Presentation Research "Sexualized Confidence" by Paola Panarese - International Conference Gender and Media Matters_Sapienza_15-16 October 2021

1. SEXUALIZED CONFIDENCE
.
.
A NEW GENDER DISPLAY IN OVER FIFTY YEARS
OF FEMALE IMAGES
IN ITALIAN FASHION ADVERTISEMENTS
Paola Panarese, Sapienza, University of Rome
15-16 October 2021

2. AIMS
• to reconstruct the evolution of female
representations over time
• to detect the persistence of gender displays
(Goffman 1979) in women’s portrayals
• to ascertain the existence, in the 2000s, of the visual
regime of confident appearing (Kohrs and Gill 2021)

3. REASONS
• Fashion advertisements and women’s magazines
are crucial actors in the construction and
maintenance of gender ideologies (Ballaster et. al.
1991; Bordo 1997; Budgeon and Currie 1995; Gill
2007; Wolf 1991)
• Erving Goffman's 1976 Gender advertisements
• GeMMa's focus on women

4. METHOD
• Qualitative content analysis
• Coding scheme was based on Goffman’s categories
and other coding categories, such as body display
(Kang 1997), objectification (Lindner 2004), distance from
the camera (Bell and Milic 2002).
• Some variables were selected as indicative of
confident appearing (head high, direct gaze, erect pose,
etc.).

5. MAIN RESULTS
• Evolution of women’s images over time
• Re-sexualization of female portrayals, in the
2000s, interlaced with the confident appearing
visual regime.
• A new gender display: sexualized confidence

6. CONCLUSIONS
• The idea that women can ‘choose’ to be
portrayed as sex objects reduces the
discourse to the dimension of individual
choice.
• Whether or not women ‘choose’ to be
sexualized, the repetition and intensity of
their sexualization suggest a social influence
on these choices.