SEXY GIRLS AS « THE OTHER » : THE DISCURSIVE PROCESSES OF STIGMATIZING GIRLS

This paper examines the media discourse on that phenomenon known in Québec as the « hypersexualization of girls » which has lead to a public debate over girls and clothing in the province's schools. Although my past research has focused on mapping the media discourses on hypersexualization, missing from this inital mapping were the voices of girls. To address this absence I designed a research project intended to bring the opinions and concerns of a pluraity of francophone girls into the debate. The research is qualitative in nature, based on conversations established through individual interviews and focus group discussion conducted in 2007 with girls and young women aged from 11 to 21, in Quebec, Montreal and Trois-Rivières. These conversations have been a great source of learning and insipiration. As I proceeded with the work, I became troubled by some of the statements made by my participants and their « ordinary » or habitual ways of talking. For example, the term « slut » (« salope », in French) was commonly used to refer and stigmatize girls whose clothing is « inappropriate » and too « provocative ». In this presentation, I will comment and reflect on the ethical dilemmas of doing research with girls by examining the process of stigmatization by which a specific group of girls is constructed as the « Other ». In offering these reflections, I will connect my interviews to the problematic status of girls within media and public discourses. I will also consider the research literature on girls in Canada and Quebec. As some have observed, a monolitic conception of girls as a research category may smooth over the complexity and diversity of girls' lived experiences (Canadian Women's Foundation 2005; Gouin et Wais, 2006).Afin de compenser la marginalisation de la voix des adolescentes dans la controverse entourant la mode sexy dans les écoles secondaires québécoises, j'ai élaboré un projet de recherche dont la méthologie accorde une prépondérance à la voix des participantes. Cette communication porte des dilemmes éthiques survenus au cours du processus de recherche, notamment au regard de l'observation d'un processus communicationnel par lequel les filles adhérant à la mode sexy deviennent une figure d'altérité dans les propos des adolescentes interrogées. La réflexion proposée porte problématique des adolescentes au sein des recherches et du mouvement féministes

Dis-moi comment être la plus belle ! Une analyse du contenu photographique de la presse féminine pour adolescentes

Cet article analyse le contenu photographique des magazines féminins pour adolescentes produits au Québec. Le corpus est constitué de 345 photographies extraites des trois titres en circulation en 2002 : Cool, Adorable et Filles d’aujourd’hui. La technique utilisée est l’analyse de contenu des médias, qui permet de produire des relevés descriptifs exhaustifs répondant aux critières de validité et de reproductibilité scientifiques. Le choix des variables de recherche s’appuie sur la théorie sémiotique, tandis que leur opérationnalisation s’inspire des récents travaux qui prennent comme objet d’investigation les représentations iconographiques de la culture populaire. Les résultats révèlent la forte teneur publicitaire des messages visuels et le conservatisme des rapports sociaux de sexe qu’ils représentent. Ils montrent aussi la productivité scientifique de la combinaison des méthodes quantitatives et qualitatives en sciences sociales.This text analyses the photographic content of teenage girls’ magazines published in the province of Quebec. The corpus consists of 345 images taken from three of the titles in circulation in 2002 : « Cool », « Adorable » and « Filles d’Aujourdhui ». Results were obtained through a content analysis and are scientifically valid and reproducible. The identification of the variables was done with the help of semiotics, while their operability was inspired by other recent studies which investigate iconographic representations in popular culture. Our results demonstrate that the images are first and foremost designed to boost consumption and that they have a tendency to be conservative in how they represent male-female relationships. The study also shows the relevance of mixed method in social sciences research

Humaniser le regard. Du photojournalisme humanitaire à l'usage humanitaire de la photographie

Au cours des dernières années, la critique postcoloniale a remis en question les prétentions humanitaires du photojournalisme. Cette critique n'a toutefois pas engendré de débat public, pas plus qu'elle n'a transformé les modes de production, de diffusion et de réception des images humanitaires dans les médias de masse occidentaux. La question demeure donc entière : une autre approche du photojournalisme est-elle possible ? À partir d'une étude de cas, cette note de recherche propose une réflexion sur le sujet. Le cas retenu est l'album photographique Shootback. Photos by kids from Nairobi slums (Wong, 1999), résultant d'un projet d'aide internationale au Kenya. Il semble que la transposition de l'approche ethnographique de ce projet au photojournalisme pourrait contribuer au renouvellement du genre

Too sexy to go to school: A discourse analysis of the recurring public debate on girls' dress

In recent years, the eroticization and hypersexualization of girls in the media has gained public attention and fuelled public debate, if not controversy. In North America, a couple of books have been published, identifying a social problem that should be publicly addressed. Concerns about the detrimental effects of the phenomenon have been raised in newspaper articles and readers' letters, as well as in magazines, radio and television reports. The problem, more often associated with girls' dress and sexuality, is taken so seriously that schools have adopted concrete initiatives for containment. However, these measures have often translated into an increased control toward girls. That is, once the dress code reform was found unsuccessful in solving the so-called problem of « g-strings » and « navel rings », many public and private schools pointed to uniforms as a legitimized and final solution. More recently, in the province of Quebec, the youth wing of the Liberal Party suggested that a law should prohibit g-strings at schools. Although it was rejected, the motion itself says a lot about the general assumption that girls' dress and behaviour are social problems that must be addressed through institutional and public policies. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss preliminary results of a media discourse analysis on this controversial topic of girls, clothes, sexuality and school. Who are the experts in this debate and what do they say? Who is allowed to speak out and who is not ? Who is said to be responsible for the problematic situation? What are the institutional and political responses to the problem? What are the consequences for girls who are usually targeted by dress codes and other attempts to control their behaviour?Cette communication présentée en 2006 présente et discute les résultats préliminaires d'une analyse de discours sur le thème de l'hypersexualisation au Québec