Annie Leibovitz’s contribution to the 2016 version of the Pirelli Calendar shows that there is more to women than just their waist size and a pretty face. In the more than 50 years the Pirelli has produced it’s calendar, each iteration has featured some of the world 's most beautiful , scarcely clad models posing in sometimes explicit ways. When Leibovitz was chosen to be the photographer for the 2016 issue, she had a different plan in mind. Instead of choosing twelve models and actresses, she called upon accomplished directors, athletes, artists, and comedians to be featured in the calendar. This concept of commending these women for their feats and accomplishments rather than their looks is a growing trend in media and modern culture.
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Often methods are used to reduce the women to their sexual body parts in perceivers minds(Gervais, Vescio, Forster, Maass & Suitner, 2012). This is a trend that Pirelli calendar has graciously participated in in previous years. Instead of conforming to this tradition, Leibovitz has challenged it in several ways. The subjects she chose to shoot are remarkable based on their accomplishments in life rather than their beauty. They are not there to flaunt their looks and to be visually pleasing to men, but to show off their achievements in their respective fields. The women were also fully clothed in casual clothing, with a few exceptions. This shows that the main point of the photographs is not to focus purely on their bodies, as is common in popular media. The two instances in the 2016 calendar with the women not fully clothed, the photos of Serena Williams and Amy Schumer, use the semi-nudity to add to the meaning of the photo. In the case of Serena Williams, the lack of clothes is meant to display her physical form and the effort and dedication it took from here to get to the point of being the best in the world for her sport rather than to simply sexualize and dehumanize her. Amy Schumer’s nudity in her photo also serves a purpose rather than objectifying her: as Leibovitz put it, “The idea was that she was the only one who had not got the memo …show more content…
As a woman, Leibovitz was less willing to make the photos sexually explicit, wishing to maintain the integrity of the women instead of continuing the trend of objectifying them. She can empathize with the women 's plight of being reduced to something simple rather than being regarded as a whole person. This empathy between women extends to other fields as well; putting women in roles that are usually occupied by men allows them to make some differences that men may not have recognized as a problem. Women in political power will focus on issues that face the women in their country more attentively than male political leaders would (Caldwell, 2010). Even if they would be the minority in many cases, putting women in these roles offers a new perspective in places where one may be sorely needed. Unfortunately, many fields do not have as much gender diversity as is preferable. An analysis from Korn Ferry shows that women are drastically underrepresented in the higher up positions in the business world(Korn Ferry, 2016). This shows that, while our society and culture are taking a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done in order to push out old fashioned frames of mind that believe that women do not belong in a ‘man’s
This …show more content…
Often methods are used to reduce the women to their sexual body parts in perceivers minds(Gervais, Vescio, Forster, Maass & Suitner, 2012). This is a trend that Pirelli calendar has graciously participated in in previous years. Instead of conforming to this tradition, Leibovitz has challenged it in several ways. The subjects she chose to shoot are remarkable based on their accomplishments in life rather than their beauty. They are not there to flaunt their looks and to be visually pleasing to men, but to show off their achievements in their respective fields. The women were also fully clothed in casual clothing, with a few exceptions. This shows that the main point of the photographs is not to focus purely on their bodies, as is common in popular media. The two instances in the 2016 calendar with the women not fully clothed, the photos of Serena Williams and Amy Schumer, use the semi-nudity to add to the meaning of the photo. In the case of Serena Williams, the lack of clothes is meant to display her physical form and the effort and dedication it took from here to get to the point of being the best in the world for her sport rather than to simply sexualize and dehumanize her. Amy Schumer’s nudity in her photo also serves a purpose rather than objectifying her: as Leibovitz put it, “The idea was that she was the only one who had not got the memo …show more content…
As a woman, Leibovitz was less willing to make the photos sexually explicit, wishing to maintain the integrity of the women instead of continuing the trend of objectifying them. She can empathize with the women 's plight of being reduced to something simple rather than being regarded as a whole person. This empathy between women extends to other fields as well; putting women in roles that are usually occupied by men allows them to make some differences that men may not have recognized as a problem. Women in political power will focus on issues that face the women in their country more attentively than male political leaders would (Caldwell, 2010). Even if they would be the minority in many cases, putting women in these roles offers a new perspective in places where one may be sorely needed. Unfortunately, many fields do not have as much gender diversity as is preferable. An analysis from Korn Ferry shows that women are drastically underrepresented in the higher up positions in the business world(Korn Ferry, 2016). This shows that, while our society and culture are taking a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done in order to push out old fashioned frames of mind that believe that women do not belong in a ‘man’s