Personal Identity- David Gauntlett

 Topic: Young Women and Material Consumption

Identity : how you represent yourself 

→ personal identity — how you see yourself 

→ cultural identity — share identity with the social group you belong to) 

Index: 

• How has the identity been constructed? (examples)

• What are the readings of the text 

• What effect does this have on the audience

• 
  

Essay: What is the theory? 

The media has a significant but complicated relationship with identities. There are many diverse and contradictory media messages that individuals can use to think through their identities and ways of expressing themselves, even in traditional media. Individuals in the modern world are expected to make decisions about their identity and lifestyle. We can see this through the example through the success of 'popular feminism' and increased representation of various sexualities has created a world in which the meaning of gender, sexuality, and identity is becoming increasingly open. 

Although the interpretation of femininity and masculinity is moving away from the old binary definitions, they will continue to provide a variety of cues for us to use in the meaningful construction of our identity. The magazines we read and the movies we watch all provide information about different ways of living that we purposely and knowingly incorporate into our own relationships and lifestyles. 

Examples: 

• It girl trend of 2021-2022

• Plastic surgery trend 

• The Kardashians

• Kylie Jenner 

• Beauty, fashion and lifestyle industries

• Wearing branded products (Chanel, Gucci, etc) 

1. How has the identity been constructed? (examples)

Identity has been constructed through mainstream modernization, as of recently our perception of femininity has changed. Although the media has still created this social construct of the conformity of women in general to be feminine, the sudden rise of many sub-genres has pushed this narrative of what an ideal woman is like. We can see this through the example of genres such as coquette girls, it girls, pick me, academia culture, etc. 

Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea 

Magazine: Dazed Korea 

Publisher: Dazed Media