Feminism: not just for girlsFeminism: not just for girls

• In a survey undertaken by Cosmopolitan magazine in 2006, 96% of readers stated that women should receive the same pay as a man doing the same job; the same amount (96%) believed that women had a right to a career as well as or instead of motherhood. 85% believed that it was a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion and 93% believed that women’s votes, voices and opinions counted as much as any man’s.

• Yet only 25% would call themselves ‘Feminists’. Why is this?

Aims of the session:

• To define key terms and phrases;• To provide a brief historical

overview of the waves of Feminism;

• To discuss the significance of visual and material representation that could be considered both gendered and stereotypical;

• To analyse Feminist creative practice;

• To summarise and consider why Feminism may or may not be significant today.

Classification: 3 Waves of Feminism

1) suffrage;

This ‘wave’ of feminism dates from the enlightenment (eighteenth-century) and stresses equality, rights, liberation and emancipation. This was the birth of the Women’s Movement, but it wasn’t really until the late 19thC that it became a political force, and not until after WWI were women given the vote. It was however the first step towards some sense of equality.

2) Second Wave Feminism is about equality – not just politically, but socially and culturally too; Equality relies on being equal to some standard, a standard usually associated with masculinity and masculine ideals.

Second Wave feminism stresses the difference of women, and challenges the centrality of masculine values – either values associated with masculinity (reason, detachment, power) or values inherently masculine (autonomy, aggression).

It addresses language and visual imagery and questions the role and position of women in history.

3) Third wave Feminism - Post Feminist – girl power.

Third wave feminism looks at how the difference between men and women is constructed and performed. Sexual difference can also be deconstructed. The supposed ‘opposition’ between masculine and feminine relies on some prior assumed and repressed system of values, which can be questioned. It addresses gender and sexuality as performance, and as a consequence sees gender and sexuality as fluid or non static, rather than binary (men/women).

[Right: Sarah Lucas, Chicken Knickers, 2000]

What is Feminism? • A difficult term to define as Feminism doesn’t really embody a unified set of beliefs or values.

• However, it’s generally accepted that Feminism is a form of politics that intervenes in and questions the (unequal) power relations between women & men.

• It supports and promotes issues relating to inequality, legally and critiques representation that is fundamental to a Feminist agenda

Patriarchy

• Central to this is a notion of patriarchy. Technically ‘rule by the father or head of household’ but now widely used to signify systematic male domination. Although feminists argued about the constituent elements of patriarchy, they agreed that the central element of women’s oppression was a patriarchal society. i.e.

• ‘theories of patriarchy are, implicitly or explicitly, theories which explain the creation and maintenance of men’s social, ideological, sexual, political and economic dominance’.

Biological Determinism

• Whatever their particular ideas and experiences, nobody doubts that gender and sexuality provide two of the most basic narratives through which our identities are forged. This is thought to derive from the fundamental differences between men and women; Biological determinism.

• 19thC gender differences had been rationally proven through scientific and anthropological research. Charles Darwin author of the Origins of the Species, (1859), along with other scientists from the fields of medicine, psychology and sociology had concluded that the sexes were not only physically different but were predisposed to certain lifestyles. Men were seen as superior to women, both in matters of strength and intellectually. Women were seen as nurturing, intuitive and caring which just by the sympathetic tone of this argument makes them inferior.

• Distinctions between sex and gender are brought into question, when one re-considers biological determinism.

George Elgar Hicks’s Woman’s Mission, 1862-3[ Guide of Childhood (fig.1), Companion of Manhood (fig.2), and Comfort of Old Age (fig.3) ]

• These are examples from contemporary popular culture, but seem to reaffirm the ways in which binary opposites and stereotypical views of what women’s social roles are, and the ways in which these beliefs infiltrate everyday life. The extent to which these ideas of femininity exist now are all the more potent when they are subverted. This is a remnant of the 19thC Angel/Whore dichotomy.

[Marcus Harvey, Myra, 1995; Kate Moss, as Myra Hindley, by Russell Young]

Stereotyping

• Second wave feminism stresses the difference between sex and gender: sex is our biological and natural being; gender is the social and cultural interpretation of that being. It aimed to assert women’s sex and challenge rigid models of gender.

