The Issue Of Gender Equality By Allan Kaprow And Lynda Benglis Essay

The question of “why feminism?” has been presented to a number of female artists who deal with strong constructions of gender in their work. The answer, overwhelmingly, has been the desire to modify stereotypes about women that have prevailed in male-dominated art history. In the 1960’s, women who explored “feminist” issues in their art were criticized, causing mass mobilization and conscious raising as to what, exactly, was the purpose of feminist art (Crowell, 1991). Since that time, women have been trying desperately to overturn the art world and rescind the traditional stereotypes and images that have plagued them. Feminist artists created somewhat of a unified front during that

Although it was not seen as a right before, equality has grown into the statement for all of the natural human rights. Throughout the growth of the United States, much has changed: technology has advanced, wars have come and passed, old ways have been updated. However, the one thing that has followed slowly behind in the race for change is the equality for all. Those who were once viewed as lesser to the American males—females—are still having to make strides towards equality, but are considerably closer due to their fight for freedom and recognition. The documents “Now We Can Begin” by Crystal Eastman and “What’s Become of Rosie the Riveter?” by Frieda S. Miller are examples of what some of the women were out there fighting for.

In addition, I will examine the differences between male and female sexuality and how each tended to be perceived and treated by society. Then, I will look at prominent female artists and their personal experiences and beliefs on feminism and the female in their art focusing on how it tended to be received along how male artists responded to it. Mainly, I will be analyzing the clash of sexualized images in art, focusing on the differences not only between male made art versus female art, but the differences in the women’s art community, as well. What are the reasons and goals for women to use a “sexualized image” of women in their art versus

The artwork I chose to view through a gendered perspective was John Sloan’s Three AM. Three A.M. was made in 1909 and is an oil painting on canvas. John Sloan describes the painting as a look at a “curious two room household” ("Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object: Three A.M."). I chose this painting because it reminded me of times I have shared with my best friend. The scene reminded me of the countless nights I have spent with my best friend in the kitchen baking cookies and gossiping. When I went to the museum, I was with my best friend and the first thing that came to mind when we saw this was, “This looks like us in my kitchen like two weekends ago.” It made me think, if someone had just captured a small moment of us and painted it, it would look very similar to us. Sloan characterized himself as a sort of “window watcher” (Coco 1), which is evident in the way he painted the two women. He painted the room in a “binocular view” (Coco 1) that looks like it was painted while watching these people from a window. This painting has many gendered aspects, some of which are stereotypes. My gender, as well as the artist’s gender, influence the understanding of the work of art.

I fell in love with methodologies of art history. I felt empowered in that, through my own interpretations, I could attach words and meaning to objects. My study of art history reached a turning point when, in 2012, I took a class entitled Identity in a Post-Identity Art World: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Trans/Nationality, 1990 to the Present. The course endowed me with another lens with which to examine works and, more importantly, shed light on representations of marginalized identities. As a result, I was introduced to the writings of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, both seminal theorists who inspired my own analyses. I enjoyed every minute of conducting research and forming arguments to support my claims. Ultimately I was interested in developing my understanding of issues in contemporary art further and sought to accomplish this by engaging with a larger

Women’s equality is an issue that has been around for awhile. While women have been given many rights to increase equality, including the right to vote and go to college, the problem hasn’t completely vanished. One area that still sees this is in sports. Women’s sports do not draw nearly as many fans and are not covered in the media as much as men’s sports, pay differences between male and female athletes are large, and female athletes have to wait longer to start their professional career than men, which risks their professional career before it even starts.

Controversy surrounding equality between men and women has always been present in history. Throughout centuries women suffrage has taken a tole in the way society views women. The positions and rights of women possess improvement through the last century.The status of Women in society has been jeopardized throughout the last decade. Misogynistic acts and practices have created a negative affect as to how women should behave and act. It is because of these social judgements that women face the progression of women as equal as men. Insinuated and conspicuous sexism lingers among educational, professional, and economic social structures. Women who deliberately pursue their assumed roles do not view it as oppressive compulsion in their life. Betty Friedan took a stand for women by refusing to deal with a society that actively oppressed and silenced women who were expected to fulfill certain roles . Such assertive roles disregarded the commitment of educated and motivated women , instead it delivered a inconspicuous message to society saying that educated women were greedy and vile.

