Women as Art

Question 1

What is discourse theory?

Answer 1

study of language and how it is used in the real world

Question 2

Describe the Excerpts from Ways of Seeing (1972) by John Berger

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Describe the different representations for men in art

Answer 3

How he is presented, striking or small, powerful or not, suggests of doing something to or for the person, power exercised on others

Question 4

Describe the different representations for women in art

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Why are women supposed to be the way they are gendered to do?

Answer 5

if they don’t they are cut from society

Question 6

Is masculinity a terrible way to raise men?

Answer 6

Yes

Question 7

Who are the Guerrilla Girls?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

1989….
Met Museum
- __% artists women, __% nudes female

Answer 8

5% artists women, 85% nudes female

Question 9

2005…

16 years later, __% artists women, __% nudes female

Answer 9

3% artists women, 83% nudes female

Question 10

2012….

__% artists women, __% nudes female

Answer 10

4% artists women, 76% nudes female

Question 11

The process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, skills, and character traits that enable them to participate as effective members of groups and society

Answer 11

Socialization

Question 12

the set of behaviors a person occupying a particular status (position in society) is expected to perform

Answer 12

Role

Question 13

expectations society has of us because we are either male or female.

Answer 13

Gender role

Question 14

the process by which society’s values and norms are taught and learned.

Answer 14

Socialization

Question 15

Theories of learning gender:

Answer 15

Identification theory (Freud), Social learning theory (Bandura, Skinner), Cognitive Developmental theory (Piaget, Kohlberg), Enculturated lens theory (Bem)

Question 16

Describe Identification theory (Freud)

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Social learning theory (Bandura):

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Cognitive Developmental theory (Piaget, Kohlberg)

Answer 18

• 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.

Question 19

Enculturated Lens Theory of Gender Formation

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

Socialization: How it happens

●Interaction with parents:

Answer 20

• they treat us differently

Question 21

Socialization: How it happens
●Differences in how parents treat girls and boys during:
●Infancy
●Toddler ages
●Preschool

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What were the only things boys and girls were equally likely to have in their rooms?

Answer 22

books and musical instruments

Question 23

What are gender differences in children’s books

Answer 23

boys get most of the interesting, action-oriented roles; girls get support roles

Question 24

At what age do children begin to show preference for same-sex playmates?
How is it reinforced?

Answer 24

2

acceptance