"Feminism is the radical notion that women are human beings"
-Cheris Kramerae.
Unfortunately, we live in a patriarchal society that not only dominates and oppresses women, but also propagates their inferiority and reinforces their dependency upon men (Devereaux 126). On a daily basis we are bombarded with degrading images of women on tv, film, music videos, and advertisements, and as a result have become desensitized to how women are still being dehumanized and exploited in our modern day society. In order to “survive” and prosper in our society women must conform to the “traditional” standard of female beauty and their primary roles as sexual objects for male scopophilic pleasure (Devereaux 132). Women have been conditioned by society to believe that they are solely objects to be appraised, judged, and validated by the male gaze (Devereaux 131). Unfortunately, women also view and judge other women from a male perspective; often sadistically sizing up their “competition” (Devereaux 120). Women are unrelentingly criticized for being vain and narcissistic, but sadly their very value and identities are determined by how well they can conform to the male ideal of an eroticized object of sexual desire. Her only “power” is to be seductively appealing and sexually attractive to men; therefore, driving many women to dress provocatively, wear lots of make up, diet, exercise excessively, and even resort to plastic surgery, in order to live up to these ideal feminine expectations that have been superimposed by men.
A misogynistic attitude in the art world is clearly apparent not only by the fact that women artists and their art have long been suppressed and labeled as inferior, but also in the manner in which women have been represented and portrayed in the arts by men. Male artists more often then not tailor their art to the tastes and erotic fantasies of the “assumed” heterosexual male viewer. In most pieces of artwork by men, women are not subjects, but objects that are to be judged, desired, controlled, showcased, and owned exclusively by men; therefore, defining the female body and identity as mere sexual objects created for the sole purpose of male “aesthetic contemplation” and pleasure (Devereaux 131). Gustave Courbet’s painting, Woman with a Parrot, is a model example of how the female body is normally sexually objectified and idealized in art that is created by male artists; therefore, satisfying the male fetishistic obsession with the female body and beauty. In this painting the female subject languidly reclines as she dazedly gazes up at the colorful parrot that has gracefully landed onto her delicate fingers. Her porcelain white skin is smooth and supple and her luxuriously thick hair gracefully cascades onto the white linen sheets that serve to strategically conceal her genital region. The sexual connotation to her posture accentuates her female curves and attentively displays her ample breasts. The viewer is allowed to steal a glimpse of her traditionally patriarchal aesthetically pleasing nude form without her knowledge or consent. She is sexually available and vulnerable and completely unaware of the intrusive voyeurism of the male gaze. She is an erotic object of male desire and fascination; in essence the flawless physical embodiment of the “ideal” female.
Gustave Courbet’s highly controversial painting, “The Origin of the World”, is another dynamic example of how male artists create art that exploits the female body in order to satisfy the voyeuristic male gaze. This painting crudely portrays a full-frontal depiction of a naked woman’s genitals. Her fleshy thighs are splayed wide opened; allowing the spectator to freely peruse her naked and exposed form. She is lying on a bed and appears to be sexually available and submissive. The view of her nether regions is carefully enshrouded by a thick patch of dark pubic hair and an erect nipple is barely concealed by a white linen sheet. It is quite obvious that this painting is heavily saturated with heterosexual male sexual fantasy; allowing them to vicariously play out their own erotic fantasies and desires, and in the process dehumanizing and degrading women to the status of a sexual object . The woman in this painting is but a headless, sexual object stripped of any identity, voice, or power; in essence the epitome of aesthetic pleasure for the male gaze.
Linda Nochlin’s famous question, “Why have there been no great women artists?”, sheds light on the discrimination and bias women artists and their artwork have faced and still continue to face in our patriarchal society. Gender constraints placed on women confined them to their biological roles as mother and caregiver; relegating them to the domestic sphere and its responsibilities. They were denied access to art school, teaching schools, and formal artistic training, and therefore often turned to needlepoint, knitting, crocheting, weaving, and embroidery, as means in which to freely express their artistic creativity and ingenuity (Brand 10). These artistic endeavors were denounced as being hobbies and the work they produced was labeled as mere crafts; not worthy of artistic merit or praise (Brand 11). Women were branded as incapable of producing “’fine” art; lacking the artistic “genius” innately inherent to male artists (Brand 10). Miriam Schapiro's series of etchings, Anonymous Was a Woman, is an artistic homage to the heritage of women artists and their art work. This artwork consists of a collection of etchings based on elaborately and ornately crocheted doilies created by nameless women. It celebrates and embraces the crafts of women that for so long have been depreciated and devalued by our society and elevates “women’s crafts” to the statues of “fine” art (Brand 11).
Sources Cited:
http://www.artchive.com/artchive/C/courbet/courbet_woman_with_parrot.jpg.html
1 comment:
I think the quote sums up the feminist art movement so perfectly. Most of the traditional depictions of women show them as objects. Pretty things for men to look at. The idea that women have their own ideas and different views of their own bodies is very radical and surprising.
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