My "Sexism" Collage

Today I finished my collage depicting sexism in the media. It features photos and text from a women's magazine that I feel shows blatant sexism against women. Although I don't normally consider myself a visually creative or artistic person (I've always been more of a writer than a visual artist), I was actually really pleased with the final result! In fact, I like my collage so much that I think I'll hang it in my bedroom after presenting it in class. It's colorful and interesting, and I really like how it turned out. Here are some pictures of my process in making the collage and the finished product.

I chose to include this text in my collage because it really emphasizes love over career or ambition, which is, unfortunately, a way that women are commonly discouraged from being career-driven instead of falling in love, getting married, having kids, etc. The message is that "love [should come] first," which is the opposite of what modern, self-asserting women need to hear!

The only mention of lesbian relationships that I found in the entire magazine was this small photo of Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi. I really think women's magazines should be celebrating and covering a diverse array of relationships, not just heterosexual ones. As Thylias mentioned, this is the reason that non-"normative" groups must create their own media and publications - they are just ignored by "mainstream" media!

The only part of the magazine cover (where I pasted everything in the collage) that I decided not to obscure or cover with other text and pictures from inside the magazine, was the barcode. I think the barcode is an important symbol of capitalism and commercialism. This capitalism - and just money in general - is the reason that there is so much sexism in this magazine. Clearly, the magazine is giving the people "what they want," and what they will buy. However, are they really giving "the people" what they want? Or do we just not have any alternatives?

The simple text "Does your coworker want to sleep with you?" again encourages women to focus more on men and their love lives than on their careers. At work, you should be thinking about work, not about whether or not your coworkers want to have sex with you!

I also found tons of articles, advertisements, and pictures in the magazine related to marriage. The magazine did not really suggest that there are alternatives to marriages (even though there are), and made the reader feel like marriage is the big goal, when really focusing on yourself and your career and success should be the end goal. They made it seem as though marriage is the only thing - when it's really only one of many things, or even nothing, in most women's lives. Come on, women's magazines - get with the times!

Here's the picture of the finished collage, and some more close-ups of different parts of it.