This essay explores and compares the depiction of the character Beverly Marsh in Stephen King’s novel IT and Andy Muschietti’s 2017 film adaptation. The literary analysis uses the theoretical concepts of Mulvey’s the Male Gaze, Bartky’s sexual objectification theory, and Kristeva’s abjection. The Male Gaze describes how women are constantly looked upon by an implicit male subject, whether it be characters within the narrative or the spectator outside of it. Sexual objectification refers to how the body can become fragmented into sexual parts when described in an oppressive way. Feelings of abjection can occur when the concepts of subject and object, cultural norms, or sexual differences are challenged. The initial hypothesis was that King’s novel would lean more on patriarchal structures in the way femininity is described. However, the results show that both the original novel and the film depict Beverly in a sexually objectifying way, although the methods differ.

Initially, my developing body of work aimed to redesign the traditions of representational painting, specifically the female nude, to depict the contemporary notions of lesbianism and femininity in an honest and empowering manner as a form of identity and not as vehicle for voyeurism. As an artist who paints the female nude and identifies as a woman and a lesbian, I examine the preexisting notions of the male gaze and the effect of socialization as it pertains to my work. The act of looking from the point of view of a woman, which is not synonymous with a "female gaze", or from the point of view of a lesbian, is not a birthright, but a conscious effort to constantly question the way we see and produce pictures and realizing that the male gaze permeates most images of female nudes. By the nature of my sexuality and my exposure to existing male-produced images, do I see the female nude through the male gaze or is there a gaze that is essentially female? Does it matter either way if the image is aesthetically compelling? My paintings neither attempt to conform to the male gaze or debunk it, nor do I attempt to prove the existence of a female gaze. Like Edgar Degas, I wish to look through a keyhole-a form of voyeurism-to see people outside of their public facade.

The aim of this essay is to examine how Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Emily Kaldwin and Billie Lurk have been portrayed in their respective games. The questions at issue have examined how these four characters have been portrayed by their appearance on the cover of their games and how they’ve been depicted in gameplay. A comparative study has been used to compare how the design on the characters have been differentiated not only from each other but also from the male characters in each game. The essay has also examined what the sex and gender identity have been of the character’s creators and if they’ve motivated their character designs. An analysis has been made to establish if there has been a male gaze present in the design process and the game and if this has led to the character’s being sexualized. Judith Butler’s performativity theory has been used for this essay along with Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as well as an intersectional approach according to Kimberlé Crenshaw. Lara Croft, Bayonetta and Emily Kaldwin are shown to break gender codes while still upholding some of them; Billie Lurk is the only one that totally breaks with them and creates a sort of a “new woman”, as she not only breaks the Madonna-and-the-Whore-complex in which each of the other three can be put in. Billie Lurk and Emily Kaldwin are the only female characters which can be seen as not sexualized or steered by the male gaze, but instead they give the gamer an opportunity to live the characters’ stories through them with the first-person-shooter-view. Lara Croft from the games before Tomb Raider (2013) and Bayonetta are clearly sexualized female characters that are controlled by male desire and the male gaze. As these two games are played from a third-person-view it gives the gamer the power to control these women, putting them under the gamer’s will.

Modern media patterns show feminist narratives being used to market different consumer products in the name of female empowerment and emancipation. Typically, the industries targeted have historically been dominated by male perspectives and aim to perpetuate a capitalist consumer culture. The newly legalized cannabis industry in North America, has seen an increase in female participation both in production and consumption. This thesis takes Broccoli, an all-female produced magazine about cannabis, as a case to textually analyze how feminist narratives are used to appeal to their majority female and non-binary audience to a cannabis consumer lifestyle. In the analysis I have found that the magazine is critical to postfeminist notions of consumer culture, while simultaneously working within them in order to act as pioneers, holding a female-oriented space within the industry.

