Sociology 4: Visual Framing and Gender in Celebrity Selfies

This sociology report examines gender differences in celebrity selfies, focusing on visual framing theory. The analysis explores how female and male celebrities use selfies on Instagram, considering aspects like clothing, nudity, visual modality (cropping, filters), and posing. The study highlights societal perceptions and stereotypes associated with men and women in selfie culture, including the emasculating stigma around men taking selfies and the pressure on women to carefully present themselves. The methodology involves visual content analysis, coding for clothing, visual modality, nudity, and posing, drawing on existing research about the relationship between gender, vanity, and self-representation. The findings reveal that women often emphasize clothing and nudity more in their selfies, aligning with societal expectations. The report also discusses the implications of these findings and the ongoing debate surrounding gender representation in the digital age. The study aims to challenge gender stereotypes and provide insights into the evolving nature of self-representation on social media.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

SOCIOLOGY 1
The theoretical Framework
Visual framing theory will be discussed in this assignment. This includes the framing of the
challenges and the issues through the visual images that are accompanied by the texts (Rodriguez
& Dimitrova, 2011). The context of framing refers to the influence by the organizational
message towards the audience perception of whereabouts (Goffman, 1974).
The analysis incudes four of the major levels through the visual framing contexts. These are
1. Denotative systems
2. Stylistic-semiotic systems
3. Connotative systems
4. Ideological representations
According to Rodriguez and Dimitrova (2011), the visuals initiates in altering the perception of
the audience in the powerful ways as they are less intrusive than words. The context of visual
framing furthermore shows a new pathway for the development of the theory towards the future
research (Coleman, 2010). This is one of the best theory for using as the foundation of the
capstone regarding the analysis regarding selfies.
For conduction of this research among the variation and differences among the selfies of female
and male celebrities on the platform of Instagram , it has been assumed that the female
population takes and post more number of pictures which are selfies of themselves for
controlling their own representation as compared to the men selfies in the social media
(Loewenberg, 1999). According to the statistics and the studies of Matthews (2014), men has
been reported to take more number of selfies as compared to men, but men who are over the age
of 40 years tekane more number of selfiess as compared to women who are more than 40.

2SOCIOLOGY
Selfies and Gender
Remarks regarding the feminine attitude of men towards posting selfies in the social media has
been a topic of debate. There lies some of the emasculating and threatening actor of the men
towards being thee subject of similar gaze as compared to the women. There lies some of the
major vulnerability that is connected and associated with selfies. This includes being goofy,
letting people guard downwards and sharing of personal information and a part of one self. These
are some of the major factors that the men don’t generally perceive as rewarding and beautiful
(Benson, 2014).
There are numerous of male who takes and loves to take selfies. The list includes famous
celebrities and pop stars like Justin Bieber, snoop Dogg and actors James Franco. However the
stigma and the discrimination that is associated with the men and the nature of the men taking
selfies is simply not digested by the society the concept of men uploading selfies o the social
media is totally unacceptable by the society and often targeted as the object or the topic of satire
and humor. The reason behind this issue and the challenge of the societies unacceptance attitude
is that selfies are basically perceived and viewed to the feminine. This is because the term is
subjected and though to be associated with something lame and suspicion of homosexual
tendencies (Benson, 2014; UrbanDictionary.com, 2012).
As per the article of the statistics by authors for EliteDaily.com, there were some of the eight
major reasons targeting why accepting of the fact regarding men taking selfies has been denied
and why it is not right for men to take selfies. The write up illustrates the idea and the knowledge
of selfies being a feminist approach and a feminine action highlighting that selfies are just made
and discovered for women. This is because selfies acts as the medium for the female population

3SOCIOLOGY
to show case their new things like their new hair color or their make or their lip shade or their hot
outfits, or their freshly done pedicures or their love for their cue puppies.
Methodology
In the event that arms were unmistakably noticeable in the post or on the off chance that his or
her face was not appeared, at that point it didn't consider a selfie (except if a cell phone as well as
an all-inclusive arm(s) is plainly obvious). Nonetheless, it counted as a selfie if there was more
than one individual in a gathering selfie, another person was holding the camera or cell phone,
and that photograph was posted on the superstar's record. A visual substance investigation was
the fitting approach since it is an efficient, observational strategy utilized for testing theories
about the manners by which the media speak to individuals, occasions, circumstances, and so
forth. (Van Leeuwen and Jewitt 2001).
The scheme of the coding was organized by the celebrity with the inclusion of each of the coding
sheet that includes the clothing, visual modality, nudity and posing.
On the basis of the study by Hatton and Trautner (2011), it has been noted that nudity and
clothing has been referred to the sexual nature of the selfies within the terms of the amount of the
clothing in the selfies.
Visual methodology alluded to the confining gadget show that was illustrated by Bell (2001)
amid the second dimension of visual encircling of expressive semiotic frameworks (Rodriguez
and Dimitrova, 2011).

