Constructing Ideas of Femininity

A Context-rich Exploration of Young Girls‘ Advertising

Experiences

Dr. Francesca Morosi BSc, MA, PhD

Project kindly funded by a PhD Scholarship at Nottingham Trent University

•Introduction: Why a research exploring young girls’ femininity and their reception of advertising?•Literature review: GAP and research premises•Choice of Methods: addressing Authenticity & Complexity•Projective Techniques: examples & modalities•Methods of analysis: examples•Main Findings & Conclusion

Overview

“The image of girls and girlhood that is being packaged and sold isn't pretty in pink. It is stereotypical, demeaning, limiting, and alarming. Girls are besieged by images in the media that encourage accessorizing over academics; sex appeal over sports; fashion over friendship”

From the book: Packaging Girlhood

by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown

The alarm surrounding girls’ representation in the media: is it moral panic?

Creative

In an ideal world…..

Gossip

Cheer leader

FitIn th

e MEDIA

Research Questions1)How do young girls perceive, interpret

and re-negotiate ideals of femininity portrayed in current advertising messages?

2)In which ways can advertising generate negative feelings in young girls (frustration, inadequacy, self-loathing)?

3)Are there specific factors enabling young girls to critically respond to the stereotyped/sexualised representations of girlhood promoted by most marketers?

LITERATURE REVIEW

GAP • SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM (BLUMER, 1969)

• GENDER AS A PERFORMANCE (BUTLER, 1990)

• A CONTEXT-RICH EXPLORATION

• MEDIA & ADVERTS SYNERGIC ACTION

• ADVERTISING AS SOURCE OF MEANING

what I think it’s needed to understandadvertising effects on girls

MAIN RESEARCH PREMISES

Conceptual Framework

A Context-Rich Exploration!

GIRLS’ LIFE WORLD

FAMILY, MEDIA CONSUMPTIONPARENTS MEDIATION, PERSONALITY, EXTRA-

CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES, BODY IMAGE, FRIENDSHIPS, ROLE MODELS

GIRLS’ INTERACTIONWITH ADVERTS

How can I address Complexity?

SHOWING CLIPS OF ADVERTS, FRIENDSHIP PAIRS INTERVIEWS, VIDEO-RECORDING

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

How do I address Authenticity?

Children get easily……Intimidated! Expressing judgement or authority: tricky!…Bored! Making the child relaxed , the

activities fun SUITING THEIR TASTES & INTERESTS and providing choice

…Misunderstood! Use of visual prompts & validation

WRONGANSWER!

?Overcoming power issues: “I am not a teacher!” (Getting out of the school’s mind-set)

Children are the experts of their own world: there is not right or wrong answer! Role of the interested friend

6-8 PARTICIPANTS OF SAME AGE GROUP

EXAMPLES OF ACTIVITIESo DRAWINGSo POST-IT NOTES GAMES ON

FEMININITYo GROUP DISCUSSION AROUND ”BEING A

GIRL”, ADVERTISING, BOYS & CELEBS

o MAGAZINES CUTo ACTING & SINGING PERFORMANCES

Main methodsQuestionnaire - Interview to 37 girls & their parents

Phenomenological Interviews

With Adverts Elicitation

(2 rounds of peer-to-peer sessions)Follow-up InterviewClarify doubts in interpretation and fill gaps emerging from the analysis

Projective Techniques (pictures elicitation, cartoon completion)

• Family• Role Models• Body Image

• Media Habits• Extracurricular

• Parental Mediation• Make-up

• Interests/projects• Personality• Stereotyped femininity

• Critical skills

First RoundAdverts selected by

Researcher

Second RoundAdverts indicated

by Participants

TV ADVERTS DIFFERENT REPRESENTATIONS

OF FEMININITY

Very hard to find counter-stereotypical adverts!(only found a few ones)

Sample - Main Characteristics

Comprehensive Primary School in

Nottingham

37 Participants in total

Age 8 -1194% Response rate

Mainly White British Working Class Background

SamplingQuestionnaire - Interview

to 37 girls & their parents

Phenomenological Interviews

With Adverts Elicitation

(2 rounds of peer-to-peer sessions)Follow-up Interview

PURPOSIVE SAMPLESELECTION OF

31 girls(max. variation sample)

Clarify doubts in interpretation and fill gaps emerging from the analysis

Projective Techniques (pictures elicitation, cartoon completion)

SELECTION of16 CASES

(max. variation of critical skills )

FURTHER NARROWING SAMPLE

21 girlssecond round

37 girls

Projective Techniques

Children Body Image Scale (CBIS)

(Truby & Paxton, 2002)

Body Image

ONLY 9/37 SATISFIED WITH THEIR BODY

WHO ARE THEY?Looking at their context (family, media habits, parents mediation, main interests)