The traditional notion of the Male Gaze, first conceptualized by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975, focused on the objectification of women through depictions structured to gratify a male heterosexual perspective. In this chapter we will revisit this concept and investigate how that gaze may have shifted away from a primarily heterosexual perspective to a socially dominant male perspective (maleness here referring to dominance rather than specific gender, just as “whiteness” might refer to privilege rather than race). With gender roles in an increasingly global and mobile society becoming more fluid and complex, opening up visibility to LGBTQ communities, along with a substantial post-feminist backlash, we will consider how the male gaze is shifting and how subsets of objectifying “gazes” might overlap. I will explore whether the traditional heterosexual male gaze has shifted due to power backlashes and other developments. New gaze developments may take the form of the “bromance” as well as athletics and advertising. Included in an investigation of this “dominant gaze” will be an exploration into the possibility of a lesbian and transgender gaze – does each subculture have the propensity to fall into this pattern of objectified looking and if so, where is the evidence and what are the implications? That evidence will be explored through photography, film, dance, and other visual media as this subject is expanded through the emergence of variant sexualities and gender identities.

Si la littérature et la critique se sont abondamment intéressées aux figures du clown et du saltimbanque depuis le XIXe siècle, force est de constater que les artistes féminines n’ont connu ni la même gloire ni la même légitimation. Tandis que leurs homologues masculins peuplent les romans, les femmes saltimbanques sont peu mises en scène dans les œuvres littéraires et n’ont en général qu’un rôle secondaire. À sa publication en 1901, Lulu, roman clownesque, de Félicien Champsaur, change cette donne en plaçant au centre de son récit un personnage féminin fort. Le roman relate alors l’ascension et la gloire sans précédent de Lulu la clownesse. En nous attardant plus spécifiquement au traitement du corps de l’artiste féminine dans le roman, nous dégagerons le rôle essentiel que joue l’enveloppe charnelle dans la réussite du parcours de la saltimbanque, ainsi que dans les rapports qu’entretient cette dernière avec le public. Nous verrons dans un premier temps que le corps s’impose dans l’œuvre comme un puissant outil d’agentivité. Par la suite, nous constaterons que ce travail est mis à mal dès lors que la chair du personnage féminin devient l’objet du spectateur masculin. Lulu n’est plus définie selon ses actes, mais plutôt selon les termes de celui qui l’observe. Nous montrerons que le corps féminin constitue un enjeu primordial et ambigu dans le roman de Champsaur dans la mesure où il se situe au cœur de la construction du personnage romanesque et de son parcours.

In a heteronormative society where hegemonic masculinity prevails, beauty is often synonymous with, and presented as, feminine. For example, pictures of tall, thin women with perfect teeth and perfect skin gloss the covers of magazines and other forms of media as representative of some beauty ideal. This “ideal” is the barometer by which, on many levels, all women are judged. While some women may choose to ignore these messages, few women can always escape comparison. Our society constantly informs us that appearance matters. More specifically for women, a feminine physical appearance is often considered “ideal.” But what exactly does this construct, feminine, signify? Fundamentally, femininity is not static. To speak of it as a logical, simple construct is problematic for it means different things and is expressed in different ways in different environments. Furthermore, to assert one definition by which all others will be measured is difficult in that it presumes a homogenous population and/or idealizes one specific representation. In this research project I conducted in-depth interviews with 43 non-heterosexual women to discern how they constructed “femininity.” What did it look like? What meanings did it connote? When was it important and how was it negotiated? Applying a cognitive sociological lens and using grounded theory methods, I describe what femininity, or arguably femininities, look(s) like within this subpopulation. This project contributes to and extends the literature on gender, sexuality, and appearance. It does this by demonstrating the importance of analyzing non-heterosexual women’s experiences and understandings of femininity within a patriarchal society that valorizes hegemonic masculinity. Most literature contemplating appearance and related misogynistic messages emphasizes a heteronormative perspective. However, feminine and femininity uniquely impact non-heteronormative women. Non-heterosexual women must negotiate both misogynistic and heterosexist messages concurrently. By simultaneously addressing this “double” subordination or marginalization, this research endeavors to provide a more comprehensive overview of meanings and ramifications of appearance choices.