4SOCIOLOGY
Presenting alluded to the represents that were done in a selfie that may imply sexuality, and
depended on an examination on body stance and investigations of sexualization by Goffman
(1979).
Nudity and clothing
According to the results and the reports of the statistics, it has been found that the female
celebrities of the era have been placed in the attention regarding clothing and nudity toward their
selfies . Furthermore close analysis highlighted he factors how the male celebrities had at least
one of the their shirtless selfies.
The report highlighting major number of female celebrities towards the category of clothing and
nudity explains the idea that the selfies are generally strictly for women. This discussion is
furthermore enhanced with the belief that selfies are for the women to show some of the aspects
of their life that furthermore includes their hot outfits. As per the past statistics and the notions it
has been noted that women tends to tae selfies for the display of the aspects regarding themselves
that is appreciated and cared by the male proportion. According to Elliot, Misha, and Matt (2014)
these includes the cleavage of the women from multiple of the angles and the look of the female
in their pajamas or their body and poses while women are sleepy or lying or bored.
Hence the differences among the selfies of the female celebrity and the male celebrity in the
context of the nudity and clothing highlights the prevalent standard of the society. This explains
how women places more of their emphasis over the nudity and clothing in their selfies and wear
less clothes than men in their selfies.
Visual Modality

5SOCIOLOGY
The difference among the selfies of male and female celebrities on the social media platform,
specifically in the Instagram, in the context of the visual modality was not at all substantial in
nature and was very much close with the females of having the observed rate of the frequency of
the 58 males with 39 selfies.
The context of the visual modality is referred to whether the selfie is being cropped or not or if
any of the special filter was taken in certain lighting within the consideration whether the selfie
was taken. These publication perspectives occur previously or after the selfie is taken and says a
lot about how one needs to introduce themselves in his or her selfie, regardless of whether that
individual is a VIP or not. Through out all the other categories of the current research study, the
context of the visual modality is the most influential and vital category in the regards towards the
connection among the vanity and the selfies together with the alteration of the image within the
selfie and after the selfie when taken on smartphone, tablet or laptop.
According to Benson(2014), apart from these, the prevalent notion regrading capturing and
posting selfies and the associated vanity are generally regraded as the feminine. Women have
furthermore have higher observed frequency in the study for the complete control regarding their
representation that has not been always the case.
Posing
According to the results, the distinction among female and male VIP selfies isn't that generous
with ladies having a watched recurrence of 19 and men having a watched recurrence of 12. Once
more, similar to the past two classes, the thing that matters isn't that huge, yet additionally once
more, ladies had a higher watched recurrence than men. Presenting, such as apparel and
nakedness, is a classification that included the sexual substance of a selfie. Selfies, and the vanity

6SOCIOLOGY
that is related with them, are seen as ladylike and men would prefer not to be liable to a similar
look as ladies. Also, men see selfies as weakening and partner them with powerlessness,
regardless of whether that is disappointing your gatekeeper, being silly, or sharing something
individual about yourself (Benson, 2014).
A vast larger part of men take selfies, including real famous people like G-Dragon, Chanyeol and
Sehun, however the shame that is related with men and selfies is an objective for silliness and
parody. In spite of the fact that ladies take and post more selfies, G-Dragon is an incredible case
of somebody who represented how he would have preferred in his selfie and posted it paying
little mind to the shame encompassing men and selfies.
G-Dragon and other male VIPs represent the manner in which that they need to present in their
selfies, however young ladies and ladies have been trained their whole lives to be pictures to be
seen, which incorporates being painstakingly presented in photographs. Selfie culture sustains
this customary thought, and this called selfie-typification.
Men are the same amount of open to externalization in their selfies as ladies seem to be, however
ladies are as yet the ones who are seen to be the sexual orientation who care about how they
present in their selfies. The 2014 innovatively propelled examination "Selfiecity," which was led
in five noteworthy urban communities, demonstrated that ladies take more selfies than men with
1.3 occasions the same number of in Bangkok, 1.9 occasions the same number of in Berlin, and

7SOCIOLOGY
4.6 occasions the same number of in Moscow. According Williams (2014), moreover, the
consequences of the presenting area validated "Selfiecity" in that "Selfiecity" found that ladies'
selfies show more expressive postures than men — with the normal measure of head tilt for
ladies being higher than men (12.3 degrees versus 8.2 degrees).
Discussion
The current study intends to closely examine the various aspects among the selfies among the
female and the male celebrities. For understanding and analyzing the selfie culture and the
variations among selfies taken and posted by women and the selfies taken by the men, this study
intends to conduct a through analysis.
It is essential to separate sexual orientation generalizations as to how ladies depict their
characters in the parts of selfies that were investigated in this capstone — dress and bareness,
visual methodology and presenting — by changing the social standards later on that were
verified in this examination. As indicated by Goffman, encircling can be distinguished at a
vertical dimension as examples of open talk (Kinder and Sanders, 1990; Gamson, 1992) with
respect to people in general and between media talk. Besides, encircling can reference occasions,
causes, results (Scheufele, 2003).
Moreover, this capstone is significant in light of the selfie-generalization, which validates the
historical backdrop of ladies in self-representation as pictures to be taken a gander at, presented,
styled, and altered. According to Kite and Kite (2014), the three stages that the Kite sisters
elevate are intended to battle and disengage from selfie-externalization. Despite the fact that
what they advocate is outstanding and enabling, future investigations, for example, this one

