zosiaaleksandrasecondyearblog

[zosiaaleksandrasecondyearblog]

Final Improved Version of Research Project

There have been a lot of different opinions and views surrounding the ‘sexualisation’ of women throughout many decades. The definition of ‘sexualisation’ comes across when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior as well as when a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy”. As a result, this can also lead to “sexual objectification”. For instance, there are countless examples of this sexualisation of women such as: women’s bodies being used for advertisement purposes, on social media or in various artworks by well-known artists which I will be exploring in my personal research of this project. Although there are a lot of negative arguments/ or controversy around the sexualisation of women at present day, there are also positive representations around this topic which will be interesting to analyse in more depth. 

One way in which women have been heavily ‘sexualised’ amongst media would be in the music industry. For instance an article on (Cherwell, 2019) specifies that music videos on a whole are a form of “artistic expression” but can also be related to “human emotions and sexualities.” This has a beneficial link to Sigmund Freud’s theory in which he states that “true artists made artwork out of an excess of sexual energy”. There are several examples in which both male and female artists encompass this in music videos across Youtube. An example of this would be Taylor Swift’s famous music video of “Shake It Off”- it is one of the most popular accumulated videos on Youtube. There is a huge element of ‘sexualisation’ where there is sexualised dancing as well as “objectification”. This is concerning because women are essentially ‘exposed’ to the public with usually positive acclaim to the music video itself, but instead the ‘body’ will be criticized once again. Another article on The Garfield Messenger, (Moore, 2021) says that women having/ or leading musical careers are in a huge trap/ or more or less an easy target for ‘exploitation’. A good example to back this up would be the legendary singer/popstar Britney Spears. As her career grew, Britney was forced to tell the public a lot about her personal life, especially her ‘sex life’. This goes to show that society could go as far as ‘sexualise’ anything a woman does even though all Britney was trying to do at the time was build a ‘music career’ for herself. As a result of this ‘exploitation’, “both her father and Justin Timberlake have taken advantage of her and used her as a scapegoat/ or sexual pariah”. This as a result is quite distressing/ as well as upsetting to hear because it links back to the concept that men will do anything to exert ‘control’ over a woman which suggests we still live in a very male oriented society where men still think it is alright to judge a woman whether online/ or in person proving to be quite concerning. As a result, it proves my point that women at present day are still highly sexualised which is still a problem because it makes it very difficult for them to live in a way in which they are ‘free’ and engage in things that don’t always have to be ‘sexualised’. 

To elaborate this point further, an article that I found cited "Sexualisation, or the queer feminist provocations of Miley Cyrus" was quite interesting for me to explore. The article comments on an introduction of pop-star Miley Cyrus, essentially known as an image "from girl next door, child star of children's television series Hannah Montana, (...) known for her raunchy and provocative stage performances". However, as her career takes on a bigger launch, Miley's appearance and demeanour changes to an utmost 'explicit' way bringing about the 'sexualisation of culture'. ( Smith, K, pg 6) comments that this is used to "capture the growing sense of Western Societies as saturated by sexual representations and discourses with (....) pornographic imagery into popular culture". This could suggest that even celebrities such as Miley Cyrus could feel a pressure to conform the societal standards that are so heavily scattered about in the media. As a consequence, more of the younger generation that is growing up in particular teenagers will be filled with a 'false insecurity' of this is how you should be, as a result taking away the main concept that everyone has different bodies, lives etc and it shouldn't be a 'competition' or an 'expectation to live up to". Again, by linking this to ‘sexualisation’, it shows that it even goes to the point where it’s affecting young communities and could potentially hinder personal development and young people will find it difficult to be themselves.  

An example of this constant 'sexualisation' is when Miley Cyrus had pictures taken of her after her VMA awards performance. Sources have stated, Miley has become both a "victim and perpetrator" because the way the photos were taken were in an unnatural and sexualised manner, "taken from behind". These series of events then prompted one of the most read newspapers 'The Telegraph' which commented saying "sexualised pop-stars are more of a threat to children on the internet than hardcore pornography". This statement although expressing concerns in a cruel manner validates to me that the consumption of sexualised manner possesses a 'problem'. It also suggests that if Miley Cyrus was a 'victim' herself, she at a young age was also expected to act in a specific way and that changed her values/ beliefs over time. Many girls conform to these ideals and whilst consuming this although deemed as "uncritical media victims", nowadays it is becoming harder to express and be our authentic selves. 

Furthermore, it is very intriguing to analyse Britney’ Spears' music career as symbolising her as a form of ‘sexualisation’.(Schick, L, 2014) says that Britney Spears dubbed herself as a “baby babe” in her popular, well-known music video “One More Time”. She is described as wearing a pony-tail dancing around high school corridors with her gaining popularity which means that essentially “every girl wants to be like her and every guy wants to be with her and get to know her”. At another event, Britney was modelling for a feature in a Rolling Stone’s Cover where she was “dressing her in bra and pants and sticking her in a bedroom full of fluffy kids’ toys”. Arguably, this could be seen as ‘sexualisation’ because it isn’t deemed appropriate for a young music star to be practically naked whilst promoting this in a child-like manner because of the room setting. It also again exemplifies that the media will do absolutely anything to gain ‘profit’ and ‘revenue’ ignoring the fact that this type of ‘sexualisation’ will also have a continuing negative impact on the younger generation. This is because more and more people, especially young girls may want to dress and act like her which isn’t necessarily a stupendous idea as Britney is recognisable for her inspiring music/ catchy lyrics not just her portrayal as a woman who is often ‘sexualised’ or ridiculed. However, by relating it to school related contexts it isn’t a very appropriate thing because it could give others the wrong idea. Nonetheless, another valid point to make is that at the end of the day Britney’s main target audience is mostly female which means that the ‘sexualisation’ that is prevalent is more or less to do with the fact that “her songs taunt and flirt with men”. 

On the contrary, although she is publicly 'sexualised', something that the article has helped me realise is that many celebrities whether they are 'sexualised' or not have been criticised heavily for growing up as well as 'changing'. This poses the idea that if the media is so critical of what should be seen as a positive thing then how are we ever meant to express ourselves in a safe and unique way? Miley explicitly stated that "I don't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl". In a way, this representation of her in a 'raw' and 'emotional' way can be beneficial because even though there are a variety of sexualised views upon her, she is also trying to encourage the generation of young people to be themselves and not sheer away from that which could be viewed as 'inspirational'. Another article on Voice Mag has also commented that it is not specifically an artist's fault that they have been 'ridiculed' and 'sexualised', as they are around other people amongst the industry that do the same. It states that it isn't just women that do this, for example "male artists such as Chris Brown and Jason Derulo particularly sexualise women in their videos" which mostly is done for "publicity and to heighten ratings, sex sells". This reiterates the idea that again this could be done purposely to allow men to 'exert' control over women again in a male dominating society. By linking this to Miley Cyrus, an interesting point to consider is that "music videos have got more and more explicit (....), with Miley Cyrus's song 'Wrecking Ball' being banned as "it was that bad in terms of nudity it was taken down". It is ironic however that other men i.e Chris Brown etc have that kinda content up on their platforms and there is less 'speculation' than if a woman was to do this. Therefore, this implies that this is an underlying issue in our generation- men can come up with things like this and there are no consequences to their actions but as soon as a woman does something remotely similar i.e Miley Cyrus is heavily criticised and judged. Are we living in the same patriarchal, male dominated world just like back in the time, where nothing has changed for the better? At the end of the day, Miley Cyrus has still have had positive implications for her target audience in a sense where girls are encouraged to ‘express’ themselves through her music/ lyrics - it isn’t her fault that the people navigating her music have added ‘sexualised elements’ and made her appeal to people like that. Maybe they have had more negative intentions for others than Cyrus’ body being sexualised arguably which is a good point to consider for women sexualisation still happening in our world. 

As well as looking at the representation of sexualisation in the media, one artist who has had more of a significant positive impact on society and has looked at the sexualisation of ‘women’ in her work would be Paula Rego. Paula Rego was an influential visual artist who lived from 1935-2022. She was primarily recognized as the woman who made a lot of art prints/ paintings which later developed into a more refined art style. This art style consisted of using a range of pastels where Rego focused on important areas of interest which included feminism as well as further issues. One of her most significant artworks that she made at the time is her ‘Abortion Series’. These paintings are constructed in a series and are untitled, raising an important issue of abortion that at the time during the period of the nineties was not morally ‘acceptable’. An article on (Met Museum, 2024) states that Rego got extremely upset “the suffering that went on when abortion was totally illegal. It was totally mind boggling. There is still so much suffering.” This is why she created a substantial amount of artwork to depict just how much these poor women are suffering as a result of the Portuguese government failing to legalise something that should be a woman’s ‘choice’. One of her art-works that seemed to be significant to this issue would be in ( Figure 1), which shows a spectacular etching piece on Somerset paper of a young woman who is sitting in some sort of space with her legs wide open. Rego intentionally uses dark tones ranging from light- grey to black to purposely display how isolated women at the time were meant to feel considering the banning of abortions. Although these etchings are meant to be raising an awareness to exemplify just how unfair it is for women to have to go through undeniable ‘pain’ and ‘suffering through no legal abortions, they also could provide an argument of ‘sexualisation’. Some could very well argue that the woman portrayed is quite ‘sexualised’ because she is sitting down with her legs wide open. Men could interpret Rego’s paintings as women being presented as ‘commodities’ because the woman's body is thrust right into the centre of the viewer's eyes which draws attention to why her body is positioned like that. It could be proven that Rego did this intentionally.By visioning young women into a series of paintings in these postures/ positions, she wanted her audience to realize that ‘sexualisation’ of women is still a problem. Women having to perform unsafe abortions in their homes was a problem at the time and still is at present because men do not have the right to make decisions like that for women or ‘demean’ their bodies in an artwork that is trying to ‘speak-up’ on behalf of women's rights. 

Although predominantly sexualised, there has been a wider range of ‘awareness’ surrounding the representation of women in the media. Typically, there is a constructed ideal way where women are stereotypically viewed as “thin”, “wearing revealing/or exposing clothes” etc. An article based on( Consumer Response toward Plus-Size Models Featured in the Mainstream Media) challenges this view of this by offering a detailed insight into “how society views the plus-size body and health” to find out whether society is accepting of disregarding “beauty norms” or not. In order to challenge those perceptions, big media outlets such as H and M and Vogue have challenged this by adding plus-size models into their campaigns. ( Pounders, K and Flynn, A, pg 4) comment that a study was conducted in order to identify consumer reactions to shifts in female body images. To do this, a handful of plus-size models were included: Robyn Lawley (size 12),Tess Holiday ( size 22) and lastly Ashley Graham (size 16). These models were then combined with standard- sized models with the “content of each article was focused on bringing awareness of the fact that the plus-size model was being featured on the cover” which was done over two different websites A which typically got 9.3 million views and B which got around 12 million. The findings of the study concluded that there is a “general sentiment often leaned toward a desire for models who are not traditionally thin” so therefore there is some positive reception in a way. However, some people got extremely offended with how the women were labelled as “plus-size”, a comment included “The fact that she is labeled “plus-sized” is the reason our daughters have size issues. She is fabulously beautiful and perfectly proportioned and if she were thinner, she would look ill”. In my opinion, this comment focuses on the idea that representing women in all different shapes/ sizes is probably fine. It is frustrating for some women however that someone seemingly ‘bigger’ is given a name where women are bigger than the average size is ‘concerning’ for some leading to self-esteem and body image issues. Another commenter stated that “Why do we need to label models or anyone based on their size.”, this is quite an important point to elaborate on because at the end of the day as women we are born into our bodies how we were meant to be created and they should be all accepted regardless of ‘size’ or ‘look’.

By linking this to the sexualisation of women, no matter their shape or size as women we live in a society where ‘sexualisation’ happens either way- people that ‘sexualise’ others will find a way to do it and that is unfortunately more concerning than argumentation about what is wrong with the ‘perfect’ body comparing it to ‘plus-size women”. The article also initiates that “magazines and other print outlets utilize a “body-as-object” (....) which is difficult for most women to achieve” (Monk- Turner et al, 2008.) This elicits the idea that ‘size’ doesn’t necessarily matter amongst media outlets as women in particular are still prodded on in terms of their bodily appearance/ sexualisation. Someone who shows too much ‘curves’ or ‘figure’, as noted in the article then could be seen as too ‘big’ or a woman who exercises regularly and is classified as ‘fit’ may be told to lose more weight to fit into ‘idealised’ norms of society in terms of body. Therefore, this is where the problem lies in the generation at present, until these ‘norms’ aren’t changed women will continue to be ‘shamed’, ‘sexualised’ even maybe continuously more by the same gender so there needs to be a change put into practice. 

