The Role of Gender in Photographic Works: Do Men and Women Capture Different Photographs?

Gender usually plays a significant role in the works of photographers andcauses men and women to take different photographs. Nowadays, photographsand photography have a crucial and pivotal status in societies. The majority of theevents and accidents unfolding in various parts of the world are communicatedto the people via newspapers, magazines, internet and television, and undoubtedly,photographs play an imperative role in all of these media. It is not surprisingthat photography is called ‘the eyes of modernity’ and imagining the world withoutphotographs is very difficult. Additionally, one of the topics that researchershave paid a lot of attention to in the past century is the subject of gender, andthe similarities and differences between men and women. Female photographershave always been an irrefutable part of the history of photography, and today, weare seeing a dramatic growth in their presence and success in different genres ofphotography. Hence, this question is raised that ‘do men and women capture differentphotographs?’ Some valuable researches have been carried out in the pastdecades on the subject of gender and also the differences between how men andwomen see, but only a few have focused on the differences between male and femalephotographers. In this article, the hypothesis was accepted by assessing thefollowing aspects: studying the differences between men’s and women’s point ofgaze (where one is looking); examining the differences between male and femalephotographer’s emotions; studying and comparing the works of various photographers;examining the working conditions of photographers; reviewing the differentreactions a single subject might have towards a male or female photographer; andfinally, studying some of the interviews and memoirs of successful photographers. Generally female photographers are more drawn to story, narrative and emotion,but many males are also drawn to such subjects; male photographers are more drawn to technical and action-filled subjects, but many females are alsodrawn to such subjects. Hence, for each stereotype regarding photographs andgender, numerous photographers or photographs can be found that challenge ordefy it. Men and women capture different photographs but this should not give usthe excuse to impose our stereotypes and clichés on a particular photographer,whether male or female.