8SOCIOLOGY
about selfies will ideally battle and change the general account of selfies as an activity that is
simply narcissistic.
The main aim of the study was towards the innovation and the discovery regarding difference
among the man and women regarding the biggest phenomena regrading selfie, technologically
advanced culture and the delineation regrading other technologically advanced culture
specifically in Instagram.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that selfie is one of the category of photograph that is taken specifically
by the webcam, or smartphone and are uploaded top the social media webpage. According to
Oxford English Dictionary (2013). The scaffold between self-picture and innovation was made
when the word selfie was first used in an Internet discussion in Australia in 2002, and after that
its presentation into the universe of online networking was made when the hashtag #selfie was
utilized in 2011 by Jennifer Lee. The selfie is legitimately plummeted from the self-pictures that
were showed in artistic creations, figures, and photos in craftsmanship history, and its
flawlessness was made by its consolidation into innovation and internet based life.
Selfies and their noticeable quality are credited to online networking, however it can likewise be
ascribed to its clients. Despite the fact that the selfie has been made renowned and imperative by
big names, a selfie is a part of web based life that is similarly as well known and critical to non-
superstars. In contrast to self-picture, which was typically held for the affluent and well-regarded
figures in the public arena, the selfie spans that class separation, and anyone in any piece of the

9SOCIOLOGY
world who has a cell phone, a tablet, or a PC can take and post a selfie, paying little mind to its
dimension of workmanship, class, or different models or socioeconomics.
The fame of the selfie is straightforwardly connected to, or was catalyzed by, the fame of the
internet based life application and stage Instagram. The top superstar selfie takers and blurbs,
including selfie ruler Kim Kardashian West and pop star Justin Bieber, post the greater part of
their selfies on Instagram. The hashtag #selfie was first utilized on Instagram by Jennifer Lee,
and as of June 2017, the hashtag #selfie has been utilized in posts on Instagram more than 302
million times. Moreover, more VIPs post their selfies on Instagram, than on Twitter, another well
known web-based social networking system and application on which to post selfies (The
Huffington Post, 2013).
Limitation
There has been various limitations of the current study. This furthermore includes various of the
aspects.
Development of application in Instagram
Together with the changing world of the entertainment, there has been the rise of the pop culture
and the world of the technology. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat has emerged
successful together with the transient concept regrading the Facebook Live Videos and the
stories of Instagram. There are impediments inside Instagram as a result of these improvements
— it is never again only an application where you can post photographs and recordings.
Alongside the Instagram Stories highlight, there is the capacity to post longer recordings inside

10SOCIOLOGY
the application, and the capacity to coordinate message, or DM, and visit with devotees inside
the application. Selfies posted on Instagram isn't just for your record, yet selfies can likewise be
posted on your Instagram Story or to a companion your identity visiting with, both in photograph
or recordings structure. In addition, as Snapchat, you can tweak your photograph or video in your
Instagram Story with a plenty of additional subtleties, for example, channels, stickers, content
sizes and hues, and illustrations on the screen.
Methodology
The option regrading the qualitative study together with the inclusion of the surveys and
interviews regrading the celebration and the selfies is the limitation, Analysis among the selfies
and gender together with the neutrality and the issues if the transgender with the use of the
qualitative method differ from quantitative studies regarding the selfies
Future Research Direction
There are numerous bearings for future research that can be led on selfies and its associations
with sexual orientation. It is fascinating to lead a future report that utilizes Q-procedure to find
the inspirations driving why female and male explicitly take and offer selfies via web-based
networking media. Finding the likenesses and contrasts between why male and female take and
offer selfies, particularly with the consistently popularity of selfies among ladies and men, with
the ceaseless advancement of technological and social media apps. It is interesting to break down
the type and the category of selfies that are taken at the Louver in Paris, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the MoMA in New York City, the Tate Modern in London, and so forth. It is
fascinating to see whether more men or more ladies take selfies in workmanship exhibition halls,
discovering compositions, models, or establishments are the most selfie-commendable, and

11SOCIOLOGY
notwithstanding observing the craftsmanship historical center energizes taking a selfie with a
work, for example, through a hashtag or an advancing its posting, would be invaluable to both
selfie research and craftsmanship showcasing research.