Another piece of artwork that sexualises women in a more negative light in my opinion would be a famous painter called Balthazar Klossowski. He was a French painter known by a stage name of ‘Balthus’. Some of his most notable and famous works consisted of a number of paintings based on young girls which were meant to illustrate young girls growing into adolescence. An article in a newspaper (Los Angeles Times, 2001) says that his paintings of those girls were “often depicted in isolation in sparsely furnished rooms assuming poses that wavered between naive innocence and erotic suggestiveness”. These paintings do bring about a sense of confusion into how they should be interpreted. This is because one could argue that they are a bit inappropriate considering Balthus is painting girls that are growing up to adolescence in a ‘sexual manner’. An example of one of his paintings i.e (Figure 2), is called “Les Beaux Jours” which was made in the time period of 1944-1945 on an oil canvas. This consists of a young looking girl perhaps most certainly in who is displayed lying down on a green sofa with a color palette of mostly forest green. She is wearing quite a revealing, pink dress and she is positioned in quite an unnatural demeanour. Directly, in front of her is either a man/ or a teenage boy who also is facing back to the audience not wearing much clothing as he tends to the fireplace. This painting was also made at a time where there was a lot of political instability which is reflected in his artwork. (Fellah, 2013) on Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art comments that Balthus once commented in an interview that he uses young girls in his artwork because “little girls are the only little creatures today that can be poussins”. This comment indicates that Balthus is referring to young girls as “innocent” and in a sense easily accessible to his paintings because he knew this portrayal in his paintings would most likely gain attention if he displayed young girls in an ‘erotic’ and ‘unrealistic manner’ for political issues etc. It could be clearly deliberate in the way Balthus has shown the ‘girls’ in his paintings, many would agree that using naive interpretations of young children in particular girls is ‘odd’. Young girls and women including children shouldn’t be sexualised or exposed in unusual mannerisms because there are more ways to highlight an important issue than use ‘children’ to present these types of issues. 

Overall, after having a look at all the different examples of the ‘sexualisation’ of women from ranging in advertisement, art-work to magazines and amongst the music industry, it is quite clear that it is something that our society definitely has to work upon at present day. One thing that really struck with me came from an article cited (A Feminist Analysis of Popular Music) where the idea that in music, there are six categories in which dominated: “men and power”, “sex as top priority for males”, “objectification of women”, “sexual violence”, “women defined as not having a man” and lastly “women as not valuing themselves”. In my opinion, there is a high level of ‘control’ or more so a ‘power socialisation’ between genders. This is predominantly what most likely leads to the ‘sexualisation’ of women because there is this generalised belief/ideology that a woman is nothing without a ‘man’ when this is not true at all. By analysing all the different forms/ examples of this, there is a prevalent pattern where men diminish women to gain some profit like in Britney Spears case or art-work has to become ‘sexualised’ to shout out an important message to society like what Paula Rego did about abortion which she shouldn't have to do but did it in her artwork to make sure that women have the right to use their voice and speak for their freedom/ rights. Accordingly, it concludes the fact that ‘sexualisation’ is problematic as it can have an effect on the developing generation, such as young people who consume products of that on social media which can be harmful. The only way to fix this mindset, is if as a society we work collectively to reduce ‘stigma’ around this topic and ‘construct’ a new healthy mindset which would deflect away from ‘sexualisation’ and promote more inclusivity.   

As a way to bring my project to an end, I'd like to link the relation between life drawing and sexualisation itself. Having had the chance to explore different techniques and mediums in class, I would definitely agree that this class has impacted my view in a positive way. Before researching this topic, when I thought of 'sexualisation', I'd associate it mostly negatively. However, we had a session in class where a female model shared her views and opinions upon the matter stating that "the natural human body is a wonderful thing, and I model because I want to encourage girls and women to be comfortable in their own skin and body." She also said that "girls and women shouldn't feel 'sexualised' in their own body and no one in this world should make you feel that way especially men who can sometimes take things they see the completely wrong way". Her intelligent words upmost inspired me to create this project- where I tried to dive into both positive and negative representations of 'sexualisation'. Although, I did mostly find negative representations when researching, I now understand that there are many motives and different opinions behind personal interpretations so what one person may find derogatory or inhuman, another will find fascinating and this is what made exploring the topic of 'sexualisation in women' so interesting.

[zosiaaleksandrasecondyearblog]

Final Written Component

How have women been sexualised in the media using both positive and negative representations as examples? 

There have been a lot of different opinions and views surrounding the ‘sexualisation’ of women throughout many decades. The definition of ‘sexualisation’ comes across when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior as well as when a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy”. As a result, this can also lead to “sexual objectification”. For instance, there are countless examples of this sexualisation of women such as: women’s bodies being used for advertisement purposes, on social media or in various artworks by well-known artists which I will be exploring in my personal research of this project. Although there are a lot of negative arguments/ or controversy around the sexualisation of women at present day, there are also positive representations around this topic which will be interesting to analyse in more depth. 

One artist who has had a significant impact on society and has looked at the sexualisation of ‘women’ in her work would be Paula Rego. Paula Rego was an influential visual artist who lived from 1935-2022. She was primarily recognized as the woman who made a lot of art prints/ paintings which later developed into a more refined art style. This art style consisted of using a range of pastels where Rego focused on important areas of interest which included feminism as well as further issues. One of her most significant artworks that she made at the time is her ‘Abortion Series’. These paintings are constructed in a series and are untitled, raising an important issue of abortion that at the time during the period of the nineties was not morally ‘acceptable’. An article on (Met Museum, 2024) states that Rego got extremely upset “the suffering that went on when abortion was totally illegal. It was totally mind boggling. There is still so much suffering.” This is why she created a substantial amount of artwork to depict just how much these poor women are suffering as a result of the Portuguese government failing to legalise something that should be a woman’s ‘choice’. One of her art-works that seemed to be significant to this issue would be in ( Figure 1), which shows a spectacular etching piece on Somerset paper of a young woman who is sitting in some sort of space with her legs wide open. Rego intentionally uses dark tones ranging from light- grey to black to purposely display how isolated women at the time were meant to feel considering the banning of abortions. Although these etchings are meant to be raising an awareness to exemplify just how unfair it is for women to have to go through undeniable ‘pain’ and ‘suffering through no legal abortions, they also could provide an argument of ‘sexualisation’. Some could very well argue that the woman portrayed is quite ‘sexualised’ because she is sitting down with her legs wide open. Men could interpret Rego’s paintings as women being presented as ‘commodities’ because the woman's body is thrust right into the centre of the viewer's eyes which draws attention to why her body is positioned like that. It could be proven that Rego did this intentionally.By visioning young women into a series of paintings in these postures/ positions, she wanted her audience to realize that ‘sexualisation’ of women is still a problem. Women having to perform unsafe abortions in their homes was a problem at the time and still is at present because men do not have the right to make decisions like that for women or ‘demean’ their bodies in an artwork that is trying to ‘speak-up’ on behalf of women's rights. 

Another piece of art-work that sexualises women in a more negative light in my opinion would be a famous painter called Balthazar Klossowski. He was a French painter known by a stage name of ‘Balthus’. Some of his most notable and famous works consisted of a number of paintings based on young girls which were meant to illustrate young girls growing into adolescence. An article in a newspaper (Los Angeles Times, 2001) says that his paintings of those girls were “often depicted in isolation in sparsely furnished rooms assuming poses that wavered between naive innocence and erotic suggestiveness”. These paintings do bring about a sense of confusion into how they should be interpreted. This is because one could argue that they are a bit inappropriate considering Balthus is painting girls that are growing up to adolescence in a ‘sexual manner’. An example of one of his paintings i.e (Figure 2), is called “Les Beaux Jours” which was made in the time period of 1944-1945 on an oil canvas. This consists of a young looking girl perhaps most certainly in who is displayed lying down on a green sofa with a color palette of mostly forest green. She is wearing quite a revealing, pink dress and she is positioned in quite an unnatural demeanour. Directly, in front of her is either a man/ or a teenage boy who also is facing back to the audience not wearing much clothing as he tends to the fireplace. This painting was also made at a time where there was a lot of political instability which is reflected in his artwork. (Fellah, 2013) on Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art comments that Balthus once commented in an interview that he uses young girls in his artwork because “little girls are the only little creatures today that can be poussins”. This comment indicates that Balthus is referring to young girls as “innocent” and in a sense easily accessible to his paintings because he knew this portrayal in his paintings would most likely gain attention if he displayed young girls in an ‘erotic’ and ‘unrealistic manner’ for political issues etc. It could be clearly deliberate in the way Balthus has shown the ‘girls’ in his paintings, many would agree that using naive interpretations of young children in particular girls is ‘odd’. Young girls and women including children shouldn’t be sexualised or exposed in unusual mannerisms because there are more ways to highlight an important issue than use ‘children’ to present these types of issues. 

Although predominantly sexualised, there has been a wider range of ‘awareness’ surrounding the representation of women in the media. Typically, there is a constructed ideal way where women are stereotypically viewed as “thin”, “wearing revealing/or exposing clothes” etc. An article based on( Consumer Response toward Plus-Size Models Featured in the Mainstream Media) challenges this view of this by offering a detailed insight into “how society views the plus-size body and health” to find out whether society is accepting of disregarding “beauty norms” or not. In order to challenge those perceptions, big media outlets such as H and M and Vogue have challenged this by adding plus-size models into their campaigns. ( Pounders, K and Flynn, A, pg 4) comment that a study was conducted in order to identify consumer reactions to shifts in female body images. To do this, a handful of plus-size models were included: Robyn Lawley (size 12),Tess Holiday ( size 22) and lastly Ashley Graham (size 16). These models were then combined with standard- sized models with the “content of each article was focused on bringing awareness of the fact that the plus-size model was being featured on the cover” which was done over two different websites A which typically got 9.3 million views and B which got around 12 million. The findings of the study concluded that there is a “general sentiment often leaned toward a desire for models who are not traditionally thin” so therefore there is some positive reception in a way. However, some people got extremely offended with how the women were labelled as “plus-size”, a comment included “The fact that she is labeled “plus-sized” is the reason our daughters have size issues. She is fabulously beautiful and perfectly proportioned and if she were thinner, she would look ill”. In my opinion, this comment focuses on the idea that representing women in all different shapes/ sizes is probably fine. It is frustrating for some women however that someone seemingly ‘bigger’ is given a name where women are bigger than the average size is ‘concerning’ for some leading to self-esteem and body image issues. Another commenter stated that “Why do we need to label models or anyone based on their size.”, this is quite an important point to elaborate on because at the end of the day as women we are born into our bodies how we were meant to be created and they should be all accepted regardless of ‘size’ or ‘look’. By linking this to the sexualisation of women, no matter their shape or size as women we live in a society where ‘sexualisation’ happens either way- people that ‘sexualise’ others will find a way to do it and that is unfortunately more concerning than argumentation about what is wrong with the ‘perfect’ body comparing it to ‘plus-size women”. The article also initiates that “magazines and other print outlets utilize a “body-as-object” (....) which is difficult for most women to achieve” (Monk- Turner et al, 2008.) This elicits the idea that ‘size’ doesn’t necessarily matter amongst media outlets as women in particular are still prodded on in terms of their bodily appearance/ sexualisation. Someone who shows too much ‘curves’ or ‘figure’, as noted in the article then could be seen as too ‘big’ or a woman who exercises regularly and is classified as ‘fit’ may be told to lose more weight to fit into ‘idealised’ norms of society in terms of body. Therefore, this is where the problem lies in the generation at present, until these ‘norms’ aren’t changed women will continue to be ‘shamed’, ‘sexualised’ even maybe continuously more by the same gender so there needs to be a change put into practice.  

