Den marknadsförda maktordningen. Kön och politik i det offentliga rummets bilder

Abstract

Art images, as well as media images, photographs and other mass-produced commercial images, reflect existing gendered power structures in society. At the same time, those representations (and therefore, also the gendered power structures in them) form ideals which individuals in society, consciously or unconsciously, strive to follow. These dynamics are here discussed with examples from some recent and in Sweden well-known images (in commercials by clothes/fashion company H&M, hygienic products brand Dove, and posters produced by political parties duringan election campaign on the EMU). In 1993, Sweden was chocked/amazed by the H&M underwear campaign with porn actress and model Anna Nicole Smith, who, in platina blond curls and poses clearly echoing 1950's pin-up pictures, was said to promote a "natural" womanliness and femininity. According to Susan Bordo, bodily and fashion ideals are intimately connected to society and politics, especially gender relations. In times of change and instability in gender relations, Bordo says, ideals in populär culture tend to underline differences between the sexes, in order to mark the importance of separating men and women. Anna Nicole Smith figured on every Swedish street corner during a period when equality issues were dominant on the political agenda, due to a feminist organization called "Stödstrumporna" who threatened to form a women^ party for the general elections in 1994. In 2003, when Sweden voted on the EMU, the EU Commissioner Margot Wallström was pictured strong and self-confident in posters promoting the "yes"-side. Wallström has a prominent position - both in these pictures and in reality. Most often, however, as Maud Eduards has shown, a single woman is accepted whereas groups of women are concerned threateningboth in politics and in images/representations.