Gender Stereotypes In Feminist Art

Through the years, the depiction of women and men have always been different. The womanly form is designed to flatter men, who are assumed to be the ‘ideal spectators’. Not only are the relationships between men and women poor, so are the relationships of women with themselves. The woman turns herself into an object; the surveyor in her becomes male. Tired of being interpreted as subjects by both genders, women artists revolted during the feminist movement with art that reflected women’s lives and experiences. Their goal, as declared by Artist Suzanne Lacy, was ‘to influence cultural attitudes, and transform stereotypes.’ Initially, females were rarely seen as significant artists- their art being considered to be a hobby. The late 1960’s , however, saw an incursion of bold works: the feminist art movement confronted the subordinate roles of women and challenged the way women were

She gives proud shameless poses, evoking notions of a woman completely in control of her body and the way in which it is used. The glamorous poses teamed with the ‘vaginal scars’ call attention to the suffering that they inflict on their own beautification processes. The sculptures alienated in the work, displayed in glass cases- endeavoured to promote the proud female as an attempt to end women’s low regard for their own genitals, indicating that female sex organs are nothing to be ashamed of. The arrangement of models chewed into labial forms are uncomfortable to look at even today, despite the genitals being the symbol of female empowerment, exemplifying the shame surrounding the appearance of the female sexual organ. The ‘scars ' decorating Wilke’s body demonstrate the numerous mental and emotional insecurities carried by all women in silence. The male projection of an ideal female body has lead all women into seeing their own body as