Stylistic and devised with two distinct media and movement, and these artists have created reminiscent portrayals of educated women. The undertows of these artworks subjects reveal the likes of emboldened females, and mutually illustrated by their brilliant artists. Fittingly, an International Women’s Day slogan, stated, “Educate a girl, and you empower a nation," a dictum that will prove transcended and parroting both artwork’s focused images (Philanthropy Age et al.). Now, that is a picture and caption moments worth captivating. On one hand, we have John Opie a British artist who was sort after for numerous commissioned portraits by the elites at the time, and a lifetime that bestowed over 300-paintings.

Many people are often misinformed or given bad first impressions of feminism. However, feminism is equal rights for all people of different race, sex, gender, and sexuality. Many of the people that give feminism a bad name, include a self-proclaimed feminist that is running for presidency, and meninists who are satirical equal rights activists. In reality, feminism is pro-gender equality and opportunities for all types of people.

Freedom and equality are ideas this country has had for centuries that have evolved over time. In 1776, what Thomas Jefferson meant by “all men are created equal”, is that white males are dominant in society. Women are treated worse than men and slaves treated worse than women. People that weren’t of the “superior” race/gender of a white male were typically treated as if they were less. Women and African-Americans aren’t being treated as bad today, but they’re still being treated worse than the white males of society. Even today, when white males are typically the leaders of society, it’s not always race and gender that creates inequality; sometimes it’s money that creates the issue. Not just from past evidence, but from present

Most prominent positions in early Western countries, including artists and commissioners of said art, were male, yet so much of the work that was created used the female form. The novelist and historian, Marina Warner, wrote about this phenomenon in her book, Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form, when she said, “… The female body have been projected the fantasies and ongoing terrors of generations of men through them of women, in order to conjure them into reality or exocrine them into oblivion.” Warner goes on to address the use of the female body in monuments when she states, “The iconography appear chiefly in public commission and in the edifices where authority resides because the language of female allegory suits the voices of those in command.” Having the female form used as an, “allegory,” of those in command makes it so those authority figures get to decide what the female form means, and in doing so they take away the authenticity of the real female form, and replace it with an interpretation. The irony of the female form being presented in public commissions for government buildings is that when these statues were created there were no women holding that seat of authority, therefore the use of the female form as iconography to perpetuate the, “voice of those in command,” completely undermines the woman's voice in society. While men were using this idealized female form as an allegory to support their own motives, political or otherwise, women became a consumer of this media. Since the interpretation of the female form by men became how the female form was widely accepted in popular art and culture, it left genuine womanhood

Throughout many decades women have been struggling to be equal to men, both at home and in the work place. Women have come a long way and are certainly fighting to gain that equality, but gender roles are very important in our society. They have become important in life from birth, and society continues to push these gender roles. The treatment of the male gender is very different from that of the female, and this issue has become very important to me, as a woman. As children we learn and adapt to specific gender roles, and as we grow they become more evident and more important to our role in a society. There is a lot of discrimination against the female gender. Carol Gilligan argued that

In the 1800’s a women was suppose to have four things Piety, Purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. These principles shaped the “Cult of True Womanhood” an idea that women were to be seen but not heard. Women had no say when it came to politics, they couldn’t own property, they were not allowed to do many jobs, and they couldn’t even speak in front of men. They had the duty to be a mother and raise their children but even thought they had this responsibility it was the husband who had the complete control and guardianship of the children. Because of these ideas it was very difficult for change to happen. When women started to receive more education they began to ask questions about why they were being denied these rights, which began the

The concept of gender denotes the distinction between culturally driven and created roles of masculinity and femininity. These specific and normalized attitudes and behaviors transcend and effect how differently men and women live their lives. Based on society’s continual re-enforcement of such gender stereotypes, we see an on-going dilemma of gender inequality. Though some may argue that men experience gender inequality, this seems to exist on a much more invasive level for women. As of recently, the awareness of gender inequality in the workplace has increased. With the fight for equal pay and equal respect, society is already making strides towards the equality of women. With that being said, one aspect of gender inequality that seems

Equality between Women and Men, or Gender Equality, means equality of rights and freedoms. For equal opportunities for participation, recognition and appreciation of women and men, In all areas of society, political, economic, labor, personal and family.