• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.26 no.8
• /
• pp.1196-1204
• /
• 2002

This research was to see if the fashion product ads are standardized or differentiated, and to find what were the determinants if any differentiation existed. The purpose of this study was to identify cultural characteristics significant on marketing fashion produce. In addition, the relative importance of product appeals between rational and emotional in the fashion ads was examined. Hofstede's(l991) three cultural characteristics dimensions such as individualism-collectivism, power distance, masculinity-femininity were used. Content analysis was applied in the study. Magazine ads of apparel, cosmetics and accessories were collected from France, Japan, Korea and the US in 1999-2000. Cultural characteristics of the fashion ads were evaluated and compared in terms of country, product type and product involvement. Also ten consumption appeals were examined for county and product type. ANOVA, Duncan test and $X^2$ test were applied to analyze data. The results were shown as follows: First, all the cultural characteristics such as individualism-collectivism, power distance, and femininity-masculinity were different among countries. Second, two product appeals were significantly different among countries. Hedonic appeals were dominant fur France and the US while those were not for Korea and Japan. Third, product involvement level had significant impact on power distance characteristic and product appeals. Ads of high involvement fashion goods showed larger power distance and more emotional appeals. In conclusion, global fashion ads should be differentiated in terms of some cultural characteristics and product appeals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.31 no.4 s.163
• /
• pp.551-562
• /
• 2007

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of sex role identities on male consumers' appearance management behavior. Recently, heavy marketing efforts have been made by the cosmetics and apparel industries to cater to male consumers who seem to be increasingly interested in their appearances. This study intended to identify the relationship between male consumers' appearance management tendencies and their sex role identities and benefits sought in clothing. A survey data was collected from 321 men aged between 20 and 40 and was analyzed using SPSS. The results showed that not only the male consumers' perceived masculinity and femininity but also the discrepancies between their ideal and perceived masculinity/femininity were related to the benefit they sought in clothing. Also, individuals who identify themselves as masculine (rather than feminine) were more likely to be engaged in appearance management practices. However, a greater portion of their appearance management behavior was explainable by their pursuit of fashionability, conformity, and individuality in clothing. This seems to indicate these male consumers consider appearance management primarily as a fashion trend.

• Analyses & Alternatives
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.163-202
• /
• 2020

This paper examines how Japanese society produced and reproduced a distinctively gendered history and memories of the experience of WWII and colonialism in the postwar era. We argue that these gendered narratives, which were embedded in postwar debates about the Peace Constitution and comfort women, have engendered contradictions and made the historical conflicts with neighboring countries challenging to resolve. On the one hand, this deepens conflict, but on the other, it also generates stability in East Asia. After Japan's defeat in WWII, the American Occupation government created the Peace Constitution, which permanently "renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." The removal of the state's monopoly on violence - the symbol of masculinity - resulted in Japan's feminization. This feminization led to collective forgetting of prewar imperialism and militarism in postwar Japan. While collectively forgetting the wartime history of comfort women within these feminized narratives, the conservative movement to revise the Peace Constitution attempted to recover Japan's masculinity for a new, autonomous role in international politics, as uncertainty in East Asia increased. Ironically, however, this effort strengthened Japan's femininity because it involved forgetting Japan's masculine role in the past. This forgetting has undermined efforts to achieve masculine independence, thus reinforcing dependence on the United States. Recurrent debates about the Peace Constitution and comfort women have influenced how Japanese political elites and intellectual society have constructed distinctive social institutions, imagined foreign relations, and framed contemporary problems, as indicated in their gendered restructuring of history.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
• /
• v.58 no.6
• /
• pp.1193-1213
• /
• 2012

This essay "Twain's Contestation of Emersonian Transcendental Manhood in Huckleberry Finn" explores how Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) manifests his postwar contestation of Ralph Waldo Emerson's transcendental manhood that endorses the dogmatic, egocentric, and decorporealized position of the Cartesian subject, who believes his being's unity, elevation, and centrality through his fantasy of possessing direct access to divine truth. The connection between Emerson and Twain is based not on Emerson's influence on Twain but on their common interest in American landscape as a site for the redefinition of manhood and masculinity. I examine different types of manhood in their association with nature in Huckleberry Finn by comparing them with the two fundamental concepts of Emerson's philosophy: "a true man" in "Self-Reliance" (1841) and transparent eyeball vision in Nature (1836). Twain's use of Huck's ambivalent position-his centrality as a protagonist in the novel in spite of his marginality in society-renegotiates Emerson's valorization of nonconformity, wholeness, and nonchalance as the characteristics of both boyhood and "a true man," Emerson's term for the ideal individual in "Self-Reliance." I also read Twain's satire of two different types of masculine characters-Bob and the Child of Calamity, boatmen of the Southern frontier, and Colonel Grangerford, patriarch of a Southern aristocratic family-as Twain's denouncement of the antebellum desire for transcendental vision, which Emerson crystalizes into his notion of transparent eyeball in Nature.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.30 no.3 s.151
• /
• pp.436-446
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to compare the influences of men's and women's sex role identities and sex role discrepancies on their appearance satisfaction and self esteem. Congruency theory, androgyny theory, masculinity theory and self discrepancy theory were used to explore the influence of sex roles on appearance satisfaction and self esteem. Theories suggest that the influence would be different by gender. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 125 men and 197 women aged between 20 and 40 years living in the Seoul metropolitan area. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data. For men, both appearance satisfaction and self esteem were influenced only by their perceived masculinity. For women, however, perceived femininity, femininity discrepancy and masculinity discrepancy had an influence on appearance satisfaction. All the four sex role variables had an influence on women's self esteem. BMI had a negative effect on self esteem for women, but no effect for men. According to the results, unlike men, whose appearance satisfaction and self esteem are only determined by how masculine they are, the women's levels of appearance satisfaction and self esteem are influenced not only by how feminine they are, but also by how masculine and feminine they want to be. The results of this study have implications for body image counselors or practitioners who try to help young women increase their self esteem and satisfaction to their appearance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.170-179
• /
• 1994

