Gender and the Gaze
Who's looking at who?
The very first point to be made, is, that there is a clear distinction between sex and gender.
Sex refers to the biological identity a person has as a male or a female.
Gender, on the other hand, in contemporary thought, it refers to socially determined identity construct. Characterisation of gender changes from culture to culture, as we are being expected to behave in a certain way and be as male or female.
Gender also refers to how society stereotypes males and females and for this reason, gender tends to be as fixed as sex, and seemed to be confused for a long time with sex.
Gender also refers to the cultural expectation for a certain sex, the cultural representation, for example, in most of the old paintings, films or books, which were the most common form of culture, the most common way of instilling beliefs, the female characters acted very feminine, while the male characters acted very masculine.
Gender stereotypes (The nature / culture question)
There seems to have been a NAture - culture binary that inflicted all this difference in which men and women were being perceived in history. And because of this, there appeared quite a few stereotypes. In most cases, stereotypes refer to the cultural differences, they are based on ideologies, on the cultural way of perceiving things.
Mythologies were built around gender: Gods were always men, there was alway the connection between: God - Man - Myth.
Masculinity and femininity lead to opposing moral values in mythology.
Gender roles were propagated through religious text, paintings and this way it managed to maintain the status quo of the male - strong, in control.
Gender stereotypes (The nature / culture question)
There seems to have been a NAture - culture binary that inflicted all this difference in which men and women were being perceived in history. And because of this, there appeared quite a few stereotypes. In most cases, stereotypes refer to the cultural differences, they are based on ideologies, on the cultural way of perceiving things.
Mythologies were built around gender: Gods were always men, there was alway the connection between: God - Man - Myth.
Masculinity and femininity lead to opposing moral values in mythology.
Gender roles were propagated through religious text, paintings and this way it managed to maintain the status quo of the male - strong, in control.
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| Discobolus of Myron (the Disc thrower) |
Men were always depicted in any forms of art, as very active, fighting, in control (wether these representations were films, sculptures, paintings, etc), while women have always been shown as shy, modest, passive, sensual, or is quite a few cases, as mother figures( Jean Fouquet - The Virgin Mother, or Botticelli's oil painting shown below - fig1)
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| fig1( The birth of Venus - Sandro Botticelli) |
Even though, there were many historical strong female characters ( Judith - fig2 - see "Book of Judith", who single handedly - according to the religious writings - decapitated Holofernes - the general of the enemy army, and brought victory for the jews that way, or Cleopatra, who again, single handedly ruled the Egyptians for a few years until she committed suicide).
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| fig2 ( Judith with the Head of Holofernes - Cristofano Allori) |
However, even though Cleopatra was one of the most powerful women of her time(fig3, fig4), in death, she is depicted as a typical female: weak, powerless, helpless.(fig5, fig6).
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| fig3 (Cleopatra - Adam Lenckhardt) |
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| fig4 (Cleopatra and Caesar - Jean Leon Gerome) |
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| fig5 (The death of Cleopatra - Guido Cagnacci) |
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| fig6(The death of Cleopatra - Reginald Arthur) |
However, all this has changed in the last 30-40 years. Women are being perceived differently, they are being given a fair place in society, their qualities are being accepted, and recognised, and their role as independent thinkers, artists, even leaders is set on the same level as their male counterparts'.
Oxford dictionary describes feminism as:
So, based on this, we can say that feminism, questions what theoretically can be described as Patriarchal Binary thought, which is in fact a very simplistic way of seeing the world
It has always been believed that "Feminine" was led by nature and "Masculine" was led by culture and that's where feminism comes in to challenge the ingrained views.
One interesting thing to be mentioned, is that feminists are not always females.
The feminist move started in Britain through the Suffragettes in the late 19th and early 20th century, when women of middle and upper class, frustrated by their social and economic situation, demanded a change within society.
A really interesting fact brought up in class, was the fact the a branch of the Suffragette movement argued that women's place was at home, as wives and Mum, and the right to vote was the only thing they actually wanted to gain through protests.
Feminism in arts in 70's and 80's
In the 70's and 80's, art was the least censored form of expression, so feminists used their art to challenge the stereotypes and gender roles.
Hannah Wilke is a very good example of this.
She has written on the photo: What does this represent What do you represent, and through this she has taken a position of renegotiating the representation of one's body, as the body in the image, even though it is a naked female, doesn't seem to want to be looked at and admired.
There is a massive difference between this image of a female and the ones portrayed till now, where women were being shown as shy or vain, but in any way, looking for approval and admiration from the viewer.
Another example of the feminist move in the 70's is Valie Export in her "Action Pants: Genital Panic"
Action Pants: Genital Panic is a set of six identical posters from a larger group that the artist produced to commemorate an action she performed in Munich in 1968. The posters show EXPORT sitting on a bench against a wall out of doors wearing crotchless trousers and a leather shirt and holding a machine-gun. Her feet are bare and vulnerable, as are her genitals, and she holds the gun at chest level, apparently in readiness to turn it on the viewer towards whom her gaze is directed. Her hair stands up in a wild mop above her head, emphasising the strangeness of the image.
Another example is Barbara Kruger with "Your body is a battleground" designed for the 1989 March on Washington in support of women's rights and the abortion-rights movement.
"Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)" exemplifies Kruger's interest in addressing and interpreting heated political issues of the moment. Using as a central image a silk-screened frontal photograph of a model's face, she gives the image additional meaning by dividing the large canvas it occupies into sections: right and left the image reverses from positive to negative, and from top to bottom the face is divided into thirds emblazoned with the slogan "Your body is a battleground." Kruger critiques the objectified standard of symmetry applied in modern times to feminine beauty, and perpetuated at fever pitch by media and advertising.
The composition originally included more text and was designed as a poster for the massive pro-choice march that took place on April 9, 1989 in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Kruger has allowed the image to be displayed on postcards with the text "Support Abortion, Birth Control, and Women's Rights". Reproduced here is the large scale original painting in the Foundation's collection. The Foundation's collection includes six works by Kruger.
This image leaves everything to your imagination and she probably wants to depict the female image as is seen by the male viewer. There is no nude model, no nudity whatsoever, however, it is more sexual than normal, exactly because it is all left open.
Oxford dictionary describes feminism as:
- The issue of rights for women first became prominent during the French and American revolutions in the late 18th century. In Britain it was not until the emergence of the suffragette movement in the late 19th century that there was significant political change. A ‘second wave’ of feminism arose in the 1960s, with an emphasis on unity and sisterhood; seminal figures included Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer
It has always been believed that "Feminine" was led by nature and "Masculine" was led by culture and that's where feminism comes in to challenge the ingrained views.
One interesting thing to be mentioned, is that feminists are not always females.
The feminist move started in Britain through the Suffragettes in the late 19th and early 20th century, when women of middle and upper class, frustrated by their social and economic situation, demanded a change within society.
A really interesting fact brought up in class, was the fact the a branch of the Suffragette movement argued that women's place was at home, as wives and Mum, and the right to vote was the only thing they actually wanted to gain through protests.
Feminism in arts in 70's and 80's
In the 70's and 80's, art was the least censored form of expression, so feminists used their art to challenge the stereotypes and gender roles.
Hannah Wilke is a very good example of this.
She has written on the photo: What does this represent What do you represent, and through this she has taken a position of renegotiating the representation of one's body, as the body in the image, even though it is a naked female, doesn't seem to want to be looked at and admired.
There is a massive difference between this image of a female and the ones portrayed till now, where women were being shown as shy or vain, but in any way, looking for approval and admiration from the viewer.
Another example of the feminist move in the 70's is Valie Export in her "Action Pants: Genital Panic"
Action Pants: Genital Panic is a set of six identical posters from a larger group that the artist produced to commemorate an action she performed in Munich in 1968. The posters show EXPORT sitting on a bench against a wall out of doors wearing crotchless trousers and a leather shirt and holding a machine-gun. Her feet are bare and vulnerable, as are her genitals, and she holds the gun at chest level, apparently in readiness to turn it on the viewer towards whom her gaze is directed. Her hair stands up in a wild mop above her head, emphasising the strangeness of the image.
The action that gave rise to the photograph Action Pants: Genital Panic has become the subject of apocryphal art historical legend. EXPORT performed Genital Panic in Munich in an art cinema where experimental film-makers were showing their work. Wearing trousers from which a triangle had been removed at the crotch, the artist walked between the rows of seated viewers, her exposed genitalia at face-level. This confrontation challenged the perceived cliché of women’s historical representation in the cinema as passive objects denied agency.
(http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/export-action-pants-genital-panic-p79233/text-summary)Another example is Barbara Kruger with "Your body is a battleground" designed for the 1989 March on Washington in support of women's rights and the abortion-rights movement.
"Untitled (Your Body is a Battleground)" exemplifies Kruger's interest in addressing and interpreting heated political issues of the moment. Using as a central image a silk-screened frontal photograph of a model's face, she gives the image additional meaning by dividing the large canvas it occupies into sections: right and left the image reverses from positive to negative, and from top to bottom the face is divided into thirds emblazoned with the slogan "Your body is a battleground." Kruger critiques the objectified standard of symmetry applied in modern times to feminine beauty, and perpetuated at fever pitch by media and advertising.
The composition originally included more text and was designed as a poster for the massive pro-choice march that took place on April 9, 1989 in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Kruger has allowed the image to be displayed on postcards with the text "Support Abortion, Birth Control, and Women's Rights". Reproduced here is the large scale original painting in the Foundation's collection. The Foundation's collection includes six works by Kruger.
(http://faculty.txwes.edu/csmeller/human-prospect/ProData09/03WW2CulMatrix/WW2PICs/Kruger1945/Kru1989Body400.htm)
During the 70's, which was a very masculine dominated decade, Grayson Perry believed that in order to be heard when challenging the norm, you had to be very loud, you had to go to the extreme and shout loud enough. that's how his alter ego came to life, which he named Claire.
Another interesting subject brought in class by one of my colleagues was that apparently, through studies, was discovered that, one side of the brain deals with ideologies, cultural information and when that is being challenged, it releases the same chemicals it does when you fear for your life, causing aggression. (This is a subject I would like to study a bit more, as I don't have any proof of the study, but apparently it was confirmed by my tutor as well).
Gender, Sex and Sexuality
Difference and play in post modernity
Post modernity is when binary system started to be broken down.
While the feminists in the 70's used their bodies to challenge the stereotypes, the post modernists started to remove the bodies in order to do the same thing.
A good representative of this era is Sarah Lucas - a post modernist feminist
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| Two fried eggs and a kebab - Sarah Lucas. |
This image leaves everything to your imagination and she probably wants to depict the female image as is seen by the male viewer. There is no nude model, no nudity whatsoever, however, it is more sexual than normal, exactly because it is all left open.
