Karrin Anderson Archives
62 Posts
Gender & Identity Photo March 5, 2020

“Bernie’s Warren Problem” Really Media’s Gender Problem

The photo of Warren on the Edmund Pettus Bridge helps explain why, on the eve of Super Tuesday, everyone was talking about the old white guys.

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Karrin Anderson Photo January 29, 2020

Athletic Upskirting at the Australian Open

In addition to being a (sometimes) illegal pastime of amateur photographers on subway trains and public staircases the world over, upskirting has long been a mainstay of fashion, advertising, and stock photography. It’s no surprise, then, that it pops up occasionally in the realm of sports photography in athletic...

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Campaign '16 Photo November 9, 2015

Weaponized Entitlement: Book Cover Frames a Gun-Toting Clinton as Deviant, Dangerous

Clinton’s frontrunner status should be a major advantage, but a gendered narrative suggests she is bullying her way to the nomination.

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Campaign '16 Photo September 17, 2015

Nate Silver Closes the Curtain on Hillary

Since the aim is to challenge the news narrative framing Clinton, the choice to lead with this photo is both puzzling and problematic.

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Gender & Identity Photo July 27, 2015

35 Cosby Accusers Featured at NY Mag: How the Photography Stands Up to Rape Culture

Given the impact of 35 women telling how Bill Cosby intimidated, drugged, sexually assaulted, and/or raped them, Karrin Anderson explains how New York Magazine’s cover and accompanying portraits use the photo narrative to stand up to rape culture.

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International Focus Photo June 3, 2015

Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer's Perspective of Life Through the Veil – Part 2

The ability to frame a shot and have that image published in and discussed by major outlets is a privilege. Unfortunately, that privilege is too often reserved for men.

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Faith Focus Photo May 26, 2015

Behind the Niqab: The (Male) Photographer’s Perspective of Life Through the Veil – Part 1

Men would do well to consider women’s perspectives more often—not just when there is a physical reminder that your literal view on the world is affected by your gender.

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Gender & Identity Photo March 18, 2015

Ball Gowns and Boots: On the Rebel Fighters’ Beauty Pageant in Donetsk

As fighting continues to rage in portions of Donetsk, Russian-backed rebel fighters recently took time out of their busy schedules to honor International Women’s Day by . . . staging a beauty pageant.

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International Focus Photo February 16, 2015

Human Trafficking Awareness and Photographic Ensnarement: A World Press Winning Portrait

Despite the photo’s potential utility, however, it also raises important questions about the ways in which well-meaning outsiders and journalists depict the problem of human trafficking.

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Campaign '16 Photo October 15, 2014

The Battle for Fangirls '16. Or: "Look Dad, it’s Hillary Fuckang Clintaaaaaaaan!!!!"

On Hillary Clinton and the early contest for the hipster millennial female swing voter.

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Karrin Anderson Photo September 10, 2014

The Focus on Janay Rice: The Pictures are Powerful, but Why are They Necessary?

Visuals that train the focus on Janay Rice rather than her husband play into the narrative that Ray Rice and the Ravens worked hard to construct—this is a marital problem rather than a criminal offense.

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Faith Focus Photo June 26, 2014

Pictures Beyond the Veil: The Hijab and Free Choice

Although compulsary veiling is certainly a violation of women’s civil rights, the act of unveiling can similarly obscure women’s identities.

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International Focus Photo May 9, 2014

#BringBackOurGirls: The Complex Optics of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation

The controversy over the politics of representation in #BringBackOurGirls must be used to bolster the broader campaign for women’s safety, autonomy, and right to consent.

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Women and Gender Focus Photo April 22, 2014

Ambassadors! They’re Just Like Us! A Day in the Life of Samantha Power

Photo spreads like these are part celebrity profile and part Horatio Alger myth.

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International Focus Photo February 20, 2014

Pussy Riot vs. Cossacks at the Olympics: A War of Images (This Time)

Who knows what will happen when the Olympic spotlight is no longer trained on Putin.

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Scandal Focus Photo February 4, 2014

Dylan Farrow is Looking at Us

While the “he said/she said” label casts both Allen and Farrow as objects, Farrow’s photo asserts her status as a subject. Someone with agency. Someone with power. An accuser rather than a victim.

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Campaign '16 Photo January 17, 2014

Attack of the 50 Ft Ginger Rogers: Sexism and the TIME "Unstoppable Hillary" 2016 Cover

The real question that journalists and pundits should be asking in advance of 2016 is not, “can anyone stop Hillary?” It is, “can anyone stop sexism?”

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Business Focus Photo November 15, 2013

Augmented Mannequins Figuring Prominently: The Globalization of Barbie

As the Times tells it, the mannequins are the brain child of factory owner Eliezer Alvarez, who “created the kind of woman he thought the public wanted—one with a bulging bosom and cantilevered buttocks.” The strategy worked.

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