The thought behind this bachelor essay regarding gender and rhetorical feminist criticism developed years ago out of the fact that I read just a little too many dirty chick lit-pockets as a teen. Those chick lit-pockets were my first introduction to sex, to gender roles, to how men and women react and are supposed to react to each other and, in some sense, even to feminism. Those chick lit-pockets, later turning into hardcore Harlequin-books, became my benchmark when I started to contemplate the fact that this is a man’s world, produced and reproduced by a male gaze which influences everything from sex, porn, advertising, gender roles, jobs and payment to dirty pockets for teenage girls. The essays aims to show how the male gaze-phenomenon could be to use for the rhetoric discipline: first combined with other rhetorical theories as a way to analyze and understand gender and objectification. The main question asked; How to put the male gaze on a rhetorical leash? This bachelor essay consists of a qualitative literature study focusing on four articles and one book in which five different male gaze-perspective appears. Every article presented will be followed by an explicative chapter in which the articles, specific male gaze- perspective will be combined with relevant rhetorical theories and applied to pop cultural example cases in order to demonstrate its academic potential. The conclusion of this essay establishes that the rhetorical discipline indeed could have great use of the male gaze-perspective while analyzing different kinds of artifacts, if combined with different kinds of methods. It confirms that it is possible to put the male gaze on a rhetorical leash and explains five specific ways to do so.

Si la littérature et la critique se sont abondamment intéressées aux figures du clown et du saltimbanque depuis le XIXe siècle, force est de constater que les artistes féminines n’ont connu ni la même gloire ni la même légitimation. Tandis que leurs homologues masculins peuplent les romans, les femmes saltimbanques sont peu mises en scène dans les œuvres littéraires et n’ont en général qu’un rôle secondaire. À sa publication en 1901, Lulu, roman clownesque, de Félicien Champsaur, change cette donne en plaçant au centre de son récit un personnage féminin fort. Le roman relate alors l’ascension et la gloire sans précédent de Lulu la clownesse. En nous attardant plus spécifiquement au traitement du corps de l’artiste féminine dans le roman, nous dégagerons le rôle essentiel que joue l’enveloppe charnelle dans la réussite du parcours de la saltimbanque, ainsi que dans les rapports qu’entretient cette dernière avec le public. Nous verrons dans un premier temps que le corps s’impose dans l’œuvre comme un puissant outil d’agentivité. Par la suite, nous constaterons que ce travail est mis à mal dès lors que la chair du personnage féminin devient l’objet du spectateur masculin. Lulu n’est plus définie selon ses actes, mais plutôt selon les termes de celui qui l’observe. Nous montrerons que le corps féminin constitue un enjeu primordial et ambigu dans le roman de Champsaur dans la mesure où il se situe au cœur de la construction du personnage romanesque et de son parcours.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed some light on the stereotypical ways of portraying women in advertising. The thesis studies and analyses the eventual change in the perception of the woman in pictures for advertising, but also investigates the change in the business of marketing and advertising. The thesis assumes a method of a qualitative approach, with both induction and deduction applied to the study. The data used for this study’s analytical work derives from three semi structured interviews with representatives for the marketing business, and an analysis of advertisements pictures for cosmetics products from the last ten years. The study’s result has shown that the perception of the woman in advertising is stereotypical. In addition, the study has not been able to detect any change in the advertisements for women for the past ten years. However, the material shows a small change in the attitude towards a wider range of ethnicities. / Syftet med denna uppsats är att utreda och analysera förändringar i bilden av kvinnan i reklam för skönhetsprodukter de senaste tio åren. Tre forskningsfrågor har även formulerats vilka är följande: Vilka karakteristiska inslag finns i bilden av kvinnan? Hur har bilden av kvinnan i reklam förändrats och sett ut de senaste 10 åren i skönhetsbranschen? Har bilden av kvinnan i reklam skapat en stereotypisk kvinnorepresentation? Uppsatsen utgår utifrån en kvalitativ metod samt genom ett växelspel mellan deduktion och induktion. Studien avslutas med en analys som grundar sig i empiriskt resultat från en intervjustudie i tre delar samt en bildanalys av annonsbilder. Enligt arbetets resultat är bilden av kvinnan i reklamen en stereotyp sådan. Utefter studiens resultat har ingen egentlig förändring i bilden de senaste tio åren uppmärksammats utan kvinnans karaktäristiska drag förblir de samma idag som för tio år sedan. Däremot visar resultatet indikationer mot en mer inkluderande etnisk framställning av kvinnan.