The purpose of this study was to identify the constructing factors and the hierarchy of the female clothing image evaluation made by male university students. 'rho instruments developed by the precedent study of In Hee Chung(1992) was used compare the female clothing image evaluation made by male university students with that by (emale students. The results were 1. 5 factor - modernity, grace, activeness, uniqueness, masculinity were found out as constructors of female clothing image evaluation made by male university student. 2. Eleven clusters were determinted to exist. The clusters classified as the main groups were 'modem and romantic image' and 'classic and straight image.'

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.257-265
• /
• 1992

The purpose of this study was to compare the differences between traditional and nontraditional college women in regard to personality and family background characteristics. Subjects were 180 college women majoring in Education, Nursing, Medicine, and Law. ANOVA and discriminant analysis were conducted to analyze the data. The results showed that nontraditional women scored significantly higher in acacemic achievement, SES, and parental support and influence than traditional women. SES, psychological masculinity, and parental support and influence were the most powerful predictors of nontraditional career orientation. Suggestions were made regarding precautions and need of cross-cultral study.

• The Research Journal of the Costume Culture
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.42-54
• /
• 2014

This research used an experimental design in an effort to assess the influence of brand gender and salespeople on the attitudes toward brands according to the males' gender identity traits. The study used a three-way split-plot experimental design, and data were analyzed by t-tests, and ANOVA. The subject of this research was men in their 20s and 30s, and a total of 178 people were selected through convenience- sampling. The findings are as follows: first, masculine male consumers preferred masculinity fashion brands; however, androgynous consumers preferred brands that reflect androgyny. Second, there were no differences in brand attitude according to the gender of the salesperson for the masculinity group, but the androgynous group estimated the brands as better when the salesperson was female. Third, there were no differences in the brand attitudes among consumers according to gender of the salesperson for the Galaxy; however, for Solid Homme, brand preference was stronger when the salesperson was a woman. Fourth, the influence of brand gender and salesperson gender on brand attitudes differed according to the gender of the consumer. Therefore, apparel companies must clearly understand the characteristics of consumer gender identity and execute proper marketing strategies in order to induce stronger positive attitudes toward their brands. Moreover, apparel companies should perceive that brand gender and the gender of the salesperson can consequently encourage brand preferences.

• Journal of Fashion Business
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.12-31
• /
• 2017

Korean commercial-organized girl groups were remarkable in the late 1990's. However, by the late 2000's, girl groups had an even more profound effect on Korean popular music compare to past influences. This study aimed to analyze the social-cultural meaning of the changing appearance of girl group between the first and second-generations. For this purpose, this study analyzed media image and text, based on a social-cultural context, about 13 girl groups. The results are as follows. First, while the first -generation girl group tended to maintain girlish/sexy images trying to the male desire, the second -generation girl group strategically showed various sexual identities such as femininity, masculinity, masculinity and androgyny along with contextual sexual images. The reason why girl groups increased the number of strategic images featuring various sexual identities was in order to appeal to a wide, diverse audience. Second, the second generation girl groups had - slim bodies with great athleticism, basically due to trainee system. Because of this, their semiotic body images have been commercially used to promote the consumption. Third, the second generation girl groups - were the bigger stars than first generation girl groups - because the members worked in many different fields. Therefore, the group members' images were successful consumed directly and then reproduced symbolically. Fourth, each member of the second -generation girl groups characterized by appearing in diverse, yet familiar images, through various media sources. Although the intention of this was to have recognition and popularity, it became difficult for them to change their image once one particular image was deemed popular.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.5 no.3
• /
• pp.362-378
• /
• 1999

This study is to investigate sex role identity and health behavior among university students in Seoul, during the late of 1999. The instruments for data obtainment were KSRI of Kim(1994), and Health Style : A Self-Test provided by ODPHP National Health Information Center. These instrument were reliable, showing Cronbach $\alpha$ .98 and .77. Frequency, t-test, $x^2$-test, stepwise regression were conducted for data analysis, using SAS 6.12 program. The major findings were as follows : 1. For female student. Androgeny(34.0%)type was most common and subjects of feminity type were 28.7%. In contrast, Masculinity type(41.8%) was most prevalent. and undifferentiated type was 30.1% among male students. There were significant difference between male and female student in the type of sex role identity. 2. 89.6% of all subjects were included in risk group for exercise and physical activity, 86.4% for diet habit, 43.2% for alcohol drinking and drug use, 35.6% for stress control, 32.8% for safety behavior, 24.8% for smoking. The big health risk behavior problem of male students were smoking, drinking, diet habit, and exercise. The important health risk behavior problem were diet habit and exercise. There were significant difference in smoking, drinking, exercise between sex. 3. Analysis of the distribution by sex role identity type and health behavior revealed that subjects who were undifferentiated typed group had high risk behavior in stress control, safety, exercise, drinking. Smoking and drinking were more problematic for masculinity typed group had high risk behavior in diet and exercise. The data showed that androginy typed group had more healthy behavior, compared with other sex role identity typed group for all of health behavior. Further research is need to understand the role of sex role identity in health behavior, the variables associated with them. And sex role identity has to be considered in research and practice about health promotion.