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The purpose of this thesis is to provide in-depth knowledge by exploring how image cataloguing provides a context for expressions related to sex, gender, and queerness through metadata and textual descriptions within library databases. This thesis examines how normative conceptions related to sex, gender, and queerness affect the praxis of image cataloguing and how the material’s retrievability is influenced by these aspects. To examine how biases and preconceptions about sex, gender, and queerness are expressed through metadata and descriptive cataloguing the study focuses on catalogued portrait photographs, especially images portraying unknown individuals. The conclusions of this study are that descriptions of images portraying unknown individuals are heavily characterised by a binary view of sex and gender. Unknown individuals are categorised as women or men based on outer appearances, and not in a sex/gender neutral way. Since interpretations are based on clothing, hairstyles, accessories et cetera and not the naked body it may be argued that gender is being categorised, and not necessarily sex. If gender is to be understood as a social construction not attached to any specific physicality it may be expressed in any way by anyone. The assumption of being able to place people in sexed categories based merely on their appearances may therefore be questioned. A further conclusion is that queerness isn’t included when images are being catalogued. The study however shows that heteronormative assumptions may be traced in the way images are described. It may also be concluded that describing portrait photographs mainly through aspects related to sex/gender ignores other informative aspects of them as images, making them less retrievable for users. This is a two years master's thesis in library and information science. |