• Feminists have argued that the media reflects the dominant values in society, the reflection hypothesis. These are not how society is but how society would like to see itself. By subverting or challenging ideals & stereotypes that are seen to oppress women, feminists were able to demonstrate that the subordination of women was not natural, but culturally constructed.

• It is fair to say that since the 1980s, Masculinity, historically considered stable and unchanging, was considered to be undergoing an identity crisis. Feminism is concerned with stereotyping of all sexes and genders. It is an equal rights movement that questions the cultural construction of ‘types’.

Gender Stereotyping and Binary Opposites

Male FemaleHard Soft

Strong Weak

Rational/brain/science Irrational/emotion/religion

Competitive Nurturing

Work Home

City Countryside

Angular Organic

Clinique examples

SYMBOLIC ANIHILATION OF WOMEN

In relation to visual culture feminism challenges what had been seen as ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ by redressing the balance and reclaiming women’s histories (her-stories), outlining and celebrating the collective experiences of women (sisterhood), addressing & questioning oppressive images and representations of women, and transforming the language and symbolism of patriarchy.

Communicating Feminism • By 1971 Linda Nochlin had written the essay ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ In it she looked not for the female equivalents of Rembrandt or Picasso but rather the reasons why women could not attain a comparable position in the art world.

• She concluded that it was due to the constrictions of society, that denied women access to training and publicity that prevented their success.

[Lee Krasner, Night Light, 1948; Jackson Pollock, Image no.23, 1949]

The Personal is Political

Feminist artists were keen to challenge the systems of meaning apparent in ‘masculine’ fine art, which at the time was locked into an impersonal' formalism as exemplified by the colour fields of Mark Rothko or the hard sculptural edges of Donald Judd. Early feminist artists excavated the stories of their own lives in an attempt to develop a new feminist aesthetic of the personal. In some cases this meant creating images that reclaimed the body as both personal territory and expressive medium. This meant that the personal became political. This meant that women were able to challenge the taboos of the body, celebrate its rhythms and pains – of fertility and childbirth; effectively, therefore the passive and narcissistic female representation was replaced with an active, aggressive, controlled one. The body became both subject and object – a vehicle for bringing to the fore and challenging the imagery that had restricted and controlled women previously.

Donald Judd, Untitled, 1968; Mark Rothko, No.8, 1964

Women’s Work?

• Historically, the arts that women were traditionally associated with e.g. weaving, sewing, quilt making were seen more as domestic chores than art forms of any worth. As Sheila Rowbotham noted ‘Pots break and textiles wear out’. Women artists redressed this and aimed to ‘subvert’ craftwork and tell their stories with media that had previously been silent.

• This emphasis on the female experience was a

common trend amongst women artists of the late sixties and seventies. The aim was to lend credence to the work of what they saw as the female labourer, otherwise hidden or marginalised. This kind of work in all its variances, created new forms of representation, systems of meaning, and addressed issues, perspectives and voices that had hitherto been hidden or silenced.

Barbara Kruger, ‘It’s a Small World’, 1990

[Tracey Emin, Pysco Slut, 1999; Lisa Anne Auerbach, Oops! Toxic BS, 2014]

• The Art Historian, Lisa Tickner categorises the themes of feminist art as the following four inter-related areas:

• Vaginal iconology;

• parody; the self as object;

• the male as motif;

• transformations and processes.

Jenny Holtzer, Men Don’t Protect You Anymore, 1983; Tracey Emin, I've Got It All, 2000

Vaginal Iconography

[Heide Hatry “Betty Hirst,” 2005; Cathy de Monchaux, Liberating the Future, (detail) 2002; Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1979 (detail)]

Parody; the self as object

Hannah Wilke, ‘I Object’, 1977-8; Jessica Ledwich, Monstrous Feminine, 2013

The male as motif

Ingres, Turkish Bath, 1862; Sarah Lucas, Tongue and Groove, Always Goes Down Well 2000

Transformations and processes

• Sigalit Landau’s video ‘Barbed Hula’ 2000 http://www.sigalitlandau.com/page/video/Barbed%20Hula.php

• Regina Jose Galindo ‘Who Can Erase The Traces’, 2003[big-anapa.ru/video/D46p71QdCTc/-Huellas.html]

Orlan, Blue implants on Bright Yellow, 1993

• In addition to these themes, the personal was also understood as an effect of interpersonal relationships.