Another in which women have been heavily ‘sexualised’ amongst media would be in the music industry. For instance an article on (Cherwell, 2019) specifies that music videos on a whole are a form of “artistic expression” but can also be related to “human emotions and sexualities.” This has a beneficial link to Sigmund Freud’s theory in which he states that “true artists made artwork out of an excess of sexual energy”. There are several examples in which both male and female artists encompass this in music videos across Youtube. An example of this would be Taylor Swift’s famous music video of “Shake It Off”- it is one of the most popular accumulated videos on Youtube. There is a huge element of ‘sexualisation’ where there is sexualised dancing as well as “objectification”. This is concerning because women are essentially ‘exposed’ to the public with usually positive acclaim to the music video itself, but instead the ‘body’ will be criticized once again. Another article on The Garfield Messenger, (Moore, 2021) says that women having/ or leading musical careers are in a huge trap/ or more or less an easy target for ‘exploitation’. A good example to back this up would be the legendary singer/popstar Britney Spears. As her career grew, Britney was forced to tell the public a lot about her personal life, especially her ‘sex life’. This goes to show that society could go as far as ‘sexualise’ anything a woman does even though all Britney was trying to do at the time was build a ‘music career’ for herself. As a result of this ‘exploitation’, “both her father and Justin Timberlake have taken advantage of her and used her as a scapegoat/ or sexual pariah”. This as a result is quite distressing/ as well as upsetting to hear because it links back to the concept that men will do anything to exert ‘control’ over a woman which suggests we still live in a very male oriented society where men still think it is alright to judge a woman whether online/ or in person proving to be quite concerning. 

Furthermore, it is very intriguing to analyse Britney’ Spears' music career as symbolising her as a form of ‘sexualisation’.(Schick, L, 2014) says that Britney Spears dubbed herself as a “baby babe” in her popular, well-known music video “One More Time”. She is described as wearing a pony-tail dancing around high school corridors with her gaining popularity which means that essentially “every girl wants to be like her and every guy wants to be with her and get to know her”. At another event, Britney was modelling for a feature in a Rolling Stone’s Cover where she was “dressing her in bra and pants and sticking her in a bedroom full of fluffy kids’ toys”. Arguably, this could be seen as ‘sexualisation’ because it isn’t deemed appropriate for a young music star to be practically naked whilst promoting this in a child-like manner because of the room setting. It also again exemplifies that the media will do absolutely anything to gain ‘profit’ and ‘revenue’ ignoring the fact that this type of ‘sexualisation’ will also have a continuing negative impact on the younger generation. This is because more and more people, especially young girls may want to dress and act like her which isn’t necessarily a stupendous idea as Britney is recognisable for her inspiring music/ catchy lyrics not just her portrayal as a woman who is often ‘sexualised’ or ridiculed. However, by relating it to school related contexts it isn’t a very appropriate thing because it could give others the wrong idea. Nonetheless, another valid point to make is that at the end of the day Britney’s main target audience is mostly female which means that the ‘sexualisation’ that is prevalent is more or less to do with the fact that “her songs taunt and flirt with men”. 

Whilst, these girls go to her concerts and shout out her song lyrics, the article firmly states that “Ms Spear’s real money comes not from records or concert tickets but from sales of T-Shirts, key chains, dolls” again reenacting the idea that girls imitate her from things like that and not in a ‘sexual manner’. Again, one could say that it is men in which the ‘underlying issue/problem’ lies in which (The Guardian) specifies that “perverted fantasies might pollute the minds of men” where men might interpret her lyrics as well as music videos in a different way compared to young girls who simply want to embrace and enjoy Britney’s music. The name of the music video “Hit me” is also significant to decode because some may interpret it in a different way/ or circumstance. For example, a lot of men speculated that there are ‘sexual’ connotations but Britney herself confirmed that wasn’t true. An article on (Cosmopolitan,2018) says “The whole song is about the stress that we all go through as teens” and it is quite ironic that the name of the song was changed “without intending it as an allusion to domestic violence or S & M”. This alludes that many people can get carried away with their interpretation of a ‘song’- although as mentioned before there were instances in the music video where Britney was quite ‘sexualised’. Some could say she is a ‘role model’ for her younger audiences because she openly encourages her audience to be their authentic selves thus since that specific music video was set in high school - a time that can be both thrilling and one of the most challenging in our lives.If anything, it is worth to note that the production etc may be in question for the elements of ‘sexualisation’ that do end up catching the eye as they dominate most often/ or control what their artist does.   

Overall, after having a look at all the different examples of the ‘sexualisation’ of women from ranging in advertisement, art-work to magazines and amongst the music industry, it is quite clear that it is something that our society definitely has to work upon at present day. One thing that really struck with me came from an article cited (A Feminist Analysis of Popular Music) where the idea that in music, there are six categories in which dominated: “men and power”, “sex as top priority for males”, “objectification of women”, “sexual violence”, “women defined as not having a man” and lastly “women as not valuing themselves”. In my opinion, there is a high level of ‘control’ or more so a ‘power socialisation’ between genders. This is predominantly what most likely leads to the ‘sexualisation’ of women because there is this generalised belief/ideology that a woman is nothing without a ‘man’ when this is not true at all. By analysing all the different forms/ examples of this, there is a prevalent pattern where men diminish women to gain some profit like in Britney Spears case or art-work has to become ‘sexualised’ to shout out an important message to society like what Paula Rego did about abortion which she shouldn't have to do but did it in her artwork to make sure that women have the right to use their voice and speak for their freedom/ rights. Accordingly, it concludes the fact that ‘sexualisation’ is problematic as it can have an effect on the developing generation, such as young people who consume products of that on social media which can be harmful. The only way to fix this mindset, is if as a society we work collectively to reduce ‘stigma’ around this topic and ‘construct’ a new healthy mindset which would deflect away from ‘sexualisation’ and promote more inclusivity.   

References/ Bibliography:

Bretthauser, B, Zimmerman, T.S and Banning, J.H (2007), ‘A feminist Analysis of Popular Music:Power over, Objectification of and Violence Against Women’, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 18 (4), pp 29-51 

 ( https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-05978-002 )

Cherwell, (2019, Jan 27), �� Sexualisation in music: liberation or objectification?”( https://www.cherwell.org/2019/01/27/sexualisation-in-music-liberation-or-objectification/ )

Cosmopolitan, (2018, Oct 24), “ Just Checking: Do you know what ‘Baby One More Time’ is really about?”  ( https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/music/a24120141/britney-spears-baby-one-more-time-lyrics-meaning/ )

Flynn, A, Pounders, K, (2019), ‘ Consumer Response Toward Plus-Size Models Featured in the Mainstream Media’, Consumption, Markets and Culture, 5 (231-249)  ( https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joca.12251 )

Garfield Messenger, (2021, May 7), “The Objectified History of the Female Pop Industry”- The ongoing actions of sexist record labels have ruthlessly stereotyped female artists ( https://www.garfieldmessenger.org/7203/articles/ae/the-objectified-history-of-the-female-pop-industry/ )

Los Angeles Times, ( 2001, Feb 19), “Balthus, French Artist was known for paintings of Adolescent Girls” ( https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-19-me-27401-story.html )

Met Museum, (2024, Dec 9), “The Deeply Political Art of Paula Rego”  ( https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/the-deeply-political-art-of-paula-rego )

Schick, L, “Hit me Baby”: From Britney Spears to the socialisation of Sexual Objectification of Girls in a Middle School Drama Program, ‘Sexuality Culture 18, 39-55, (2014)   (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-03245-003 )

Tate, (Date:Unknown), “Paula Rego 1935-2022” ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/paula-rego-1823 )

The Seen ( Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary & Modern Art ), (2013, Dec 13), “Balthus: Cats and Girls” ( https://theseenjournal.org/balthus-cats-girls/ ) 

Image References:

Les beaux jours (1944-45) by Balthus , ( Date, unknown), Artchive ( https://www.artchive.com/artwork/les-beaux-jours-balthus-1944-45/ )

The Deeply Political Art of Paula Rego, (2024, Dec 9), The Met ( https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/the-deeply-political-art-of-paula-rego )

Images:

Figure 1: The Deeply Political Art of Paula Rego- (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Figure 2: Les beaux jours (1944-45) by Balthus- ( Artchive )

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Research for artists/ images:

Balzathar Klossowski:

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Essay ( 1000 words currently ) How have women been sexualised in the media using both positive and negative examples ?

There have been a lot of different opinions and views surrounding the ‘sexualisation’ of women throughout many decades. For instance, there are countless examples of this sexualisation of women such as: women’s bodies being used for advertisement purposes, on social media or in various artworks by well-known artists which I will be exploring in my personal research of this project. Although there are a lot of negative arguments/ or controversy around the sexualisation of women at present day, there are also positive representations around this topic which will be interesting to analyse in more depth. 

One artist who has had a significant impact on society and has looked at the sexualisation of ‘women’ in her work would be Paula Rego. Paula Rego was an influential visual artist who lived from 1935-2022. She was primarily recognized as the woman who made a lot of art prints/ paintings which later developed into a more refined art style. This art style consisted of using a range of pastels where Rego focused on important areas of interest which included feminism as well as further issues. One of her most significant artworks that she made at the time is her ‘Abortion Series’. These paintings are constructed in a series and are untitled, raising an important issue of abortion that at the time during the period of the nineties was not morally ‘acceptable’. An article on (Met Museum, 2024) states that Rego got extremely upset “the suffering that went on when abortion was totally illegal. It was totally mind boggling. There is still so much suffering.” This is why she created a substantial amount of artwork to depict just how much these poor women are suffering as a result of the Portuguese government failing to legalise something that should be a woman’s ‘choice’. One of her art-works that seemed to be significant to this issue would be in ( Figure 1), which shows a spectacular etching piece on Somerset paper of a young woman who is sitting in some sort of space with her legs wide open. Rego intentionally uses dark tones ranging from light- grey to black to purposely display how isolated women at the time were meant to feel considering the banning of abortions. Although these etchings are meant to be raising an awareness to exemplify just how unfair it is for women to have to go through undeniable ‘pain’ and ‘suffering through no legal abortions, they also could provide an argument of ‘sexualisation’. Some could very well argue that the woman portrayed is quite ‘sexualised’ because she is sitting down with her legs wide open. Men could interpret Rego’s paintings as women being presented as ‘commodities’ because the woman's body is thrust right into the centre of the viewer's eyes which draws attention to why her body is positioned like that. It could be proven that Rego did this intentionally.By visioning young women into a series of paintings in these postures/ positions, she wanted her audience to realize that ‘sexualisation’ of women is still a problem. Women having to perform unsafe abortions in their homes was a problem at the time and still is at present because men do not have the right to make decisions like that for women or ‘demean’ their bodies in an artwork that is trying to ‘speak-up’ on behalf of women's rights. 

Another piece of art-work that sexualises women in a more negative light in my opinion would be a famous painter called Balthazar Klossowski. He was a French painter known by a stage name of ‘Balthus’. Some of his most notable and famous works consisted of a number of paintings based on young girls which were meant to illustrate young girls growing into adolescence. An article in a newspaper (Los Angeles Times, 2001) says that his paintings of those girls were “often depicted in isolation in sparsely furnished rooms assuming poses that wavered between naive innocence and erotic suggestiveness”. These paintings do bring about a sense of confusion into how they should be interpreted. This is because one could argue that they are a bit inappropriate considering Balthus is painting girls that are growing up to adolescence in a ‘sexual manner’. An example of one of his paintings i.e (Figure 2), is called “Les Beaux Jours” which was made in the time period of 1944-1945 on an oil canvas. This consists of a young looking girl perhaps most certainly in who is displayed lying down on a green sofa with a color palette of mostly forest green. She is wearing quite a revealing, pink dress and she is positioned in quite an unnatural demeanour. Directly, in front of her is either a man/ or a teenage boy who also is facing back to the audience not wearing much clothing as he tends to the fireplace. This painting was also made at a time where there was a lot of political instability which is reflected in his artwork. (Fellah, 2013) on Chicago’s International Journal of Contemporary and Modern Art comments that Balthus once commented in an interview that he uses young girls in his artwork because “little girls are the only little creatures today that can be poussins”. This comment indicates that Balthus is referring to young girls as “innocent” and in a sense easily accessible to his paintings because he knew this portrayal in his paintings would most likely gain attention if he displayed young girls in an ‘erotic’ and ‘unrealistic manner’ for political issues etc. It could be clearly deliberate in the way Balthus has shown the ‘girls’ in his paintings, many would agree that using naive interpretations of young children in particular girls is ‘odd’. Young girls and women including children shouldn’t be sexualised or exposed in unusual mannerisms because there are more ways to highlight an important issue than use ‘children’ to present these types of issues. 

