Gender Representations in Visual Culture

Gender and Visual Culture
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Gender and Visual Culture
Feminism is increasingly gaining popularity in contemporary society, with multiple articles discussing various aspects of feminist theories. The focus often includes equal gender representation in visual cultures, especially in the entertainment industry. The objective often revolves around achieving equality regardless of the sexes. As such, inclusivity, regardless of one’s sexual or gender identity, is important and often encouraged in visual cultures, including music videos and films. This paper summarizes class readings, including journal articles, to ascertain inclusion or equality in the visual culture.
“To Visualize the Queen Diva: Toward Black Feminist Trans Inclusivity in Beyonce’s Formation” is an article by Jennifer Declue, published in 2017. Declue (2017, p. 220) expresses concern regarding Beyonce’s album “formation,” which does not include the visual presence of music artist Big Freedia, who is openly recognized for his exploitation of feminine energy or gay identity. Beyonce was criticized for embracing Big Freedia’s vocal presence and disregarding their visual presence. The uproar was based on the fact that the music was “part of Beyonce’s celebration of the majesty, strength, and beauty of black women,” however, she did not feature Big Freedia in the video, signaling the exclusion of the gay and lesbian or queer community. Notably, Laura Horak’s “Trans on YouTube: Intimacy, Visibility, and Temporality,” unlike Beyonce’s Formation, discussed above, indicates support for transsexuals and transgender. Horak (2014) reveals that trans people’s content is produced and consumed by people because of platforms such as YouTube. In this regard, one can conclude that YouTube is an inclusive platform where people, regardless of sexual or gender identity, can reach a mass scale with their videos.
According to Horak (2014), the YouTube platform allows trans youth vloggers to post their content and connect with viewers. The author notes that as of August 2014, a YouTube search of transgender yielded more than 600,000 videos signaling significant inclusion. From the above, I am convinced that people do not need to rely on others’ platforms to achieve significant global audience reach. This is in line with Beyonce’s formation exclusion of Big Freedia, in the video, despite using their vocals. Instead, one can achieve significant awareness campaigns and produce trans people content that is equally accessible on YouTube, just like Beyonce’s formation video. Importantly, the successful adoption of the above claim is affected by the fact that Beyonce is a celebrated music icon with notable influence, and her decision to omit a queer person in the video, despite their contribution to the success of the music, indicates a lack of support for the trans or queer people. I believe she should have used her music to encourage inclusion regardless of one’s sexual or gender identity.
Based on Horak’s (2014) analysis, I have established that YouTube facilitates visual presen...