Final Photography Project

Being a female in todays society is not easy.  There are certain standards and ideas for what is ‘normal’ for women to do whether it be in an occupation or a hobby.  Having been a mechanic for five years, I decided to do my photographic series on the social identity of females and how woman doing different tasks bring about different judgments  towards them.  As I said before, I was a mechanic for five years and had a lot of different judgments placed on me.  Some of them were positive while others were not.  It is extremely interesting to me how people are so quick to judge women based on what they do in their daily lives.  Lauren Greenfield is one of my favorite photographers.  I drew inspiration from her series Girl Culture.  I really like her interest in the life of different lives of females.  I decided to go with a series centered around women like her.  Although instead of focusing on the struggles girls have growing up due to body image, I decided to focus on what women chose to do with their lives and how it plays into what society thinks of them.  My photographic series does not focus on photography as art, but as a documentary.  Society thinks there are things women should or shouldn’t do and I wanted to capture that in my photographs. 

-Amanda Phelan

Here is a picture of me cooking.  It is thought by many that women should cook the meals whether it be for their family or just in general.  Society thinks this is part of a woman's duty to be a good house wife.  Most would think this is just a typical picture of a woman doing what she is supposed to do. 

  This is a photograph of me as a business woman.  Business woman are thought to be independent, strong, and smart women.  Some even peg business women as being somewhat snooty.

 This is a photograph of me as a fighter.  Society judges women fighters as hostile, unfeminine women.  They think fighting is something that women should not be doing.  They don't think about the fact that there are some women that enjoy the sport and genuinely like boxing.

This is a photograph of me cleaning.  Once again, it is thought be men and society that woman should clean and maintain the house.  This is what makes a woman a good house wife.

This is a photograph as a mechanic.  There are very few  woman mechanics out there and we are looked at in different ways.  It is though by society that woman are not supposed to be mechanics.  Women are not the ones who are supposed to get their hands dirty.  People think once again we are not feminine or womanly. 

This is a photograph of me as a mother.  This is what society thinks women are here for.  We are here to bear children and be a good mother so they can grow up to be functioning members of society.  Being a mother is what a woman should do.