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Further Reading on a Second Text: Sexualisation, or the queer feminist provocations of Miley Cyrus

For my second further reading text, I wanted to look a bit further than social media to explore 'sexualisation' in other media forms such as in the music industry. My chosen article is cited "Sexualisation, or the queer feminist provocations of Miley Cyrus". The article comments on an introduction of pop-star Miley Cyrus, essentially known as an image "from girl next door, child star of children's television series Hannah Montana, (...) known for her raunchy and provocative stage performances". However, as her career takes on a bigger launch, Miley's appearance and demeanour changes to an upmost 'explicit' way bringing about the 'sexualisation of culture'. ( Smith, K, pg 6) comments that this is used to "capture the growing sense of Western Societies as saturated by sexual representations and discourses with (....) pornographic imagery into popular culture". This could suggest that even celebrities such as Miley Cyrus could feel a pressure to conform the societal standards that are so heavily scattered about in the media. As a consequence, more of the younger generation that is growing up in particular teenagers will be filled with a 'false insecurity' of this is how you should be, as a result taking away the main concept that everyone has different bodies, lives etc and it shouldn't be a 'competition' or an 'expectation to live up to".

Reading upon the article further, there is a lot of speculation on' Cyrus, sexualisation depicted as the bad role model'. An example of this constant 'sexualisation' is when Miley Cyrus had pictures taken of her after her VMA awards performance. Sources have stated, Miley has become both a "victim and perpetrator" because the way the photos were taken were in an unnatural and sexualised manner, "taken from behind". These series of events then prompted one of the most read newspapers 'The Telegraph' which commented saying "sexualised pop-stars are more of a threat to children on the internet than hardcore pornography". This statement although expressing concerns in a cruel manner validates to me that the consumption of sexualised manner possesses a 'problem'. It also suggests that if Miley Cyrus was a 'victim' herself, she at a young age was also expected to act in a specific way and that changed her values/ beliefs over time. Many girls conform to these ideals and whilst consuming this although deemed as "uncritical media victims", nowadays it is becoming harder to express and be our authentic selves.

On the contrary, although she is publicly 'sexualised', something that the article has helped me realise is that many celebrities whether they are 'sexualised' or not have been criticised heavily for growing up as well as 'changing'. This poses the idea that if the media is so critical of what should be seen as a positive thing then how are we ever meant to express ourselves in a safe and unique way ? Miley explicitly stated that "I don't relate to being boy or girl, and I don't have to have my partner relate to boy or girl". In a way, this representation of her in a 'raw' and 'emotional' way can be beneficial because even though there are a variety of sexualised views upon her, she is also trying to encourage the generation of young people to be themselves and not sheer away from that which could be viewed as 'inspirational'. Another article on Voice Mag has also commented that it is not specifically an artist's fault that they have been 'ridiculed' and 'sexualised', as they are around other people amongst the industry that do the same. It states that it isn't just women that do this, for example "male artists such as Chris Brown and Jason Derulo particularly sexualise women in their videos" which mostly is done for "publicity and to heighten ratings, sex sells". This reiterates the idea that again this could be done purposely to allow men to 'exert' control over women again in a male dominating society. By linking this to Miley Cyrus, an interesting point to consider is that "music videos have got more and more explicit (....), with Miley Cyrus's song 'Wrecking Ball' being banned as "it was that bad in terms of nudity it was taken down". It is ironic however that other men i.e Chris Brown etc have that kinda content up on their platforms and there is less 'speculation' than if a woman was to do this. Therefore, this implies that this is an underlying issue in our generation- men can come up with things like this and there are no consequences to their actions but as soon as a woman does something remotely similar i.e Miley Cyrus is heavily criticised and judged. Are we living in the same partriarchal, male dominated world just like back in the time, where nothing has changed for the better ?

References/Bibliograhy:

McNicholas Smith, K, (2017), Sexualisation, or the queer feminist provocations of Miley Cyrus, pp.281-298, Sage ( https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464700117721880)

Voice Mag UK, (2017, June 7), Blogs> "Why are women so sexualised in music videos? And what impact does it have on the audience?" ( https://www.voicemag.uk/blog/2526/why-are-women-so-sexualised-in-music-videos-and-what-impact-does-it-have-on-the-audience )

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Further Reading on a Text: Body Image

My chosen to text to analyse for further reading would be based on body image " Isolating the effects of body size and sexualisation in social media images on body-image related constructs among young women" which then links to my topic of how women have been sexualised in the media based on both positive and negative representations. The article goes on to comment that according to a couple of images found on social media platforms, "social media content containing woman who match thin- and -toned beauty ideals can increase young women's body dissatisfaction and negative mood compared to viewing appearance- neutral content that does not contain people." This thus suggests that again there is a forced on 'stereotype' in which women feel like they have to live up towards a specific standard that in reality doesn't really exist. It is also content like that which can get easily 'sexualised' and even 'normalised', where young women have to act, look and dress in a specific way to become 'socially accepted'. Not only is this highly concerning but it could potentially have negative consequences on young people's minds especially due to a high consumerism of social media etc.

Furthermore, though not always women in the past have been heavily criticised for larger, bigger or heavier bodies due to ‘societal constructs’, this has according to the article improved to an extent during media consumption. The article states that “very few studies (4.72%) have reported negative effects of viewing images of women with larger bodies ( de Lenne et Al,2023). This thus signifies that as a society we have slowly adapted to different representations among women/or bodies. At the end of the day, we were all created in ‘unique’ and ‘characteristic ways’, whether it is based on our appearances or bodies so the study is correct in the sense that it wouldn’t have negative impacts on individuals unless of course someone isn’t accepting of ‘others’. This implies that our society has come a longer way in comparison to older decades where perhaps sizes and shapes of women especially plus size ones etc would not be acceptable or seen as wrong or even “sexualised” because there was a specific requirement to look, dress and act in a specific manner.

Upon further research, an article on (The New York Times), cited “What students are saying about how social media affects their body image?” is quite beneficial to the text I’ve been analysing. It focuses widely on having a look at what young people think about these types of issues in particular young teenagers. A student called Sarah commented that in social media “you can’t feel comfortable in your own skin without using FaceTune”. She also mentions that due to a numerous amount of falsely edited components on social media, we are “put under the impression that if you aren’t ‘perfectly’ skinny or your stomach isn’t perfectly toned and flat then you aren’t beautiful”. This again verifies the idea that young people are aware the consequences are quite detrimental to their well-being and in contrast clashes with the other article. It shows that their is an underlying problem again in media consumption, people are accepting of women with larger bodies etc but it is the ‘edited’ versions of an ideal version of how a woman should look that possesses as the problem. However, in the other article it implies that this is biased in a sense where “women who are presented in a sexual manner are more likely to be perceived as less moral, warm and competent ( Ward, 2016) ” than those that would not be shown as ‘sexualised’. Again as a whole, this indicates that it doesn’t matter whether a woman has a bigger body or wears less clothes, either way ‘sexualisation’ is still dominant at present day. Essentially, there are two issues found: sexualisation as well as what stems on from this would be unfair, societal standards/expectations based from ‘thin- looking” bodies. This suggests that to a certain extent, bodies in media, advertisement etc do play a big role in how we consume them as an audience because we should able to express ourselves how we simply ‘desire’ to live and we should have this opportunity ‘freely’ and ‘openly’.

References/ Bibliography:

Fardouly J, Levin T, Vartanian L and Rapee R, (2024), ‘ Isolating the effects of body size and sexualisation in social media images on body- image related constructs among young women’, Volume 51, Elsevier (LTD). ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1740144524001220 )

The New York Times, (2022, March 31), Learning Networks, “What students are saying about how social media affects their body image?” ( https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/31/learning/what-students-are-saying-about-how-social-media-affects-their-body-image.html )

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Images for Artists found for my topic

Zanele Muholi:

Zanele Muholi is an artist who uses photography and is a visual activist in order to portray visual “sexuality” to the audience. Her art work commonly includes black women who are misrepresented in society. For example, Zanele Muholi’s artwork of (Bra, 2003), is quite fascinating because it depicts a woman in a bra which is obviously something that most people could “sexualise”. However, Muholi wants the audience to understand that this is how a normal human body is presented- it doesn’t matter about the shape or size. At the end of the day, we are all humans and as women in particular we should be accepting of our bodies and how they look. An article based from the British Journal of Photography on (Zanele Muholi), states that when Zanele was growing up, she “picked up the camera because there were no images of us that spoke to me at the time when I needed them the most.”. This is quite important because Muholi grew up with Nelson Mandela as the president where “the sphere of sexuality was subject to the government’s compulsion to control during the apartheid era in relation to race and sexual orientation”. Therefore, she used all her power and will to capture images of the human body in its natural forms. Even the upper image in the right could be pro actively used as a “sexualisation” of a woman, however in this scenario it is raising necessary awareness. It can resemble to women and young girls that our bodies are unique and they aren’t disgusting. Essentially, we are put into our bodies for our lifetimes and how we perceive and view ourselves has a big impact on our well- being etc. In comparison, to social media representations it is something that is significant because social media holds out highly unreaslitic standards where women are perceived as “thin” or wearing “tight fitted revealing clothes”. Young women and girls then have a tendency to compare themselves to those societal standards which half the time are ‘false’ by nature. Muholi in her photography work has grasped the notion of capturing a woman’s body perfectly because it teaches the generation and many more to come that, our bodies are beautiful no matter if someone’s thicker or more curvy - we are all unique in our own skin. Men sometimes would argue differently saying these photos may sexualise, becausZanele Muholi is an artist who uses photography and is a visual activist in order to portray visual “sexuality” to the audience. Her art work commonly includes black women who are misrepresented in society. For example, Zanele Muholi’s artwork of (Bra, 2003), is quite fascinating because it depicts a woman in a bra which is obviously something that most people could “sexualise”. However, Muholi wants the audience to understand that this is how a normal human body is presented- it doesn’t matter about the shape or size. At the end of the day, we are all humans and as women in particular we should be accepting of our bodies and how they look. An article based from the British Journal of Photography on (Zanele Muholi), states that when Zanele was growing up, she “picked up the camera because there were no images of us that spoke to me at the time when I needed them the most.”. This is quite important because Muholi grew up with Nelson Mandela as the president where “the sphere of sexuality was subject to the government’s compulsion to control during the apartheid era in relation to race and sexual orientation”. Therefore, she used all her power and will to capture images of the human body in its natural forms. Even the upper image in the right could be pro actively used as a “sexualisation” of a woman, however in this scenario it is raising necessary awareness. It can resemble to women and young girls that our bodies are unique and they aren’t disgusting.

Essentially, we are put into our bodies for our lifetimes and how we perceive and view ourselves has a big impact on our well- being etc. In comparison to social media, there are huge, unrealistic expectations on women where they are seen as “thin” and wearing “tight revealing clothes” to accentuate their figures. This then provides the illusion that young women and girls have to accommodate themselves to fit into those standards which is completely unrealistic because people don’t look like that on an everyday basis. Muholi’s photography captures the beauty of accepting our bodies the way they are - it doesn’t matter what shape or size we are, what matters is that we are comfortable in our own skin. Men on the other hand could argue that pictures like that are done on purpose to ‘sexualise’ a women because they’re intimately and vulnerably shown. However, men are very visual creatures but it is not an excuse to demean a woman in any way, Zuholi teaches us to embrace our true and authentic selves to the public rather than what is shown nowadays in social media platforms etc.

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Planning for my Contextual Studies Book

As part of my initial question of research “How have women become sexualised in the media?”, my initial idea was to create either an A5 or A4 book in which I will include a variety of media which focuses on how women are sexualised and the different interpretations. The book that I want to construct will probably have the intake of a figure of a women on it’s front cover as part of a silhouette. The contents of this book will then include: some of the poses we have done in life drawing class, some visual interpretation from magazines and adverts in which women are sexualised in. I think it would be great to show both positive representations and negative representations of women and how an opinion can differ and range from one person to another. In my contextual studies essay as in this book, I would like to definitely look at least two artists: one being Paula Rego who mainly focuses on pastel paintings depicting human dramas and nature in women for instance. Instead of just using traditional artists that look at painting, someone that I may use in my book as well as my essay is Zanele Muholi. She uses a combination of photography to portray a women’s body. In my book, I would like to maybe do a mindmap analysing some of her work ( like positives and negatives of these kinds of compositions). As well as this to add some creativity and originality into my book, I may use some washi tapes and might stain my book to give it an old but renowned feel especially if I look at artists from different time periods/ eras.

