How the media makes men look more powerful

I read some research today that I found fascinating. A group of European researchers have found that the media can influence how readers interpret the amount of power held by somebody, purely through the angle they use to shoot the photo.

Pictures shot from below are seen to represent powerful people, while those shot from above are seen to represent less powerful people. The media therefore can change how we feel about individuals with just a bit of clever photography. This might all sound a bit obvious, but what you might not think about so much is how this influences our perceptions of gender.

In their experiments, Dr Steffen R. Giessner, Associate Professor at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), and his colleagues found that there are more photographs of women in advertisements, newspapers and magazines shot from above than from below, while the opposite is true for men.

Looking down on the lovely Jennifer Aniston

All these camera angles therefore reinforce our perception that men are powerful and women are not, strengthening our stereotyped ideas that women cannot become leaders.

Cowering in the shadow of the mighty Barack Obama

“Such simple associations of power and angle of shot do not take place in a social vacuum,” said Giessner. “Rather, context related to power (such as within organisations, or portraying the 100 most important people in the world) easily trigger our thinking about power. As a result we may consciously or unconsciously use cues to show the attribution of power in a picture.” He concludes: “While it is the job of researchers to uncover such effects, it is the job of the media to decide when to use and when not to use such subtle cues.”

So there you go.

Have a look for yourself – flick through a magazine or newspaper and notice the camera angles. Are there more women shot from above? Does a simple picture change the assumptions you make about people?

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Guest post from the world’s most unlikely sex blogger

I should clarify – this is how she describes herself, not me passing judgment.

For a while now I’ve been following, in a completely non pervy way, the sexual exploits of Betty Herbert, whose blog has recently become a book – The 52 Seductions. I was absolutely delighted then when Betty agreed to be a guest on my blog, talking about her writing experiences.

She has also very generously offered to give away a signed copy of her book to one lucky reader, so if you fancy learning a few new moves, just leave a thoughtful comment on this post over the next week, and a winner will be picked at random. Over to Betty…

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I am possibly the world’s most unlikely sex blogger.

Setting aside the fact that, when I started writing The 52 Seductions, I hadn’t had sex for four months, there were other issues that didn’t weigh in my favour. For example, I would cross the road to avoid anything vaguely sexy in books or on TV. And, frankly, I found adults who were ‘into’ sex more than a little bit creepy.

Another reason to love Sainsbury’s – for their super cute customer service

Just in case you haven’t yet seen it yet, I thought I’d share this photo of the adorable customer service letter from Sainsbury’s Customer Manager Chris King (aged 27 1/3) to customer Lily Robinson (aged 3 1/2).

And yes, there is a cynical part of me that thinks it’s just a publicity stunt from Sainsbury’s, but frankly I don’t care. Either their customer service or their marketing department are brilliant. High fives to Sainsbury’s.

The one where Bee is hilarious

“I read your blog today in my free period,” said Bee, as I prepared her a wholesome dinner of beans on toast. “It wasn’t that great. I don’t really like it when you try to be serious. No offence. Constructive criticism and all that.”

Indeed. Such tact and diplomacy these teenagers have.

“You just like it though when I write down funny things that you’ve said don’t you?” I replied.

“Well yeah, cos that’s the only bit that’s funny.”

I decide to call her bluff. “Go on then,” I challenge her, “say something funny.”

Cheer up yeah? The power of positive thinking

When you’re feeling properly down in the dumps, there is nothing more likely to make you want to stab someone in the face than hearing the words ‘cheer up’.

Well meaning as they may be, the kind of people who tell you just to ‘try and be a bit more positive about things’ really just don’t get it.

Or do they? Can the way you think about things change the way you feel?

There’s a lot of research that says that positive thinking can actually have a direct impact on happiness, and that practising being grateful really can make you feel better about your life. A quick google search came up with this interesting article from Oliver Burkeman, about thinking yourself happy, which really explains it all much better than I could, so instead I’m just going to show you a picture:

COMPETITION – Win an LG Optimus 3D Black

It’s competition time!! Yay!! And I’ve got a cracking prize for you this week – an LG Optimus 3D Black.

To be honest, I don’t know anything about phones, so have no idea if an LG Optimus 3D Black is a Good Thing, but I do know it retails at over £400 SIM free, and it looks very snazzy to me, so I’m sure it must be just lovely. See:

This is the official blurb:

Enjoy crystal-clear, eye-popping 3D imagery courtesy of the Optimus smartphone from LG. There’s no need for glasses with this handset, just shoot, show and share videos or pictures all with the added bonus of High-definition 3D.

