emotional responses, develop them by observing their own behavior and coming to conclusions as to what attitudes must have driven that behaviour.”

Self-Perception Theory

“Self-perception theory is counterintuitive. Common knowledge would have us assume that a person’s personality and attitudes drive their actions; however, self-perception theory shows that this is not always the case. In simple terms, it illustrates that “we are what we do.” According to self-perception theory, we interpret our own actions the way we interpret others’ actions, and our actions are often socially influenced and not produced out of our own free will, as we might expect[1].”

Image Source

Image Source

Furthermore, since whilst researching for my 2nd Professional Context presentation, came across these two images, one of Kim Kardashian, and one of Makeup Artist/Instagram Icon, Amreezy, whom are practically holding the same pose – has social media affected our self-perception into allowing us to feel it is okay to perceive ourselves or see ourselves in a similar way to others to attain followers and likes?

Sources:

Unknown. (2016). Self-Perception Theory (Bem). Available: https://www.learning-theories.com/self-perception-theory-bem.html. Last Accessed: 5th November 2016.
[1] Bem, D. J. (1972). Self-perception theory. Advances in experimental social psychology, 6, 1-62.
Dove. (2013).
Forensic Artist Capture’s Women’s Self-Perception. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPZ0N4HdYYA. Last Accessed: 5th November 2016.
Dove. (2013). Dove Real Beauty Sketches. Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBoyf9HWiDQ. Last Accessed: 5th November 2016.

This is working towards objective 1, 2, 3 and 5.

As noted in previous posts, I have been speaking with a well-known model, whom I cannot name for confidentiality reasons, regarding an interview, whilst also speaking with my connection at It’s Milk and Honey (a recent freelance project of mine) regarding an interview.

I have already noted that with my ‘model’ contact, I wish to discuss how working in industry, both fashion and beauty, affect ones self-perception. I am interested to see how this compares to those whom view such models in the media on a daily basis.

In regards to It’s Milk and Honey, I wish to speak with my contact regarding their work as an online group of female bloggers, how they feel they are targeting the issues of fashion, beauty, body image and self-perception, and how in turn they are empowering women.

Prior to carrying out this trip, I plan on sending out consent/confidentiality forms and a full introduction clarifying what questions will be asked to alleviate any problems prior to interview. I will also note that pseudonyms will be used if desired to protect their identities and confirm with the Ethics Policy provided by the College. This will ensure that the interviewee is aware of what the research is being carried out for, in which ways it will be used and what I aim to take from it.

I am currently waiting for ASOS to reply to my emails regarding visiting them also for an interview regarding their Model Welfare Policy. I hopefully plan on tying in an interview during this time in London if possible, and the above will also be applied to further interviews such as this, whether in person or online to ensure fair practice and ethical research practice.