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Artist Presentation- Chosen Artist Paula Rego

Due to the fact that my topic for contextual studies is based on the sexualisation of women in the media, I’ve chosen a book based on the artist Paula Rego - The Dancing Ostriches from Disney’s ‘Fanatasia’. The book comprises of three parts: there is an introduction by Sarah Kent, an essay element by John McEwen and a series of images to do with the dancing ostriches by Paula Rego herself. The introduction part of the book focuses on the emphasis on the woman dressed up in ballet attire as (Kent,pg 1) describes as “crammed into skimpy black tutus and pink ballet pumps”. It seems to me that this suggests that the women don’t really have much satisification in their lives with their facial expressions noted as “grim” and “lifeless”. Rego created a series of images of ballerinas in black tutus inspired by Walt Disney’s animation Fantasia. Kent comments that the cartoon “demeaned the birds and animals portrayed” as well as the cartoon emphasising the negative impact of constant “strenuous training” where women were more sexualised rather than applauded for their craft. The text also mentions that Degas who is a French artist back in the day was a huge inspiration to Paula Rego’s dancers however he definitely diminished women more so rather than proclaiming “reality”. She also comments that the art piece herself connotes women as “ostriches”. This suggests to me that stereotypically men like to use words such as ‘chick’, or ‘duck’ as a nickname however it also depends on personal interpretation as some women will probably like it but some women will be offended by the comment.

The next part of the text focuses on a short essay by John McEwen titled “ The ostriches: A tribe of bird women on the edge of the sea”. Like Kent, ( McEwen, pg 7), states that Paula Rego was very much inspired by ‘Fantasia’ which is what she wanted to contribute to. For example, he comments that the “ostriches in the film perform the waking or ‘ Morning’ sequence from Dance of the Hours a ballet in the opera La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchieli.” After this, a series of animators did a range of sketches of ballet dancers showing off their dance movements as well as their range. There was a ‘very tall, very ostrich like girl’ and from then on “ we put a few feathers on her costume where ostrich feathers should appear (….) and she performed the routine to perfection”. This text is very interesting because it exemplifies to me just how much Paula Rego was inspired to take upon her interpretation of Fantasia through her own series of ‘The Ostriches’. This is beneficial to my research project because this text allows me to look into the behind the scenes of a well- renowned artist and how I could create a piece of meaningful artwork that resembles how I think women have been sexualised at our present day and age. Rego also used a model called Lila Nunes to model for the pictures that used to make her laugh however Rego’s main aim was to make the ballerinas depict a “ very deep feeling”. This links to psychology and is quite significant to my topic because she alludes that “most people don’t acknowledge certain feelings which (…) become more difficult as they get older.” I think this is an excellent way to portray the expressions in the ballerinas that are in the book further as illustrations as it can lead to multiple interpretations.

A passage that I found quite notable to analyse would be:

“ Maybe most people don’t acknowledge certain feelings, maybe that’s why they can become more difficult as they get older. Feelings almost too dark to speak of. I think women accept their feelings more than men. They’re more open about them, they talk more about them with each other. A man will say: ‘ Everything’s fine’, when it isn’t. This may explain why the adverse criticism of Rego’ pictures has come exclusively from men.”

I chose this piece of text because I find it quite interesting that the author of the book chooses to look at an area of psychology to have links within the artwork she has created/ the message she wants to convey to us as an audience. In relevance to the artists artwork, these images are definitely used in a way to convey how ballerinas feel as if implying that it is very obvious to tell if a woman is upset with something or are there even little signs. Whereas, with a man that is less obvious to tell maybe even through an artwork in which he would be portrayed.

Image selected within the book:

(Figure 1)

( Figure 2) These pieces of artwork are relevant in understanding the text because it links back to my chosen passage. Clearly in ( Figure 2), the expression of the ballerina is very solemn and her facial features look somewhat strained and quite tired. It could be argued that the way the woman is painted clearly shows her ‘emotions’ and ‘feelings’ in a way in which if a male audience saw this, they could think it’s an ‘exaggeration’ or the depiction is unnecessary. Some could argue that the ballerina is a bit ‘ sexualised’ because her whole body is out on display which can lead to some conflicted views. The black costume gives the audience an impression of an ‘ostrich’ like mentioned in the text before, considering ostriches have black plumages and their costume are meant to resemble their feathers. In ( Figure 1), the ballerinas are portrayed in a larger group, and again linking to the passage; emotions are quite prevalent here because the women look as if they’d been practicing ballet their entire lives with the black colour palette hinting a mysterious and ‘death-like’ atmosphere. This could suggest that their craft could be leading them to a state of lack of passion, that they are being destroyed both “physically” and “mentally” by ballet which again highly links to how openly womens emotions are shown to the audience just through an irrevocably, powerful painting.

References:

Kent, S and McEwen, J, ( Date;unknown), “ Paula Rego- The Dancing Ostriches from Disneys ‘Fantasia’, Saatchi Collection

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Semester 2: Personal Research Project Initial Ideas

Last semester, as a class we had the opportunity to explore a variety of different topics such as: Narrative, FairyTale, Psychological Approaches such as the Unconscious, Body and Identities and some research conducted on selected artists as well as Ecology. One of the topics that particularly interests me would stem from looking at women’s rights, inspired from when we as a collective had to pick out a piece of artwork from a chosen museum and research upon it. The topic I would like to look at would be specifically artists that have a look at women’s rights, inspiring the generation to raise awareness through their art-work. I think that the piece that I really enjoyed writing and researching about in reference to womens rights was about the Guirella Girls. I found this quite intriguing because they are a group of women individuals who aim to raise awareness of a number of different issues across the world such as racism, discrimination as well as sexism. They do this through graphic poster art as well as using bold typography through billboards etc which inspire many countless to visualise the different ways in which important issues torment our society at present. I think in this own personal project, it would be fascinating to have a look at a couple of artists who speak up about different women rights/ issues from a series of centuries to possibly compare how rights have changed etc as well as how they have evolved compared to an older time. I really enjoy discussing and researching ideas based around empowerment in women because it is intriguing to analyse artworks where someone for instance could be inspired to speak about a bad experience or someone could feel less alone if something was depicted in an art form in a way they can relate to.

A part of visual artwork that connects to women’s rights and resonates with me would be the work by Dindga McCannon. Dindga developed her practice during the time period of the 1960’s in the ( Harlem Renaissance). Her artwork mainly focused on highlighting how black women are misrepresented within the feminist art movement. The work that I liked ( Figure 1) is titled “Four Women”, which is a fiber arts piece made out of a quilt. At the time of when this piece was made, McCannon wanted to radicalise the fact that black women were subjected to sexism within males specifically. The piece consists of 4 black women presented as ‘standing’ behind a line of each other in a row. This is contrasted with a sky blue background and pieces of string/ thread attached at the bottom which could signify that women of colour do not often have ‘free will’ to speak out, express themselves or act like themselves at that time period. This is not to say that this has improved at present however i believe the artwork wanted to highlight the ‘discrimination’ amongst women of colour especially in a society/ countries where men dominate/ have leadership over womens choices.

I have now narrowed down my topic to “How are women sexualised in the media”- with an outlook on particularly examples of artists/ artwork that focus on the sexualisation of women as well as some examples perhaps in advertising/ as well as media. It will be very interesting to have a look on different views and perspective of this very serious but important topic. As part of my research for an artist for a presentation in class, I will be looking at a well- known artist called Paula Rego who has a lot of significant art pieces which predominately have a look at the “sexualisation” of women and how they are exploited as a whole.

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Project 3: Exhibition Report - Tate Modern- Media Networks Room

My chosen exhibition that I had the opportunity to explore was located at the Tate Modern. It was an exhibition which was named “Media Networks” located on the fourth floor of the gallery. The main aim of this exhibition is to show to us as viewers the last- longing effects that technology has had over the last century with a great impact on mass media in particular. There was a variety of different forms of art- work there all contributing of different elements and materials as well as unique mediums. In total, there were around 11 different rooms, which included: Andy Warhol and Mark Bradford, Monsieur Vénus, Everyday Mythologies, Cildo Meireles, Ming Wong and Tseng Kwong Chi, A view from Buenos Aires, Beyond Pop, Painting and Mass Media, Guerrilla Girls, Martin Kippenberger and lastly Shashi Bikram Shah. One of the works that stood out the most concisely to me would be the posters by the Guerrilla Girls. When entering the room, there was a vast majority of posters with roughly around over 35 ,in a variety of colours such as: vibrant yellows, pinks, whites, reds, blacks. The artwork location wise constitutes to remind viewers of the streets of New York City and the problems and issues that women face especially at this day and present. The technique that they employed in their work is called fly-postering, which is commonly used when advertising. Some of the problems covered in this exhibition include: systemic sexual and racial discrimination with messages reaching a span from over 3O years since the group came together. The Guerrilla Girls formed in around 1985 and in order to be able to speak up on important and prevalent issues regarding modernity, the group often wore “gorilla masks in public”. It could be viewed that their way of art- work widely focuses on a graphic standpoint due to their “bold advertising- style graphics with eye- opening facts and figures”. This kind of approach has now led to the group making an influential change to the nature of our world - as they initially started showcasing their work through campaigns/ protests but now they have also built up an online presence. Their most serious issues that they choose to tackle in general not just focusing directly on the exhibition address: “Hollywood, mass media, art censorship, government corruption and apathy as well as the battle for reproductive rights”.

One of the most notable artworks that appealed to me at the exhibition itself would be a white poster with black and red typography as well as a black poster with white and red typography ( figure 1). The number one issue presented on that art piece firmly states “How many women had one person exhibitions at NYC museums last year?”. Right under this typography, the Guerrilla Girls listed all the different museums located specifically in New York: Guggenheim, Metropolitan, Modern and Whitney in the time period of 1985. Numerically, it illustrates that only one of those museums gave a women a chance to exhibit their art-work with all the rest of the museums having been entirely dominated by men. The time period of the 1980’s had strong societal boundaries put into place especially for women which in itself suggests a gender inequality as women had less ‘control’ and ‘power’ over their own decisions. For example, an article cited British Social Attitudes 30 on Gender Roles indicates that during the 1980’s, “a man’s job is to earn- money; a woman’s job is to look after the home and family”. This highlights again that at the time men were the only ones who could achieve these exciting things, whilst women had to deal with the complicated things in a household such as raising kids or acting as a dutiful house-wife. The article also comments that the “man is in the breadwinner role”, it illustrates that at that time period, women were restricted because men thought they had the inherent power to ‘control’ everything whether it be jobs/careers, where their wives can go etc. This links to modernity because it is still an important issue that hasn’t improved at present day maybe not necessarily in the context of women being viewed as “house-wives” but there is still a lot women have to fight in order to get their justice and equality.

To build up upon this, the second image ( Figure 1b) is laid out just like the first artwork but instead the time- frame is now relatively a couple decades later in 2015 with the same question proposed to viewers. The figures do initiate that all 4 museums in New York have at least one women do an exhibition with the Modern museum beating the rest with 2 women having hosted their one- person exhibition that year. In my opinion, these statistics are quite shocking to read because clearly modernity hasn’t really changed for the better. We live in a society in which many developments have now been made to allow women specifically to have the same opportunities that weren’t allowed back in the time. However, looking at it from a global perspective, there still is a lot that could be done to allow women to have their rights in a none gender biased way. Evidence that can be used to back up my claim would come from an article based on ( Modernity, Women, and War), which says that there has been a lot of feminists that have commented that women in the Middle East where there is a state of war at the moment, are viewed as “victims of ‘oppressive’ Middle Eastern men of colonialism: and/ or of religious, traditional, and national powers.” This is essentially because men in those regions have a goal for ‘control’ which is quite sad because these women are trapped under “paradigms” and arguably ‘constructs’. As a society, this issue should be looked into because in comparison to the artwork made by the Guierella Girls, in order for there to be a observed difference in the treatments between the two genders is if these repeated patterns are observed around in different cultures. It is quite hard for there to be a change in how women can act, portray as well as have their own individual right if these factors aren’t changed. For instance, women living in the Middle- East will probably have further difficulties in ever having their own art exhibitions than women living in New York or in more economically stable places in the world.