The Optimus is the world’s first mobile to feature dual core, dual channel and dual memory technology. This means high speed smooth processing for games, movies and other applications. What’s more, as this HTC mobile is installed with Android 2.2 you can be sure of a reliable and powerful operating system. With a huge 8GB of memory also included, the HTC Optimus is everything you could want from a smartphone.

‘Crystal-clear, eye-popping 3D imagery’? Sounds awesome doesn’t it? The phone has been given to me by Tesco, to promote their capped tariff, which is designed to save you money, by making sure you never go over your monthly spending limit. You can find out more here, should you so wish.

As this is such a fantabulous competition, I’m going to give you a few different ways to enter. The only one you have to do, is leave a comment on this post, with an idea for something you’d be interested to read about on my blog in the future. If you’d like extra chances to win, you can have one entry for each of the following:

• Sign up to get my posts by email
• Like Slummy single mummy on facebook and share this post with your friends
• Follow me on twitter, and tell all your twitter chums about me
• Bring me round a packet of hobnobs

You’ve got until 31st January to enter, and then a winner will be chosen at random.

Good luck!

Best touch it just in case

I saw this sign in a shop window this week. It made me laugh.

It’s such a tease isn’t it? How could you not want to touch it, just to see? What is it about us that makes us want to do things we know are only going to be unpleasant?

Ms, Miss or Mrs?

What’s in a name? A rose by any other name is alleged to smell just as sweet after all, so does it make a difference?

I’ve hosted a couple of guest posts recently about choosing baby names, but today I want to talk about titles.

The BBC are reporting today of a town in France that has banned the use of the word Mademoiselle, on the back of a nationwide campaign by feminist groups to ban the word everywhere.

I am behind them 100% and all in favour of a similar spring clean of values in this country.

Why on earth in a society that claims to strive for gender equality would you discriminate between men and women in such an obvious way? Why should women have to define themselves by their marital status, by calling themselves Miss or Mrs, while men are allowed to be a Mr regardless of whether they are married or not?

The one where Belle gives me a crystal massage

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being given a crystal massage by Belle. She has always liked collecting crystals, but recently she bought a book about them in the St Margaret’s Hospice shop and now she is all about the chakras.

She had her friend from Number 2 round to help and I must admit to being a little anxious as they made me lie on the floor on the special ‘massage rug’. A lot of her stones are quite scratchy and I wasn’t sure exactly what the massaging would entail.

Guest post – more baby naming with Mellow Mummy

You may remember a few weeks ago I hosted a guest post from a rather mysterious writer, on the subject of baby names, specifically the name Jeremy. (Apologies to Boyfriend’s Dad – I didn’t write it, I promise.)

Well it seems to be a bit of a contentious issue, and today I have another post on the subject, this time from the very lovely Emma Button, better known as Mellow Mummy. I think it’s a fab post, although as a Strictly fan I don’t know why Emma hasn’t considered ‘Bruce Button’. A definite winner I think.

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It is that time again when I need to draw up a very important list. The list of potential baby names. In the mellow household naming babies is supposed to be (like pretty much everything else we do) a joint effort, but for some reason it always seems to end up going a bit like this…

Me: “How about Sophie Button?”

Him: “Nope”

Me: “How about Nicola Button”?”

Him: “Nope”

<pause>

Me: “Billy Button?”

Him: <frown>

Me: “Harry Button?”

Him: <glour>

Me: “Hutton Button?”

Him: <no response>

End of conversation. The whole baby naming drama isn’t helped by the fact that we often seem to end up having this conversation while watching TV. This in itself wouldn’t be a problem but for the fact that Mr. B really does like his sports. The result of this is a list of baby names which are ( a) mostly boys names and ( b) slightly ludicrous. A recent football match resulted in a debate over the suitability of “Nani Button” as a boy’s name. My sport of choice is Formula One but I suspect that the name “Jenson Button” has already been worn out and that “Rubens Button” may be a bit too deep for most.

I can’t fail to be entertained by the whole host of hilarious suggestions thrown up while watching late-night American Football. Now call me unreasonable but (as groovy a name as it is), I don’t think “Be‘Shawn Button” would sit in awfully well in our largely white, middle-class, english, non-American-football-playing family?

As I type this we are watching late night repeats of Masterchef : The Professionals on the food channel. Perhaps “Michel Button” would be more appropriate? or Greg? Actually, “Greg Button” could work!

For now I will have to keep on running some slightly more sane ideas past my other half but please don’t hold me responsible if baby number two ends up being named after one (or more) of the celebrities on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.