• Artists examined their experiences of fathers, lovers and mothers and often revived women's oral traditions to do so. The all too-common experiences of abortion, rape, poverty or death within the family also became the subject of women's art.

[Ana Mendieta, Untitled, 1973; Lisa Anne Auerbach, 2007]

See also:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6RZZf6HMzoVaginal Knitting

http://mkcarroll.com/blog/2006/1/2/womb-pattern-faq.html

Women and the Open body • The questionable belief that women are closer to nature and therefore closer to bodily processes and transformations than men are central to products aimed at women’s ‘lack’.

• For example, menstruation suggests renewal, which leads us to believe that women are never acceptable as they are – they are constantly in a state of flux and therefore in need of ‘mopping up’ after.

• ‘Natural’ women are considered inherently disgusting; they need to be deodorized, painted, preened to appear even vaguely appealing. Products promote these cultural fears and offer women inauthentic ‘masks’, covers that conceal womanliness.

• Masks suggest untruthfulness, thus aligning women with the unnatural and deceitful. One can never win.

• This is a major part of socialisation – acting like a girl.

Tracey Emin, My Bed, 1998

The Personal is Political – part 2

[Jo Spence, Calling Card, 1986]

The ‘personal is political’ really refers to expressing the experiences of what it is to be a woman in a patriarchal society;

The commentary therefore comes from the margins – voices that had not previously been heard gained an audience;

In this respect, feminism historically and culturally can be aligned to Gay Pride and the Civil Rights Movement, which also sought to redress the balance of power and move toward equality.

In the UK, the Equal Pay, and Equal Opportunities Acts were passed in 1976. Did this mean that feminism no longer spoke from the margins? Had the aims of Feminism been met?

Post-Feminisms By the mid-1980’s however, we see a move away from this kind of representation and we also see a move away from traditional notions of feminism. The feminist as a concept, had herself become a hollow stereotype, so much so that when asked if you were a feminist, you felt an urge to buy a new frock. This was the age of post-feminism, of ‘superwomen’ .

Was this not a feminists dream? Virtual equality, with women competing and winning in a male world. However these images of women were more masculine, often wearing trouser suits, smoking cigars and adopting traditional male roles. Sexuality, however was seen as, as it had always been seen, as a tool for manipulation – women’s sexuality was the cause of the male downfall - a contradiction of traditional notions of the good woman.

• Post feminism really is a feminist backlash. This is to say that the aims of feminism have been met and women can achieve anything they want to as long as they make a significant effort. Also, notions of a ‘sisterhood’ failed as women’s experiences are not homogeneous. (Feminisms Not Feminism)

• This change in focus emerges as part of a post-modern cult of individualism. i.e. women’s achievements are largely individual achievements, rather than those of a group (neo-liberalism). This faith in the individual is particularly important as feminism aimed to change the institutions and the balance of power within society, which is obviously a collective aim. (inward, rather than outward looking)

• Post feminism is a move away from the bra burning stereotype of the feminist, and is associated with the ability to look feminine and at the same time be committed to feminist objectives. Often women who regard themselves as post feminists will reject the feminist label, because it seems a natural state of being. (feminism no longer needs to fight from the margins).

• Angela McRobbie’s work surrounding the teen magazine, has illustrated the physical manifestation this new ideology takes. Her conclusion is simple. This new girl rejects earlier forms of feminism, whilst remaining feminine, but rejects traditional romantic narratives. This is to say, that this new girl’s life is not dependant upon finding and living happily ever after with a man. Certainly this is a big money spinner and possibly has more to do with spending power than with social power.

• The forms that these theories take are straightforward.

This new girl has no need for romantic narratives, she doesn’t need a boyfriend to form her identity. She has friends, equality in relationships and the ability to exert power in the marketplace. She no longer needs to lavish time and money on her man, she can spend time and money on herself through the world of consumer goods. Of course, consumer goods have always had a magical quality – buy the product and the magic rubs off on you – you become part of that dream. But what are these products? Are they really any different and is the promise that they offer that of power?