Another part of the exhibition that appealed to me would be the poster based on “President Trump Announces New Commemorative months” in the United States during the time period of 2016. Before that election, there used to be a variety of different months used to raise awareness about nationalities, identities etc. For example, some of these were called African American History Month as well as LGBTQ Pride Month however when Trump then became the president, issues of homophobia and racism became quite prevalent. It is important to state that centuries ago, America already struggled with these kind of issues which can be seen through an article ( Peace Science Digest). It states that “U.S. imperialism and empire- building were conducted with extreme violence against the inhabitants of conquered territories”. This insinuates that even then this was a big issue that had a global impact on individuals across the world not just living in America and the fact Trump changed all the months suggests it is still a issue that isn’t taken seriously and should be taken with more caution. In comparison to present day even onwards from 2015, to America’s election again with majority of America voting for Trump compared to Kamala Harris. This is again a modern example of the power men can withhold over women whereas Kamala Harris tried to make a difference for women “with the first -Vice president to visit an abortion clinic, to advocate for legalisation that would safeguard reproductive rights nationwide”. As a consequence of Trump winning the election, women don’t have a choice in their freedom speech with there even being many instances in which women became physically sick as they couldn’t remove a dying child from the womb. This in itself is quite sickening that even in the 21st century men are still accounting for decisions which women are perfectly capable of achieving by themselves. In terms of modernity, again it would illicit that not much has developed with issues of racism, homophobia as well as womens rights in relation to abortion in this point.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed having a look at the exhibition because it tackled many issues related to globalisation, technology and most importantly modernity. The Guerrilla Girls use of typography surrounding the modern issues of the world today spoke to me in ways I couldn’t even imagine possible. I believe strongly that a lot of these posters were made to speak out to male targeted audiences because a lot of the time, that specific target audience may not realise that decisions made have an impact on both genders. In relation to my own art- work, I’ve been inspired to work in more original ways rather than in ways that could been seen as more ‘traditional’. When art was developing as a form, at least in between the 18th and 19th century, painting was a widely common art technique. In order to switch up my art-work a little, I now experiment more with inks and in a recent project have combined both washi tape and black ink. Illustration can also be used as a powerful tool to tackle issues of modernity because like the Guerrila Girls it has the ‘power’ to deliver an important message to audiences depending what is being illustrated. One thing that has changed in which (Zuboff, 2019) comments that “we, the people, proved to be wiser than our rulers” as well as now people “want to exercise control over our own lives” which was again harder to do than back in the day. Now at present, people do however have more options and choices to articulate their opinion than before. Although, a lot still has to be considered and taken into account, the status of modernity will change for the better if more people will continue to speak up on issues that trouble or bother them like which is being done now. Hopefully, the world will then develop in a more modern and improved way and maybe inspire generations of individuals of the future.

Bibliography/ References:

Acharya, A (2021), “Peace Science Digest, Race and Racism in the founding of the modern world order”, International Affairs, 98 (11), 23-43 ( https://warpreventioninitiative.org/peace-science-digest/racism-as-a-foundation-of-the-modern-world/)

BBC News (2024, August 17), “Where Kamala Harris stands on 10 key issues from immigration to guns” ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx924r4d5yno )

Goksel, Nisa, (2018, May 25), “ Modernity, Women, and War”: struggles for Peace and Democracy in the Middle East ( https://contendingmodernities.nd.edu/field-notes/modernity-women-war/ )

National Museum of Women in the Arts, (2024), Guerilla Girls ( https://nmwa.org/art/artists/guerrilla-girls/ )

Park, A., Bryson, C; Clery, E., Curtice, J. and Phillips, M, (eds)., (2013), British Social Attitudes : the 30th Report, London: Natchen Social Research ( https://natcen.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/bsa30_gender_roles_final.pdf)

Tate, ( Date, unknown), Free Display: Media Networks, “10 rooms in Media Network’s” (https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/display/media-networks )

Zuboff, Z, (2019), “ The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.”, London: Profile, pp 31-46 ( https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2019/11/04/book-review-the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-the-fight-for-the-future-at-the-new-frontier-of-power-by-shoshana-zuboff/ )

Image References:

How many Women had one- person exhibitions at NYC Museums Last Year?, (1985), Guerilla Girls,Tate ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-how-many-women-artists-had-one-person-exhibitions-in-nyc-art-museums-last-p78811)

How many Women had one- person exhibitions at NYC Museums Last Year?, (1985), Guerilla Girls,Tate ( https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/display/media-networks/guerrilla-girls)

Trump announces new commemorative months, (2016), Guerilla Girls,Tate ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-trump-announces-new-commemorative-months-l04329)

Images:

Figure 1: How Many Women Had One- Person Exhibitions at NYC Art, Guerilla Girls, (Tate )

Figure 1b: How Many Women Had One- Person Exhibitions at NYC Art, Guerilla Girls, (Tate)

Figure 2: Trump Announces New Commemorative Months’, Guerilla Girls, (Tate)

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Project 3: Modernity, Cities, Technology, Ecology- Reading Report:

My chosen text for the reading report of this project is Rebecca’s Solnit’s, “Walking after Midnight: Women, Sex and Public Space”. After having read this text, one of the main concepts and ideas that I found interesting would be at the beginning when the writer comments about how women as far as in the 19th century experience “walking out” either on your own or at a considered time of danger, a thing considered “explicitly sexual”. For example, at this particular time period of England, women were given different names to portray how they are viewed particularly by men. Solnit, 2002, pg. 234 says that some of these names include: “prostitutes, streetwalkers, women of the streets, women on the town as well as public women”. This already indicates that the way women were seen as could be considered quite ‘derogatory’ and ‘vile’ especially because all they are really doing are normal, day to day tasks such as “walking” but it is being highly sexualised. Another aspect of the text which appealed to me would be that women are viewed as targets towards men because of what they wear and how they present themselves visually to the public. For instance, Solnit, 2002, pg 234 says that “women’s clothes and bodily confinements - high heels, tight or fragile shoes, corsets and girdles- very full or narrow skirts, easily damaged fabrics, veils that obscure vision”. It echoes the idea that in society women can’t express themselves in a way in which they feel ‘safe’. Some could argue that we live in a world where men tend to ‘sexualise’ and ‘objectify’ everything about a women when it isn’t necessary. All these factors then tend to contribute to an uncomfortable environment for these women in their everyday lives, the only types of women that were perhaps a little protected would be the ones that are “sexually serving one man and under his protection and sexual control”.

However, this perception still wouldn’t be considered right as in regards to modernity and modernism because it is still a global issue that surrounds many women in the world at present day. For example, women still find a need to have to ‘protect’ themselves, this can be interpreted through an educational website called UnWomen- United Kingdom, focusing on an article called “Safe Spaces Now”. Statistics state that “Over 70% of women in the UK say they’ve experienced sexual harassment in public”. This is quite concerning that even two centuries later, women still have to live in “fear” because anything they may say or do or even have to interact can be crucial danger for them. By relating this back to my chosen text, there was a significant aspect that strikes as important which was an event which happened to the author of this text itself. In pg 244, she commented that she moved to the area of San Francisco after being constantly sexualised on a regular basis in Paris. Instead of her situation becoming better, living in San Francisco in particular the nights proved to be a stressful and scary experience. Although, this very incident that occurred was during the day time in which “a well - dressed man (….) murmured a long stream of vile sexual proposals to me” in which the author panicked and “told him off”. Sadly to her horror, the man commented that she had “no right to speak to him like that” and “threatened to kill me”.

Again, this highlights the perpetual danger women face even when there are efforts made to try and stand up for yourself and what is ‘right’. Sadly, this type of violence still continues in society now with statistics saying that “Every 10 minutes, somewhere in the world, an adolescent girl dies as a result of violence”. It shows that women don’t have a ‘free voice’ in the world, there are clearly not equal spaces between genders. It is quite upsetting that women still don’t have the right to express themselves in a way where they feel safe and free whether in their own cities or countries. It would also illicit that even at present day, men have the ability to possess ‘ dominance’ and ‘power’ and these occurrences can even happen socially such as at work or even in public transportation which has been quite a relatable experience faced myself. Compared to the text “Walking after Midnight”, when the author focuses on “women’s clothes and bodily confinements”, it is still an issue that is prevalent today. Evidence that would back my point up would come from an external source cited “Modifying Perception: How clothing and Context influence the objectification of women” by Megan Sherman. (Sherman, 2022) comments that “objectification is defined as the ‘experience of being treated as a body (or collection of body parts) valued predominately for it’s use to ( or consumption by) others” with studies saying that “studies have focused on how skin exposure drives sexual objectification”. This reiterates the idea that no matter how a women dresses or acts, a woman’s bare skin is enough to provide ‘motive’ for a man and again is sexualised for no apparent reason rather then her bodily appearance.

Furthermore, the author argues that “clothing is a factor of victim- blaming in cases of sexual assault” as proposed by ( Workman and Freeburg, 1999). For instance, it is found that men who have sexually assaulted a woman “attribute more responsibility to a woman who wears sexually suggestive clothes”. It alludes that woman are essentially from the males point of view considered as asking for ‘it’ whether they are going out to an event or simply taking a walk just like the author in my chosen text. This also highlights the fact that society has not developed in a positive way because no matter what awareness is made or spoken about, the same things that happened in the 19th century are still troubling women today.

Personally, I believe that more should be done to allow ‘modernism’ to enter and be reestablished - once we recognise what has to be changed, that will be the only way for women to be able to be comfortable in their own ‘skin’ and ‘body’. The text recognises that the treatment/ and perception of women has always been rigged so therefore illustrates that it’s always been a wide-scale global problem that has to be tackled in the near -future. In terms of my own work as an illustrator, there is some relevance of women, nature and modernism especially in the module 3 project on composing a record track based on a classical piece of music. There are quite a lot of women in my Magic Flute by Mozart opera piece and when having a look at different illustrations of its interpretation, women are drawn in quite a dramatic and feminine way especially the ‘ Queen of the Night’ which can be seen through her makeup and costume. This could suggest that even as illustrators we have an idealised concept about how a woman should be viewed as or even dressed as. This would be different if a woman wore ‘baggy’ clothes or was illustrated in ‘baggy’ clothes because some could argue that less revealing clothes are least likely to attract male perpetrators. Therefore, this again instigates the idea that ‘clothing’ does a play a huge role in personal perceptions because it can change or alter someone’s view so is relevant to this module.

Bibliography/ References:

Sherman, M, (2022), “Modifying Perception: How clothing and context Influence the objectification of women”, Published Thesis Honors BSC in Psychology, Oregon State University- Honors College ( https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/downloads/xw42ng687#:~:text=Looking%20at%20objectification%2C%20there%20is,is%20a%20well%2Dexplored%20one. )

Solnit, R., (2002), Wanderlust: A History of Walking London- “Walking after Midnight: Women, Sex and Public Space”, London: Verso, pp 232-246 ( https://discover.library.unt.edu/catalog/b6106856)

Unwomen- United Kingdom, (Date, Unknown), Safe Spaces Now- Making every UK space safer for every woman. Now ( https://www.unwomenuk.org/our-work-safe-spaces-now/#:~:text=Only%203%25%20of%20women%20aged,as%20a%20result%20of%20violence )

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Researched Film Analysis ( The Red Shoes )

My chosen film for the film analysis will have to be the film titled" The Red Shoes". Having watched the film, the Red shoes brings up a numerous amount of concepts and ideas surrounding fairytales/myth, animal/human nature as well as psychological theories such as the unconscious desire. The film was created in 1948, so during the post- war period by film - makers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.The film is based on a Hans Anderson fairy tale where a young woman ballerina Vicky is on her own journey to become a well renowned dancer at a prestigious ballet company. However, during this dance journey Vicky has a blooming romance between her 'rising composer' Julian Craster which definitely clashes between the control and harshness of Lermontov who is her dictatorial director. As the film continues, there is a really challenging and difficult decision for Vicky herself because her director makes her choose between her passion with her lover Julian and her love for ballet as he displays intense jealousy over her relationship with him. She ends up marrying Julian and leaving the dance company however her manipulative director bullies into rejoining her role in " The Red Shoes Ballet". The film tragically ends with Vicky throwing herself into the train tracks from the balcony as she cannot deal with Julian thinking she betrayed him after being forced to pick between 'dancing' or 'marriage'.

