Communications in Humanities Research

- The Open Access Proceedings Series for Conferences


Communications in Humanities Research

Vol. 1, 21 December 2021


Open Access | Article

A Semiotic Analysis of the Objectification and Sexualization of Women in East Asia: Exploring the Role of Fashion Magazine

Mianchen Wang * 1
1 Emory University

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Advances in Humanities Research, Vol. 1, 1-9
Published 21 December 2021. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by EWA Publishing
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Citation Mianchen Wang. A Semiotic Analysis of the Objectification and Sexualization of Women in East Asia: Exploring the Role of Fashion Magazine. CHR (2021) Vol. 1: 1-9. DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/1/ICEIPI_151.

Abstract

The media has, for decades, been a tool through which the objectification and sexualization of women have been perpetuated. The research question pertains to whether East Asian magazines also encourage the perception of women as sexual objects. This research investigated four East Asian magazines, namely, VIVI, Korean Allure, Chinese Beauty, and Chinese ELLE, using the semiotic analysis to determine the extent to which the cover models’ clothing style and make-ups were used to sexualize and objectify East Asian women. Although some countries like Korea have tried to eliminate women's fetishization, others still insist on promoting sexualized images of women to protect their magazine sales and because of the power of the male gaze. The author argued that fashion magazine should be used more efficiently as a platform where women are empowered to express themselves outside the stereotypical sexualization and objectification of women perpetrated by the male gaze.

Keywords

semiotics, sexualization, male gaze, fashion magazine, objectification

References

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Educational Innovation and Philosophical Inquiries (ICEIPI 2021), Part 2
ISBN (Print)
978-1-915371-02-7
ISBN (Online)
978-1-915371-03-4
Published Date
21 December 2021
Series
Communications in Humanities Research
ISSN (Print)
2753-7064
ISSN (Online)
2753-7072
DOI
10.54254/2753-7064/1/ICEIPI_151
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s)
Open Access
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Copyright © 2023 EWA Publishing. Unless Otherwise Stated