Gendered language images and context

Journal This week readings are about perception of a gender. Three Jamison Green, Judith Butler and Jenifer Fortado altogether speak on a social understanding of gender and how a social perception makes a conflict with a personal revelation of gender. It turns out the gender is more about performance than anything else, and even biological characteristics, commonly mistaken as a definition for gender, starts to value less.
Green provides her article with the examples of own experience. Being a woman, but with primary masculine features of character, Green was always forced to choose rather be male, or female. Author comes across a point which I find very interesting: Isn’t there the same determination on transgender people? Even among transgender individuals there’s a need to be defined rather you are a woman with a male gender, or a man with a female? Meanwhile, the main modern concern on a gender is “ to free us from the bounds of enforced arbitrary behavioral norms predicted on gender” and a new category “ transgender” won’t solve the problem (Green 11). Reframing Fortado, “ Have you ever asked yourself what a “ transgender” looks like?” (Fortado 32). Green fairly points, that gender is an absolutely private matter and too wide thing to describe within any categories (Green 14).
Butler cites many postmodern authors, who used to doubt everything, and naturally, to question a whole idea of gender. There’s simply no reference for original gender, accept a social opinion on a male/ female performance (Butler 26). It makes gender rather image, created “ around, on and within” the body than a real thing. In this way, gender is referred to artistic sphere, because art performances images. The origin of gender stereotypes may be found in some great books or other types of artworks and influence social expectations on males/ females. Then, may be the way to disprove gender stereotypes is also the artistic way?
Assignment A
Assignment B
http://www. who. int/gender/whatisgender/en/
The article explains well the difference between “ sex” and “ gender”, so one will never combine these two notions again. It’s from WHO site, so source is reliable.
http://www. performinggender. eu/
The site is about the one project which unites different European artists interested in question of gender and different sexuality. The goal is “ to open up a civil reflection on gender and sexual orientation differences” (Performing Gender).
Video Assignment
Collier Schorr
When saying, “ I am creating a boy’s world, but from the emotional center of a woman” Schorr firstly denies some strict boundaries between males and females fields of interest. Herself, Schorr is interested in boy’s world, – the world of brotherhood, – despite creating the image of that world viewed by a woman. Schorr investigates about war, military and history, which are “ typically” male interests.
Gabriel Orozco
Orozco has no specific “ space” for his works firstly, because Orozco has no studio and prefers every time new experience of a new place and culture. Secondly, Orozco also has no single art form to put the creativity in, and artist mixes sculpture, photography and so on. Yet most of all Orozco is “ in-between spaces” because he’s interested in schemas and how machines and other things work. They are “ typically” masculine fields of interests.
Janine Antoni
I think Antoni’s works shouldn’t be described in gender terms because fields of Antoni’s interests are beyond socially determined fields for a particular gender. Antoni mostly values personalities (her own and others) than a gender, or sex definitions. Thus, Antoni’s work Moor consists of prints of personal individualities whatever gender those personalities belong to, and tells a story about people who influenced Antoni’s personality and life. Meanwhile, her Lick and Lather is absolutely a self-portrait and thus, the image conveys Antoni’s individuality. A gender may be found in material choice, because soup and chocolate are things which females like “ typically”. Yet Antoni was interested in day-to-day activities, things people regularly do, like eating and taking a bath. These activities doubtfully are “ typically” female.
Works Cited
Green, J. “ The Art and Nature of Gender”. In Gurley, G. (Ed.) Art and Gender: An Intersexual Reader, Revised Edition, pp. 11-22. San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2013.
Butler, J. “ From Interiority to Gender Performances”. In Gurley, G. (Ed.) Art and Gender: An Intersexual Reader, Revised Edition, pp. 23-30. San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2013.
Fortado, J. “ The Contemporary Transgender Movement: When Identities Resist Collective Framing”. In Gurley, G. (Ed.) Art and Gender: An Intersexual Reader, Revised Edition, pp. 31-44. San Diego, CA: Cognella, 2013.