The film does definitely portray a huge sense of art versus human nature. This finding comes from the journal of ( Diamond, 2016) which states that the film has a clear narrative which "epitomizes universal anxieties, desires, conflicts and fantasises". From this understanding, it could be viewed that because the film was released in 1948, this was during post-war England where many women at the time returned from the factories they worked at to go home. Considering how women at the time lived in a clearly dominated, male ruled society, it is quite interesting to note how heavily the main character Vicky was influenced with her own experiences with men in the film. To further elaborate this point, Vicky is controlled in the film by men practically most of the film. For instance, Lermontov is in charge of when and how she dances whereas her love interest that was supposedly meant to have her back argues with her; not giving her a chance to explain herself even though her director told her to leave her marriage. This very example illiterates how "the heroine is alternatively positioned as a puppet of 'male collaboration' with homoeroticism and misogyny intersecting". As a women at the time, this would have been uncontrollably difficult for her to speak up to men as they had the ideology that everything they do comes within their own 'power' with women not having a say in anything. It is upsetting that ultimately the two men at the end of the film decided Vicky's fate which highlights the values and ideologies men had of women at the time.

Moreover, there are several moments in the film 'The Red Shoes' where the film directors have created a 'narrative' through the use of props and colour where arguably a women could be "sexualised". For instance, the main character Vicky is portrayed as wearing a lot of dramatic makeup such as (heavy eyeliner, dramatic fake- eyelashes, as well as the use of the colour 'red' on her lipstick). This creates a sense of an element of fantasy in particular an element of dark- fantasy as the audience may feel like they are witnessing a beautiful scene of art-work through the film. These scenes could have been heavily influenced by the art director Hein Heckrorth. Hein Heckroth was an artist who moved to Britain in the 1930's with his jewish wife. who created an astonishing piece of art-work cited as ' Freudian Ballet' where he tried to resemble the ballet sequence. Through this artwork, it could be argued he wanted to tell a story of 'fantasy' because he wanted to bring together choreography, music, art, dance as well as story-telling through the world of the ballerina Vicky. In (Figure 1), Heckroth's sketch includes an oil based painting which uses muted and dark colours of greys and yellows in which the ballerina looks like she is dancing on a 'log'. The dark colours on the side of the ballerina could hint at an eerie and fantasy like state which could suggest that the ballerina feels like she is in the 'state of her own reality'.

Furthermore, there could be more elements of fantasy in the film itself based of the concept of the films main theme“ballet”. After all, it is one of the main components of the film as ( McLean, 1988) states that “the characters love their art and the theatre so much that they allow it to control their lives”. It could be said that something like this is considered upmost a ‘fantasy’ because it is unlikely that someone’s interest would have such an impact on society in our world at present. In the film, in order to bring the ballet to life, ‘fantasy’ elements were definitely used in which “magic is commonplace but created with real things - wood, paint, fabric, sweat, and muscular effort”. This could illiterate that in order for the production of the ballet to appeal to audiences, these elements had to be present in order to make the visuals become realistic and relatable when watching. Usually, fairy- tales are deemed to be something that are associated with children, for instance especially Han’s Anderson’s fairytales which try and capture a child’s imagination whilst teaching a valuable and insightful life lesson.

In regards to “The Red Shoes” though, the film was made in 1948, a time where film- makers such as Powell had a huge influence in the making of the film ( male- dominated society). Zipes (1997) indicates that fairytales were “never categorized as a children’s genre” so the topics that were willing to be discussed in ‘The Red Shoes’ wouldn’t distinguish between childlike and adult like topics so it is predominately up to the viewers to see how they interpret it. A good example in the film would be how Vicky and Julian fell for each other through their shared love for dance/ composing. Realistically, if they never shared similar passions, it would be quite unlikely that something would have blossomed beyond that. Again, there is a sense of lust overtaking Vicky’s desire to dance which has strong links to us as human’s having that predisposition of having psychological desires that can’t be controlled at times. The film could offer an insightful lesson for children even because it teaches us that life can be both rewarding and challenging at times as not everything can be handed out without any consequences. For Vicky, it was either her desire for dance or choose a long lived love with her husband and perhaps because she couldn’t find a psychological balance between both, she tragically had no other reason to live hence her unexpected “death”.

There is definitely a huge element of Sigmund Freud’s psychological theory in the film especially by referring to the ‘uncanny’. This can be interpreted through ( Sigmund Freud, 2003) as something that “belongs to the realm of the frightening of what evokes fear and dread”. (In Figure 2), one shot in the film which is significant to this idea would be the shot of Vicky’s legs which feature the ballet shoes she heavily treasures. These could bring out a sense of the uncanny because it is those ‘very shoes’ that define her tragic fate at the end of the film. It is obvious that the shoes itself don’t carry a constant state of ‘fear’ which lead to the tragic demise of the main character, but it is the idea that this life-long passion cannot get rid off, suggesting it was something that was most likely given as her ultimate goal in her lifetime. The ‘uncanny’ in this sense is something that “has been repressed and then reappears,and everything uncanny satisfies this condition”. In reference to “The Red Shoes”, it could allude that Vicky’s love for ballet may have become repressed meaning that, there was an internal conflict in her head between the two men as she didn’t really know how to make a rational decision without realising ballet is her true ‘passion’ . Essentially, her love for Julian was so unstoppable that she couldn’t distinguish between desire or true passion. There is a notable camera movement in the film where Vicky is captured twirling and spinning around with a long shot which echoes how the majority of the film is based on the importance of dance as well as highlighting that her passion for dance was in fact a “reality”. At the time this film was shot, it would have been expected to conform to societal norms hence why Vicky probably felt like she had to obey in authority to Lermontov. Even if she did deep down desire to be with her husband, she as a woman at the time probably felt as if she couldn’t have her own ‘voice’ and ‘choice’ anyway.

Overall, the film “The Red Shoes” presents different ideas and thoughts as to how there are elements of fantasy, the unconscious as well as fairytales well. In my opinion, there is definitely the most ‘ unconscious desire’ shown because the outcome of the ending of the film would have been so much more different if there were no ‘ love interests’. Evidently, this could have been a film all about just her passion for dance thus the internal conflict between her lover and passion adds an interesting dynamic into the film. These kind of conflicts can happen to anyone in real life events therefore it means that “The Red Shoes” is definitely not just considered a ‘fairytale’ being more impactful than can be realized.

Bibliography/ References:

Center Theatre Group, (2017, August 24), “ How the ‘Red Shoes’ Came to life” ( https://www.centertheatregroup.org/news-and-blogs/news/2017/august/how-the-red-shoes-came-to-life/)

Classiq, (2015, June 24), Costume and Colour in “The Red Shoes”, ( https://classiq.me/costumes-and-colour-in-the-red-shoes )

Diamond, D, (2016), “ The Red Shoes: A fairytale within a Ballet Within a Film”, Psychoanalytic Psychology, 33 (S1), pp. S104-S119) ( https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpap0000071 )

Freud, S, (2003), The Uncanny. London: Penguin ( https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Freud_Uncanny.pdf)

IMDb, (1990-2024), The Red Shoes- Plot/ Summaries ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040725/ )

McLean, A.L (1988), “ The Red Shoes” Revisited’, Dance Chronicle, 11(1)pp.31-83. ( https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/doi/epdf/10.1080/01472528708568965?needAccess=true)

Shields, Meg, (2014, Oct 14), “ Why the Red Shoes look so damn good”- The Film School Rejects ( https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-red-shoes-visual-legacy/)

The Guardian, (2009, Nov 20), Exhibitions, “ Surrealist artwork from The Red Shoes to go on display” ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/nov/20/red-shoes-artwork-bfi-southbank)

Zipes, J, (1997), Happily Ever After, Fairy tales, Children and the Culture Industry, London: Routledge ( https://www.routledge.com/Happily-Ever-After-Fairy-Tales-Children-and-the-Culture-Industry/Zipes/p/book/9780415918510?srsltid=AfmBOoqAmRVRT6XXL1hHwwMZTM5rpKztp-aJGC5lTgvqq3xQDBfKN_rF )

Image/ References:

The Ballet Of the Red Shoes Oil Sketch by Hein Heckroth in a new exhibition, (2009), The Guardian, ( Figure 1) ( https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/nov/20/red-shoes-artwork-bfi-southbank)

Why ‘ The Red Shoes’ looks so Damn Good (2020), Film School Rejects, ( Figure 2) ( https://filmschoolrejects.com/the-red-shoes-visual-legacy/)

Images:

Figure 1: Oil Sketch The Red Shoes- Hein Heckworth (The Guardian)

Figure 2: Red Ballet Shoes - Why ‘the Red Shoes’ looks so damn good ? ( Film School Rejects)

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Project 2: Animals, Narrative, FairyTale and the Unconcious - Reading Report

My chosen text for the reading is called Sigmund Freud’s “The Uncanny”( London: Hogarth Press, 1919). This reading specifically talks about the idea of the “uncanny”. Taken from the ( Oregon State University), the uncanny refers to “the dread we feel in situations in which our childish fantasies and fears appear more real and more true than our adult worldviews.” The text also mentions the idea that the uncanny is something that “arouses dread and creeping horror” being considered as something quite “fearful”. Essentially, this suggests that the uncanny plays an integral part in our childhood so I come to understand that having a satisfied or unsatisfied childhood could determine the extent of the ‘uncanny’ for an individual. It is interesting to note that not everything we experience in our lifetimes can be ‘frightening’. In most cases, this is most likely because it is something that is rather “not known and familiar” which is why it would cause such a reaction in some people at first sight. There is an interesting example in the text about a student called Nathaniel who sadly couldn’t forget or escape his memories which were linked to the death of this father. He used to get a warning that a specific “Sand- Man” would come to get him, however his mother clearly stated that this kinda person doesn’t even exist. He was told however that “he is a wicked man who comes when children won’t go to bed”. Nathaniel did associate his fathers specific visitor with the concept of the “Sand- Man”. This means that whenever he saw this specific person come in ( lawyer Coppelius), he made a ‘link’ towards the idea of the Sand- Man. Therefore, this suggests that everytime the young child saw the lawyer, he now “identified” it with this imaginary creature.

After reading this, a theory that can support Nathaniel and the link to the uncanny would be Pavlov’s Classical conditioning in psychology. Classical conditioning refers to “learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus i.e a tone, becomes associated with a stimulus i.e a food that would naturally produce a behavior”. This links to the text because essentially the Sand- Man would be the ‘neutral stimulus’ which illicts an unconditioned response so fears of the man trying to get him adding anxiety and worry.Then, during the conditioning phase, the Sand-Man alongside the lawyer Coppelius become inextricably merged together which causes the young boy to react negatively as he believes the lawyer has qualities that the Sand- Man possesses.

In my opinion, this text has helped me decode the theory that our childhood processes play a huge, important part in shaping how we view different experiences in our lifetimes. I believe that through reading the text even dreams can recall a “sense of helplessness” because sometimes dreams can become a ‘living- reality’. This could portray a sense of the uncanny because we don’t genuinely know what to expect and it presents again that our unconscious plays more of a role into our daily lives/ decisions than we actively think it does. In terms of my own work and art processes, I definitely think that the uncanny/ Sigmund Freud’s theory would have links. This is noticeable through ‘realism’, when we want to get the most realistic qualities in a drawing but there is one element that feels off. An example can be in my life drawings, sometimes when painting or drawing the model, everything can appear ‘perfect’ except for the face which creates an uncanny effect as the feelings of dread and anxiety make me think it’s not a good enough drawing.

Bibliography/ References:

BCcampus Open Education, (2014), “ Jennifer Walinga and Charles Stangor, “ Introduction to Psychology” - 1st Canadian Edition, “ Learning by Association: Classical Conditioning (https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/7-1-learning-by-association-classical-conditioning/#:~:text=Pavlov%20had%20identified%20a%20fundamental,that%20naturally%20produces%20a%20behaviour.)

