In the battlefield of politics - representation of female and male politicians in Icelandic news papers

Abstract: This thesis is written within a master´s program in Gender studies, with media studies as a major. It offers a view of feminism, postfeminist media culture and gendered politics. In recent years and decades increasing pressure has been applied to looks and appearance in the media. The print media constantly publish images of celebrities and there is a certain preference for thin and beautiful bodies. Postfeminism that appeared in the last decades of the 20th century works as a resistance against the values of the second wave feminism in which women’s liberation was highly important. The ‘make-up paradigm’ has increased pressure on women and female politicians are no exception from that. The research focus is set on Iceland which has high gender equality standards. Newspaper photographs from two of the biggest newspapers are analyzed, focusing on female and male politicians in today’s political sphere.