SLIDE A SLIDE BVS

AB

A & B

B

Projective Test to explore girls’ femininity

Girls were asked to mark with different colour pens the pictures in the slide:

Red: Identification (“This could be me”)Blue: Aspiration (“I’d like to be like this”)Black: Refusal (“I don’t want to be like this”)

Modalities & Precautions in implementing projective

techniquesBefore: • Ensuring interpretation of the image

before starting test• Explaining clearly and in child-

friendly languageDuring: • Asking girls to provide a commentary of

their choices to gather full understanding

• Encouraging girls to make questions when unsure

After: • Random re-testing of some girl to check

reliability • Triangulation with other data (parents

questionnaire, observational, interviews)

Stereotyped Femininity Index (SFI)

An indicator constructed through girls’ responses to projective slides (triangulation with observational data)

"They look stupid! DBI"

“I want to be like them”

"She is very pretty but I would want to do and be more my things than pretty"

"They look cool, I love the outfits"

"What are they doing?"

"They are very pretty but show off a bit. That is definitely not me"

"I wish I was them""I wish I could look like one of them, they are all very pretty"

"A bit over the top!""It's weird!"

"They look pretty. Are they going to a party?"

Projective Slide no. 1

OTHER PROJECTIVES SLIDES

Methods of analysis

Constructing ideas of femininity

Which media content? Does it affect the way they embody

femininity? • TV

programs• TV

channels• Videogames• Magazines• Fav

websites• Pop

Culture• Big

Brother• Boys’

stuff

Validation through a child-friendly tool:

Adverts Response Table

Extreme Groups Analysis

an example

LowerSFI group

(Girls with a more counter-stereotypical embodiment of femininity)HigherSFI group

(Girls with a more stereotypical embodiment of femininity)

Can we see a pattern in their response to adverts?

Identifying patterns of response in subgroups of girls

A Context-Rich Exploration

GIRLS’ LIFE WORLD

GIRLS’ RESPONSETO ADVERTS

Hall’s (1980) Positioning/Reading

DOMINANT

NEGOTIATED

PREVALENT TYPE OF READING

OPPOSITIONAL/NEGOTIATED

OPPOSITIONAL

Mirroring ModelGirls’ positioning towards femininity portrayals in adverts is highly reflective of their actual embodiment of femininity

Extreme Groups Analysis (EGA)

By focusing the attention on two “extreme” groups of participants (in terms of their response or “positioning” towards adverts portraying stereotypical or glamorised femininity) the analysis aims to detect whether there are particular factors in the contextual data set influencing girls’ critical abilities towards stereotypical representations of femininity.

Extreme Groups Analysis (EGA)

Main Findings1) Girls’ response to (femininity portrayals in) adverts is

highly reflective of their actual or aspirational embodiment of femininity >> (MIRRORING MODEL)

2) The Influence of media operate through a nexus of mediating factors (confirming Klapper’s Reinforcement Theory, 1960) so that the effect of watching the same amount of stereotypical material will be different depending on girls’ type of “positioning” ,which in turn depends on mediating factors in their context.

3) Certain “protective” factors emerged from the context of a group of girls displaying higher critical skills, positive body image and a more fluid and diverse embodiment of femininity:• Living with both parents• Strong bond with a close older brother• Gender roles’ policy in the family• A satisfying and regular relationship with father• Regular extra-curricular activities• Parents mediation in the consumption of media

Future direction

Blumer, H. (1962). Society as Symbolic Interaction. In (Ed.) Arnold M. Rose. Human Behavior and Social Process: An Interactionist Approach. Houghton-Mifflin. Reprinted in Blumer H. (1969).

Butler J. (1999) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, New York. Hirschman,E. C. & Thompson C. (1997) Why Media Matter: Toward a Richer Understanding of Consumers' Relationships with Advertising and Mass Media. Journal of Advertising, 1997, 26, 1, pp. 43-60. Martin, M. (1997) Communication and mass media: Culture, domination, and opposition.Scarborough, ON: Prentice Hall. Mc Cracken G. (1987), Advertising: Meaning or Information. in Advances in Consumer research (Ed.) M. Wallendorf and P.F. Anderson, Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 121-124. Mick, D.G. & Buhl, C. (1992) A Meaning Based Model of Advertising Experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, Vo.19 (Dec), 317-338. Phoenix A. (1997) Youth and Gender: New Issues, New Agenda. Young, 2, pp. 2-19.

Preacher J., Mac Callum, Rucker D.D. ,Nicewander W.A. (2005) Use of the Extreme Groups Approach: A Critical Re-examination and New Recommendations, Psychological Methods, Vol. 10, No. 2, 178–192

Main References

francesca.morosi@ntu.ac.uk

www.FemininityRocks.webs.com

www.TheGirlsProject.co.uk

This presentation is available on Slideshare.net

Thank You!

I welcome your feedback and questions