Sadko Hadzihasanovic, Dream Date, 2010; Grayson Perry, Golden Ghosts, 2000; Darrel Morris, More Like your Brother]

No More Page 3? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNlKjUfmaUA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFA9MgsUBAM

Why do we need Feminism now?• Although we live in a supposedly post feminist generation it

seems the art world has a long way to go to equality, especially in the UK. Women artists represent only 12% of the entire Tate Modern collection. Moreover, the last all women artist group exhibition to be held in a major UK public space was in 1993 (Bad Girls at the ICA). Two recent major public exhibitions in the U.S. were devoted exclusively to reviewing women art practice; WACK at M.O.C.A and Global Feminisms at Brooklyn Museum.

• FGM - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM9fzser6RY&list=PLksTBkYUfn0y6t2YB2oDBhRcU3SKs4H7z

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM9fzser6RY&list=PLksTBkYUfn0y6t2YB2oDBhRcU3SKs4H7z

• Slut Project - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH0MSZyttPM

• Good statistical overview: http://www.slideshare.net/moonzajer/feminism-15560282

30th January 2015:

• The obituary for The Thorn Birds author read:

• ‘Colleen McCullough, Australia’s best-selling author, was a charmer. Plain of feature, and certainly overweight, she was, nevertheless, a woman of wit and warmth.

• ‘In one interview, she said: “I’ve never been into clothes or figure and the interesting thing is I never had any trouble attracting men.”’

• Colleen McCullough wrote 25 novels. Her The Thorn Birds sold 30 million copies worldwide for $1.9 million, then a record; a mini-series starring Richard Chamberlain and Barbara Stanwyck based on her work became one of the most watched in history, second at the time only to Roots. Her final book was published in 2003

• The New York Times obituary of Yvonne Brill, a rocket scientist who died in 2013 read:

• ‘She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children. “The world’s best mom,” her son Matthew said’.

• Brill was one of the only, if not the only, women working in rocket science in the 1940s, and she went on to invent the electro-thermal hydrazine thruster, a rocket propulsion system that keeps communication satellites from falling out of orbit. In 2011, she earned the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

• Also: 12th February 2015 – the UK Labour Party, wanting to encourage women to vote, launch a pink campaign bus.....

Summary

• Feminism aims to redress unequal sex and gender relations, politically, economically, socially and culturally;

• Feminism is divided by 3 waves;

• The ‘personal is political’ offers a means of expressing experiences, emotions that paves the way to a de-politicised cult of neo-liberalism;

• Post-feminism re-establishes traditional gender roles by rejecting the ‘messy’ parts of feminism and by utilising post-modern irony or a notion of ‘having it all’. Post feminism sees gender as a fluid entity, and thus treats everyone supposedly equally. Power, it seems, comes through the consumption of goods aimed at all sexes and genders and this can be understood as ‘empowering’. Whether this is social power is debatable, but it’s certainly good for business ...

Further Reading (selected):

• Andrews, M [ed] (2014) Women and the Media, Routledge• Betterton, R (1987) Looking On, Blackwell• Betterton, R (2013) An Intimate Distance, Routledge• Boyle, K, (2010) Everyday Pornography, Routledge• Cooke Dicker, R et al (2003) Catching a Wave, UPNE• Gill, R (2007) Gender and the Media, Blackwell• Hollows, J (2000) Feminism, Femininity and Popular Culture, Manchester University Press• Kirkham, P [ed] (1996) The Gendered Object, Manchester University Press• Parker, R (2012 [reprint]) The Subversive Stitch, I B Tauris• Schor, M (1997) Wet: On Painting, Feminism and Art Culture, Duke University Press• Sparke, P (2010) As Long as it’s Pink, Blackwell• Thornham, S (2007) Women, Feminism and the Media, Edinburgh University Press

• http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/02/feminism-has-been-hijacked-white-middle-class-women

• http://www.newstatesman.com/v-spot/2013/05/five-main-issues-facing-modern-feminism

• http://nymag.com/news/features/retro-wife-2013-3/