Ayse Esra Özcan

• This study analyses the female and the male visuals in six Turkish newspapers representing different socio-political positions. Visual representations shape the ways people perceive the world and they signify the social fabric. Changes in the visualization of the females in particular indicate societal changes taking place. Various previous studies on Turkish press focused either on the question of underrepresentation of women or on a comparative analysis of the religious and secular press with respect to the representation of women based on textual material. Turkish newspapers are very rich in terms of visual material and in terms of the visual depiction of women. The study argues that the exclusion of visuals from such analyses creates a serious shortcoming. Thus, this study aims to expand the previous research with the incorporation of visual analysis. Secondly, as is the case in previous research, approaching secular and religious press as two separate and distinct camps tends to obscure both the similarities between religious and secular newspapers and the differences within secular and within religious newspapers with respect to the depiction of women. Therefore this study aims not only to look at the differences between secular and religious newspapers in Turkey but also at the differences within them in terms of the visual representation of women. In methodological terms quantitative visual content analysis and qualitative iconological and semiological analyses are employed to analyze the characteristics and meanings of the visuals. In theoretical terms selected approaches towards modernity, media, gender and visual communication inform the study.