Gender, Gaze and Otherness

Otherness is the quality or fact or being different. As a society, we assign people to a particular group according to gender, class, age, nationality, race, sexual orientation etc in order to 'understand' them.
We often put people into stereotypes, and these automatically categorise what 'belongs' and anything that doesn't is categorised as being 'other'.
As a result of being 'other', a person is excluded from the norm and therefore is given less power. For example females possess less power than males. This gender stereotype is often challenged by photographers - this will be demonstrated in the examples in this post.


Nan Goldin

Nancy 'Nan' Golding is an American photographer, born in 1953.
The key themes of her work are gender, love, domesticity, and sexuality. Her main subjects include women looking in mirrors, drag queens, sexual acts and the culture of obsession and dependency.

Misty and Jimmy Paulette in a Taxi, NYC, 1991

This image shows two transvestites in a taxi. This is what we see at first; their exaggerated make up, large earrings, provocative outfits and their wigs.
However, the longer the look at it the more you get a feeling of them staring back at you. This creates a sense of gaze where you find the meaning of an image by focusing on it for longer.
I think that Goldin uses this gaze to connote that these people are aware that they are classed as 'other' but they own it - the attitude in their faces shows that they are proud of this fact and do not care if they are accepted or not because they are just being themselves.
In this piece, as well as her other work, Goldin empowers people that are considered as 'other'

Nan One Month After Being Battered

This image also reflects Goldin's theme of empowerment, particularly for women, 

A woman that has been abused is shown as a sign of 'weakness' however the woman in this image is presented as brave and strong. This is because despite her bruises and bloodshot eye, she still puts on lipstick, nice jewellery and does her hair demonstrating that she is still powerful, and will not be held back by her gender stereotype.