Personal Identity - David Gauntlett

AS Media - Young Women and Material Consumption         19 Oct 2022

1. Make notes on how groups are being represented and how these representations have been constructed.

Young women tend to be represented by:

• Social media (celebrity influences - trying to appear a certain way)

• Fashion magazines

• Makeup (trends)

• The female and the male gaze

• Beauty standards (likely to be perceived visually and physically)

• Fashion standards (as in people should follow the trend) 

• Photoshop

• Fake lifestyle (being rich)

• Shopaholics

PUBLISHERS: 

• Vogue: Condé Nast

• ELLE: Hachette, Lagardère Group

2. Consider how they might be read by their intended audience, possibly contributing to the sense of their own identity.

The intended audience is young women and girls, who are likely to be influenced by what they witness in the media - they are still searching for their own identity at that age -, and how the media represents them, in this case, young women. For instance, a women’s magazine, as seen in all the examples above, could influence how a young woman’s mindset would work and develop, resulting in an unrealistic and unachievable beauty standard for young women nowadays. This could have a great impact on young women’s identities simply through the media.

3. How has the identity been constructed? (+ examples)

How women dress (femininely), jewelry, make-up, calm-mannered, elegant

4. What are the readings of the text?

These women are beautiful and are the standard of beauty. Besides, women should build their confidence. 

5. What effect does this have on the audience? Good/bad?

Both, good as young women can express themselves in the way they want and find their own identity, but bad as it creates an unhealthy standard of beauty and living in general. They would have to put more effort into looking in a way that is unrealistic and damaging to their body and mind because, in reality, no one naturally looks that way. The bad effect on young women is they might push themself to look like certain artists or models to be called ‘beautiful’ or fit into the beauty standard, telling young women should be skinny, or if they are plus-sized, they should be thick and perfectly curvy. Besides, this may help young women find inspiration to build their confidence. Help them to build their character and express themselves within different media, such as fashion and makeup.