Picturing femininities and masculinities: Using visual methods to explore gender relations

Arts-informed and arts-based methods are becoming more visible in qualitative psychological research. This study demonstrates how the use of visual images, through two visual methods photo-elicitation (PE) and photovoice (PV), can act as an innovative research tool for researchers. This paper focuses on the impacts of the visual images on the research process. A systematic search strategy was used to search 10 health and social science databases, with 2478 relevant articles retrieved, 197 articles were identified for review, and 75 articles met inclusion criteria. Qualitative synthesis and thematic analysis were selected to provide a flexible framework for addressing the research questions. The findings demonstrate the value of visual images being their ability to materialize bodies, social practices, and interactions between individuals and structures. These findings show that these two visual methods present researchers with an innovative process that can generate new insights and perspectives that are useful for studying aspects of gender relations (e.g., femininities and masculinities) and other aspects of social experience.