Women as Art Flashcards
What is discourse theory?
study of language and how it is used in the real world
Describe the Excerpts from Ways of Seeing (1972) by John Berger
things are the way they are to be even at a young age
what is represented on the canvas centers everything on the eye of the holder
the visible world is arranged specifically for the assumed viewer
universe is arranged by God for the (gendered) man
no need for disagreement and argument of what you’re seeing
this is how God made the world and when it comes to art, this is how man represents the world
Describe the different representations for men in art
How he is presented, striking or small, powerful or not, suggests of doing something to or for the person, power exercised on others
Describe the different representations for women in art
power attitude reflected inward, not outwards, gentle gestures, soft voice, no opinions, always smiling, large clothes representing wealth, not in a bad part of town, ladylike not woman like
Why are women supposed to be the way they are gendered to do?
if they don’t they are cut from society
Is masculinity a terrible way to raise men?
Yes
Who are the Guerrilla Girls?
Female artists who formed an anonymous group in 1985 in order to highlight and expose and fight sexism and racism in the fine arts
- give out fact sheets
1989….
Met Museum
- __% artists women, __% nudes female
5% artists women, 85% nudes female
2005…
16 years later, __% artists women, __% nudes female
3% artists women, 83% nudes female
2012….
__% artists women, __% nudes female
4% artists women, 76% nudes female
The process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and character traits that enable them to participate as effective members of groups and society
Socialization
the set of behaviors a person occupying a particular status (position in society) is expected to perform
Role
expectations society has of us because we are either male or female.
Gender role
the process by which society’s values and norms are taught and learned.
Socialization
Theories of learning gender:
Identification theory (Freud), Social learning theory (Bandura, Skinner), Cognitive Developmental theory (Piaget, Kohlberg), Enculturated lens theory (Bem)
Describe Identification theory (Freud)
psychoanalytic theory, when 4 or 5 years old, we learn identify with same sex parent and fall in love with opposite sex parent and realize we cant have them, so since it can never be, we identify with the one that took them from us
says that the primary driving force in humans is our sexuality, and we express in different ways and different ages
he got data from ill Upper class young women diagnosed with hysteria
Psychosexual stages of development: oral, anal, phallic, latent, and genital.
Other concepts: castration anxiety and penis envy…according to Freud, results of the phallic stage.
“The Etiology of Hysteria”…article written and retracted by Freud
Social learning theory (Bandura):
descibes how children learn their gender
●concepts: Behaviorism, reinforcement, modeling.
behaviorism - idea that if a child does something, it’s stimulus response,
reinforcement - we reward the response we want to see
children does something within gender norms, we praise them.
children read that
modeling - dad is fixing the car and mom is not, it must be a guy thing
Cognitive Developmental theory (Piaget, Kohlberg)
- give a lot of power to the child and so the child is figuring out how the world works, find what patterns are
●Children learn gender through their mental efforts to organize their social world.
Enculturated Lens Theory of Gender Formation
- when we’re born were given a pair of glasses of which we see the world
●Three gender lenses:
●Gender polarization - idea that men and women are very different (but we’re far more alike than different)
●Androcentrism
idea that male experiences are the valuable experiences, they count in society more than the ones that matter
puts men in the middle of the action in society
●Biological essentialism
were very different and men are more important and we’re all born that way
whatever genitalia we have, it all comes with that
if you’re female you’re not as important
our society has this all in place
always gonna be that person because of what body we have
but thats not true
Socialization: How it happens
●Interaction with parents:
- they treat us differently
Socialization: How it happens ●Differences in how parents treat girls and boys during: ●Infancy ●Toddler ages ●Preschool
Infancy:
- usually dads are more gentle when its a girl, for boys they throw them up
- moms treat them the same
Toddler- more active and encourage boys to take more chances, trust them more
- expect boys are more physically capable to take care of themselves
Preschool
- society tries to limit our kids
What were the only things boys and girls were equally likely to have in their rooms?
books and musical instruments
What are gender differences in children’s books
boys get most of the interesting, action-oriented roles; girls get support roles
At what age do children begin to show preference for same-sex playmates?
How is it reinforced?
2
acceptance