Collage of Liberal Arts, (2024), What is the Uncanny ?, Definition and Examples ( https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-uncanny#:~:text=This%2C%20for%20Freud%2C%20is%20the,us%20start%20to%20make%20sense.)

Sigmund Freud, “The Uncanny”, Standard Edition of the complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, James Strachey ( London: The Hogarth Press) ( https://uncanny.la.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/freud-uncanny_001.pdf)

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Critical/ Contextual Reflection on one of my Life Drawings

My chosen life drawings to critically discuss are the ones completed in Week 2 of life drawing where we focused solely on tone and larger areas between our drawings. To begin with, the two different poses of the model are very evident at this point because on the left; my drawn figure is staring into the distance whereas on the (right ), the pose consists of the figure looking right at the classroom. At this point, the body is represented in two different ways because although it is a similar, sitting down pose on the (left), the body is depicted in a more forced and harder to maintain posture. Whereas, on the (right), the body is definitely more relaxed especially in consideration of the gentle-like, carefree features I've drawn on the figure's face. I would say that my identity is quite present in my art-work because I have a very specific art style which bases off my personality. For instance, I am quite an extroverted and energetic individual and this has links to my art-work because I like to use bold and vibrant colours ( yellow and brown) in these pieces of work which I think reflects my identity.

I do not think that I have selected a problematic image because these drawings have one thing in common, they both share a seated 'pose' and this representation can say a lot about 'identity'. The drawing on the (left)differs a bit as there is a skeleton here mostly because it was used as a prop in life-drawing class. However at a deeper level of understanding, the skeleton represents identity in many ways. Our body is made up of the skeleton which determines many factors such as: sex, age, ethnicity, diet, injuries as well as occupation. It could also suggest it is the one thing that bonds everyone together in possessing that one 'identity' because of it's coexistence with death/ the end of our lifetime when we have served our time on this planet.

After attending all the lectures and seminars, I think that these issues have a good link to identity because we looked at a lot of examples in class such as the Campaign of the Guerrilla Girls. Essentially, the campaign mentioned that "Less than 5 percent of the artists in the Modern Art Sections are women, but 85 percent of the nudes are female". Compared to my life-drawing class, it has allowed me into new ways of thinking because in our class, the models that come in to pose for us are equally both men and women adding a sense of equality. I understand though that it is not always like that around the wider world and why the Guerrilla Girls have made such an impact in society at present with 'identity'. More examples we have looked at in class that helps make sense of my image as well as the notion of identity in general would be looking at theorists. We looked at Judith Butler who states that gender isn't pre-existing in us, it is innate. It is created through repeated, stylish acts and that is how it becomes 'performative'. In relation to my two pictures, it could be argued that the 'postures' made by the model are a reflection of learned behaviours by our society. Some could say by looking at these drawings that the model is a 'woman' because women are deciphered as 'feminine' and 'dainty' in the way they represent themselves and men would not 'sit' like that in a pose. Again, this possesses strong links to 'identity' as some people will agree with my assumption but others may think it is sexist. At the end of the day, this all comes down to all our experiences in the world( what we watch, social media, what we consume in work, universities and schools) and together they form who we are, our 'identity'.

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Research of visual artist: Grayson Perry

My chosen visual artist for this project is the artist Grayson Perry. Grayson Perry was born in 1960 and is an artist, broadcaster and writer. His most characterisable art works are produced by the use of ceramics and tapestries using quite bold and bright colours to illustrate how he expresses himself. However, some of his work has also included fashion elements with embroidery and print. A well renowned website that presents the work of established and known artists Victoria Miro can back this claim up, stating that as an artist he tackles issues to do with "identity, gender, social status, sexuality as well as religion." Perry has also commented that an "emotional charge is what draws me to a subject". The ( Royal Academy of Arts, 2018, pg 71) says that Perry has also won several prizes such as the Turner Prize in 2003 as well as a CBE for the Queen's Birthday Honors List in 2013. He has also had a variety of exhibitions in the British Museum such as the "Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman" as well as exhibitions in the Andy Warhol museums. His works are displayed all around the world such as in Amsterdam and New York with his tapestries being featured in a channel 4 television series.

One of his most notable works would be his distinct and detailed pots such as The Rosetta Vase. Using (Figure 1), a large but tall vase structure is one of his famous works which is displayed in the British Museum. It is interesting to note that the vase consists of a yellow background with detailed blue figures dotted around the exterior of the vase painted with a "transparent craquele glaze". Grayson stated that this piece of work has a big connection to the notions of 'identity' because " it depicts the museum as a modern - day secular place of pilgrimage where cultures and ideas meet". A notable aspect of Perry's vase would be that there is male figure in a dominant blue colour as well as a number of different items that are meant to represent the British Museum. A source from (the British Museum) states that a variety of the images included in the vase come from a medieval Islamic treatise known as " The anatomy of the Human Body" by Mansur Ibn Ilyas. Perry definitely took some inspiration from Mansur because one of the main meanings in the treatise implies that "our body could be divided into different systems ( bones, veins, muscles, etc)". The vase itself is a 'symbol' of how Perry wanted to portray himself to viewers so therefore identity is prevalent here as we get a general idea of how he wants to 'perceive' himself as.

For further evidence, a book titled "Making Meaning- Grayson Perry( Royal Academy of Arts, 2018, pg 13) says that Perry "fuses visual and verbal, dramatising love and lust and violence, the human emotions and behaviours we all share". This has a big link towards 'identity' once again because identity is something that creates a formation between how we as individuals view ourselves and the outside world. Perhaps by having a look at the Rosetta Vase, viewers may be able to relate to some of images in the vase in relation to their own identity. For example, there are various word references scattered all over the vase such as 'beliefs', 'colonial' as well as 'post modernisms'. Not only does this link to 'identity' but has strong political and historical contexts. Using the book (Royal Academy of Arts, 2018: pg 34-35) ,another work that looks appealing to me would be the ' Comfort Blanket, 2014 which is produced in the form of a tapestry around the measurements of 290 by 800cm. In (Figure 2), the tapestry is a giant banknote of Britain which represents what we love and hate in our country. The colours consist of muted blues, greens, pinks, purples, reds with words added such as "a cuppa tea" or "rain", all identities that form our country Britain. Perry himself commented that he had a friend who left the country of Hungary and fled the soviets in 1956, with Britain being referred to as a "security blanket". This can be interpreted as something that has stability, safety with a sense of identity so the piece could even be beneficial to newcomers coming into Britain as they can familiarise themselves with Britain's identity by allowing foreigners to 'fit' in.

In terms of my own art-work, I've come to understand that Grayson's artwork is quite similar to my own styles implemented into my work. This is because he uses self- expressionism and vibrant colours and has an interesting way in drawing figures. Perry's work uses quite a bit of typography which I think communicates to us of his work as words can have a 'deeper meaning' and could reach out to people more rather than just imagery. In the future, I will definitely add this concept into my own work to make it more 'different' compared to my typical approaches such as : etching/ photoshop/ collage mediums.

Figure 1: Vase (British Museum)

Figure 2: Factum Arte :Comfort Blanket (2014)

Bibliography/ References:

British Museum( Date, unknown), Vase: The Rosetta Vase (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2012-8013-1)

Jenny Uglow, (2018), Grayson Perry: Making Meaning: Windsor Press and Royal Academy of Arts ( https://shop.royalacademy.org.uk/grayson-perry-making-meaning?srsltid=AfmBOopmW4Ez04SZaHgJ-phnh69L-u4hMoqT8WlmWAk5AGZvdFuzUcg5)

Tate ( Date, unknown), Sir Grayson Perry CBE RA ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-grayson-perry-cbe-ra-4657 )

Victoria Miro ( Date, unknown), Grayson Perry ( https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-grayson-perry-cbe-ra-4657 )

Image References:

Comfort Blanket Tapestry ( 2014), Factum Arte, ( Figure 2) ( https://www.factum-arte.com/pag/1714/comfort-blanket)

Vase ( Date, unspecified), The British Museum ( Figure 1 ) ( https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_2012-8013-1)

[zosiaaleksandrasecondyearblog]

Contextual Studies Year 2: Body and Identities

Written Report on one reading:

My chosen text for my written report is Woodward’s: Questioning identity. Before reading this text, an article on an website called ( Facing History and ourselves) which goes into the category of “ Exploring the concept of Identity”) states that identity is something that “refers to our sense of who we are as individuals as well as members of social groups”. Having an identity is important because it is one thing that characterises how other individuals see and interpret us. There a lot of different identities such as: social identity ( which refers to who we as a person and the different categories we fit into such as age, ethnicity, nationality or sexual orientation. The other type would be personal identity which is something more characteristic in the way we define ourselves, for instance a job, race or family background. To support my claim further, the journal called ( Questioning Identity: Gender, Class, Nation ) alludes that “we choose to identify with a particular identity or group” as well as forming “some active engagement on our part”. This essentially means that there a lot of things in our everyday lives that make us want to form an identity. For example, someone could be wearing a trending dress that they saw a celebrity wear recently and the more trending it is, more people will want to purchase it and form an ‘identity’ with others. Some of the other key concepts in this journal that I found interesting to note would be the opinions of social philosopher George Herbert Mead. (Mead, 1934), offered “useful insights into the link between how we see ourselves and the ability of human beings to imagine how others might see us”.

To take this idea further, Mead argued that “symbolizing” is a crucial aspect in understanding identity. For instance, as a society we most commonly use pictures, images and gestures because in our eyes there is an ideology that must be fit into, to form that identity. An example that can back this up would be 'sociability' in relation to introverts and extroverts. These two different personality traits help us form a better understanding of identity, with introverted individuals usually being noted as reserved and very private with their lives. To link this to identity, introverts definitely have more of an issue in understanding their true self as well as their core values which is why it takes years to reach that standing point where their own identity gets recognised. Extroverts on the other hand, view themselves as individuals who are very outgoing and definitely view the world in a more relaxed way which is why their identity is more 'defined' and can therefore be achieved at a quicker stage.

Another thing that Woodward's text mentioned that seems important in depicting identity would be Sigmund Freuds theory. Freud says that "the unconscious mind" has a huge effect on our identities, with "individuals coming to understand their childhood experience and shape their own identities, with identities never being fixed". Essentially, Freud is trying to say that the unconscious mind has ideas of its own in terms of identity which links to the idea of "Freudian slips" which was quite interesting to read. Sometimes, we tend to comment on things but end up meaning another thing in which Freud reiterates is a reflection of our "true feelings." To illustrate this further, a man accidentally used his former girlfriends name even though he is with his current girlfriend. This implies that there was an intrusion from the unconscious mind into the conscious mind due to unresolved feelings. An article on the ( VeryWellMind website) comments on this idea further by saying that the unconscious mind can affect our behaviour. This is because it can result in: feelings of anger, problems in romantic relationships, concerning dreams and behavioural problems in the future. Therefore, there is a lot of significance to identity in reference to these findings because we cannot have a sense of 'identity' if our mental health state isn't at it's best. These kind of factors as a result could echo that like personality types mentioned earlier, if the unconscious mind doesn't agree with the conscious mind it will definitely be more challenging to fully identify in ourselves or take longer to form that individual identity.

Summary: In terms of relevance to my work as an illustrator, identity is something that definitely plays an integral part in how illustrations develop. From my life drawing classes so far, when drawing the models they form a sense of identity depending on what art mediums I use whether it's charcoal, pencils or even a different coloured paper. By changing what materials are used, this has a massive control over the final outcomes. This can distort identity which could even appear different to someone else depending on their preferences/ opinions and their viewpoints when they depict identity.

Bibliography/ References:

Facing History (2021, July 14), Exploring the Concepts of Identity: English and Language Arts ( https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/exploring-concept-identity)

Personality Junkie ( Date, unknown), The Introvert’s Quest for Identity and Vocation ( https://personalityjunkie.com/introverts-dilemma/)

VeryWellMind (2024, July 15), Freud’s Unconscious, Preconscious, and Conscious Minds ( https://www.verywellmind.com/the-conscious-and-unconscious-mind-2795946)

Woodward, K (e.d) (2000), Questioning Identity : Gender, Class, Nation: London: Routledge (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203984888/questioning-identity-kath-woodward)