The representation of women on Vogue magazine covers

                                        The representation of women on Vogue magazine covers

Our group is looking at the methodology of Feminism. For my part of the blog I am going to discuss the representation of women in the popular media. I am going to focus on Vogue magazine covers as my main central topic of discussion. Since the 1960s images of women throughout the media have been a prime topic and concern of feminist media. This problem still exists today and is a strong topic throughout popular media. Many images of women throughout popular media provide inaccurate and unfair representations and stereotypes. These portrayed stereotypes and representations of women in the media give a false depiction of the real person behind the image. Instead they display and stereotype the woman into a certain category. For instance women are often stereotyped as sex objects in the media they are sexualised or objectified and are presented to satifiry and entertain the male audience, other common stereotypes includes the typical women as housewives or mothers, women are often linked to domestic situations and are stereotyped into this domestic goddess role.

Sue Thornham author of Women's Feminism and Media describes that (Thornham 2007 :pg. 24) 'inaccurate stereo types damage women's self perception and limit their social roles' these incorrect and false fixed images of women in the media damage the way we see and present ourselves they give us a false perception and alter the way in which we are being perceived and looked at by others. The vogue magazine covers are an aspect of poplar media that interest me very much. As a reader of these magazines I noticed that theres rarely never a cover that consists of an unattractive woman. The images of women that usually appear on the cover remain flawless and beautiful. The representation for instance of Rihanna on April 2011's issue is a good example. Rihanna appears on the cover directly looking at the viewer. Her body is angled towards us where she is wearing a sequined low cut dress modified to show off her body. Her skin appears flawless and airbrushed. Her waist also appears very thin in contrast to the rest of her body with the way she has angled the pose. The overall image of Rihanna has probably been distorted through the use of post production programs. This altered image of Rihanna begins to look less natural through the use of airbrushing and post production techniques we see less of the real Rihanna the image becomes more of a false representation of her instead. Her natural and real presence is also concealed behind this fixed image. 

Rihanna March 2011 Vogue cover

The image I think also becomes more of a product and selling tool for its audiences. Laura Mulvey a feminist theorist gives a good overview on how the audience views the people presented. Laura Mulvey known for coining the term male gaze in 1976 believes that the gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. It can be broken down into the following ways, how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. Throughout this theory Laura Mulvey believes that audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a hetrosexual male. She too believes that women are turned into sex objects through how they are shot in the media. The way rihanna is shot and presented on this magazine cover with the camera lingering on her curves and showing parts of her body straight away turns her into an object for male pleasure. The way she is presented in the image portrays her as a sex object also. As Mulvey believes Women look at other women. Like Men most Women are spectators of women. For instance when we meet a person for the first time we judge them on first impressions, the way they look, present themselves and even their body language. Even though we do not know the person to a great extent we stereotype them and judge them to what type of person we think they are. When we Look at this image of Rihanna we immediately analysis the image and judge it its second nature to us we do it most of the time without realizing . We look at her style, clothes and overall appearance. (BEGER:1972 PG 47) makes a valid point similiae to laura mulveys he states that

men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.This determines not only the most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman is herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object- and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.

When we look at this image of Rihanna we immediately survey it and make a judgment based on the image (Berger, 1972, Pg 8) also believes that 'the way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.' we may straight away form opinions and associate stereotypes with this image.When we look at this image we see rihanna as a sex symbol through the way she is presented. This brings us onto the topic of image as a commodity. Most of the images Vogue uses on its cover are produced to sell and advertise the magazine. If there was a less attractive figure on the front, the magazine may not stand out and sell as much. Laura Mulvey also argues that (Mulvey: 1975 pg. 10)

In their traditional role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at.

Women's appearances are used to provide strong visual and erotic impacts to its audiences as mentioned above this Image of Rihanna acts in the same way, this image displayed is used for a strong visual impact that will lead towards the selling of the magazine. The excessive objectification of women in some parts of the media, reduces women entirely to sexual commodities. It is imperative to attract consumers to want to buy the magazine so by vogue shooting the images like this the magazine covers get more attention. Its not just this cover issue the majority of vogue covers present similar principals. The march 2012 edition of Adele and the March 2010 issue of Rosie Huntington Whitely are the very same in what they aim to do.

March 2011 Adele Vogue cover edition.

March 2010 Rosie Huntington Whiteley Vogue cover edition.

The way in which the images again have been shot may suggest stereotypes and connotations .Both covers use similar style shots, both poses are very similar and persuasive in a way as both women are directly looking at the consumer. The way their faces have also been captured aswell as the way they have both angled the poses are very persuasive, both images are eye-catching grabbing the viewers attention straight away.

Its not just the cover image but captions that accompany the image for instance 'worlds most beautiful bodies' ' fashion to flatter every figure' ' live better push your fitness levels'' 'eat yourself happy' are to a certain extent stories referring to pleasing a man or catching someones attention, even though they are stories based on a woman's own personal recognition. They still suggest that they maybe relating to the male audiences. Most of the images throughout Vogue magazine covers tend to feature women with bodies that are unattainable for the average woman. Most of these captions accompanying the image are ironic as this is poignantly contrary to what is expected and intended.

In conclusion the representation of women in poplar culture presents many false representations and associations. The above analysis of how women are presented on Vogue covers show that through the way these covers are captured and presented to us they appear to give a false representation of the women. These representations and fixed images at times show less of the real person and instead a stereotyped woman. The analysis of Rihanna on the cover of April 2011's edition shows that through the way the image is shot and presented on this magazine cover with the camera lingering on her curves and showing parts of her body straight away turns her into an object for male pleasure throughout the way she is presented she is immediately associated as a sexual object. The image becomes more of a product and selling tool for its audiences. The other vogue cover with Adele and Rosie Huntington Whitley incorporates many of the same principals as the Rhianna cover they all are presented and turned into an object of male pleasure. The accompanying captions too that appear on the magazine to a certain extent are stories that may suggest about pleasing a man and catching someones attention. Aswell as the image presented these accompanying captions on the cover of vogue suggest and also portray women in stereotypes. For example the following caption that appeared on Vogues april 2011 issue of Rihanna 'worlds most beautiful bodies' emphasizes to the audience the importance of women looking attractive it too connotes the term women as a sex object.

Bibliography

Storey J. (2009) Cultural theory and popular culture an introduction. 5ed. Harlow: Pearson.

Walby S. (2011) The future of Feminism.Cambridge: Polity press

Berger J. (1972) Ways of seeing. London: Penguin books

Thornham S. (2007) Women, Feminism and media. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press

Mulvey L. (1989) Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, in visual and other pleasures. Basingstoke: Macmillan

Jones A. (2003) The Feminism and visual culture Reader. New York: Routledge

Guantlett D. (2008) Media, gender and identity: an introduction. 2ed. New York: Routledge

(2012) Five things about Women in the press, [Online], Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20554942 [03 April 2013].