24 February 2020: Characteristics of Analysis

1. The article “From Sex Object to Gritty Woman” effectively inquires as to why there has
been such a significant change over the decade of 2007-2017 in popular depictions of
women. Why has the most popular pictures searched for over the internet changed from
sexy and almost naked women to rugged and hard-working women?
2. The article makes good use of images to show and describe what the author is trying to
illustrate. For example, they describe the type of picture that was most popular in 2007,
which was a half-naked woman. This was compared to the most popular image of a
woman in 2017, which was a lone woman atop a mountain. These images give clear
background and insight about what this article is trying to say.
3. The article makes use of different kinds of evidence and statistics to prove its point. It
displays the most popular photos for each year and includes the statistics on which types
of photos were most popular. For example, the article states that “at Getty, global
searches for ‘woman protest’ quadrupled in the last year. Searches for ‘woman coding’
tripled, and those for ‘female C.E.O.’ grew 47 percent” (Miller). The evidence proved to
us that there had been a gradual change in women are portrayed in society.
4. The “so what?” of this article speaks to the larger issue of gender gaps and the images of
women in society. It speaks to a change in how women feel about themselves and how
they want to see themselves as in society. One part explained that the Getty began the
Lean in collection because they had the idea that one cannot be what they cannot see.
Therefore, women need to see themselves in positions of power and academics and so
forth to be able to strive for that. So, a woman hiking alone can describe the power that
women possess to conquer the wilderness on their own and this serves as inspiration to
other women who see this image. These types of images give them motivation to follow
those paths and enter those powerful positions in society.
 Works Cited

Miller, Claire Cain. “From Sex Object to Gritty Woman: The Evolution of Women in Stock

Photos.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Sept. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/upshot/from-sex-object-to-gritty-woman-the-evolution-

of-women-in-stock-photos.html.