Dec 1, 2023
Investigative Study Tutorial 01/12/2023
Suzi helped with identifying contraceptive ads from 1960s, which were only available in US
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Investigative Study Tutorial 01/12/2023
Suzi helped with identifying contraceptive ads from 1960s, which were only available in US
IS: Draft Feedback
Make sure to include my voice-maybe my experiences as woman, my role as a designer and reflect on that
To help me switch smoothly between paragraphs, write intro and outro sentences, can even use questions as an start/end point.
10th and 8th december study skills are doing 1 to 1's
IS Draft
IS Moodboard
Investigative Study Theories
Feminist Theory
Queer Theory
Gender Performativity (Judith Butler)
Social Constructionism
Black Feminism
Postcolonial Feminism
Psychoanalytic Theories (e.g., Freud and Lacan)
Investigative Study Week 6 HW
Synopsis:
How have women’s reproductive health campaigns changed from the 1940’s to the present day?
Within my study of the topic question ‘How have women’s reproductive health campaigns changed from the 1940’s to the present day?’; I have analyzed how women and gender roles have transformed throughout history. My research aims to identify the changes in societal norms related to gender and whether certain stereotypes persist. In understanding of how women are presented in health campaigns, my research can contribute to discussions of sexism within healthcare and its contribution to medical neglect. Reproductive health is an important aspect of public health and campaigns often shape societal perceptions and behaviors. These perceptions ultimately impact how women are treated by medical industries and practitioners. It is essential that these campaigns are examined as it can have detrimental effects on how women are treated. On a personal level, I have witnessed how sexism within medicine has contributed to the neglect and suffering of women. By extension of this topic, achieving gender equality is a worldwide priority and how women are depicted within campaigns contributes to discussions on gender equality and efforts to promote women’s rights. As a visual communicator, social issues have been at the core of most of my projects, including the representation of neurodiversity, the isolation of young people in a world of technology and the liberation of North Korean refugees.
My research sources span a collection of newspaper articles and poster advertisements, to the growingly digitized campaigns of contemporary media. My research has highlighted the social progression of women’s rights and, most notably, how perceptions of women’s roles fluctuated during the Second World War. The progression of time highlights the increasingly open conversations surrounding women's health, including primary topics within reproductive health such as menstruation and menopause. In conjunction to conversation, there has been steady improvements in women's health within the medical industry, such as the introduction of chemical-free sanitary products. Additionally, the dialogue of these advertisements has shifted dramatically from their messaging to the benefits of men, to directly addressing advantages catered to the intended female audience. In the same light, older advertisements surrounding venereal diseases demonized and placed blame on women’s sexuality, but modern campaigns highlight sexual health as a shared responsibility.
Overall, the campaigns and advertisements are simply a snapshot into the wider issue surrounding the malignant sexism that has dominated our society for centuries. These attitudes bleed into how women are treated by the medical industry, primarily with neglect. According to Endometriosis UK, the average waiting time for a diagnosis of endometritis is seven years. However, this essay is not to disregard the incredible work and efforts of women who have fought tirelessly for our rights, for the women who endured bodily tortures and lost their lives to experiments for the betterment of our health and for the women who have pioneered medical advancements in understanding the female body, where men have not.
Table of Contents:
Synopsis
1940’s Second World War Venereal Disease Campaigns and Women’s Roles
AIDS and condom adverts 1980’s-current
Women’s sanitary health 1940’s Lysol and Tampax-present day
Abortion rights campaigns 1960’s-present
Menopause adverts Premarin 1940’s-present
Conclusion
Amazingly Simple Graphic Design Software – Canva
Investigative Study Week 5 HW
Question: How have reproductive women's health campaigns and adverts changed? (1940’s-2023)
Stage 01/Stage 02:
Feminism, Medicine, Media.
“the preservation and success of the idealized social units of marriage and family lived and died with women - with the control of their bodies, with the surveillance of their biology”.
This quote is in relation to the 1944 poster advert ‘Happiness Ahead - for the Healthy but not for the Diseased', which urged women to be tested for venereal disease prior to marriage.
‘‘In the late 1930s and early 1940s, amidst fears about declining birth rates, motherhood and childbearing were promoted as patriotic duties’.
In conjunction to the previous quote, the contextual history surrounding the period is significant in informing why the poster was made.
Stage 03
Questions that arise from this:
Were venereal diseases a widespread fear?
Did the World War cause the spread of venereal diseases?
How many soldiers were impacted by venereal diseases?
To what extent did birth rates decrease during the World War?
Why were women blamed for the spread?
Answers:
“Anxieties about the threat VD posed to the military led to fierce propaganda campaigns warning soldiers of 'good-time girls', 'pickups' and 'street walkers'. Posters featuring femmes fatales with cigarettes clasped between bright-red lips, headed 'She May Be a Bag of Trouble' and 'Booby Trap' spelled out, in no uncertain terms, that a 'Minute with Venus' was not worth”-Cleghorn, E. (2021). Unwell Women. London: Orion Publishing Co. Pp. 304
“Soldiers on assignment overseas were often lonely, had time to spare, got homesick, or were just looking for female companionship”. - WW2 US Medical Research Centre. (n.d.) Venereal Disease and Treatment during WW2. [online] Available from: https://www.med-dept.com/articles/venereal-disease-and-treatment-during-ww2/ [Accessed 01/11/2023]
“During the Great War, V.D. had caused the Army lost services of 18,000 servicemen per day. Although by 1944 this number had been reduced 30-fold, there were still around 606 servicemen incapacitated by V.D”-WW2 US Medical Research Centre. (n.d.) Venereal Disease and Treatment during WW2. [online] Available from: https://www.med-dept.com/articles/venereal-disease-and-treatment-during-ww2/ [Accessed 01/11/2023]
“By 1939 the British birthrate had dropped to below replacement levels, with two million fewer under-fourteens than in 1914 with a worsening situation developing by 1941 when the figure of 579,091 was an all-time low”. - Davis A. (2014). Wartime women giving birth: narratives of pregnancy and childbirth, Britain c. 1939-1960. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. Vol.47. Pp.257-66. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2013.11.007.
“Prostitutes received the brunt of the blame for the spread of venereal diseases, inside the military and out”. - Whitton, K. (2010). Women as Subject and Audience in World War II Venereal Disease Posters. [online] Available from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/231826228.pdf Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects. Paper 421. Pp.15
“The women depicted in these posters are purposefully seeking out “young, brave, strong” servicemen to infect in order to sabotage the war effort. In none of the ninety-four posters in the collection is a man pictured as the one purposefully sabotaging the mission of the United States military”- Whitton, K. (2010). Women as Subject and Audience in World War II Venereal Disease Posters. [online] Available from: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/231826228.pdf Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects. Paper 421. Pp.41
Stage 04
“urged women to be tested for venereal disease prior to marriage”.
The narrative of my statement is supported by the array of posters that depicted femme-fatale characters and their classification as a physical manifestation of disease during the Second World War.
Stage 05
Womens reproductive health carried significance during the Second World War, where fear of falling birth rates and venereal disease were rife. This fear is demonstrated in the 1944 poster advert ‘Happiness Ahead - for the Healthy but not for the Diseased', which urged women to be tested for venereal disease prior to marriage. The woman is pictured as a healthy woman, with glowing skin and a smile. Her complicit nature is encoded by her body language, as she leans back on her husband with her view cast to the side. By extension of this, she is aligned with the societal demands of housewifery and deduced to an accessory of her husband.
Investigative Study: Brandsplaining