Gender: Performativity and Masquerade - Essay Example

HOW ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS USED THEIR WORK TO DISAPPROVE GENDER BASED STEREOTYPES By Location There are many gender stereotypes that are prevalent in the modern societies. Such stereotypes are not new as they have been in existence of many centuries. In most cases the victims of such stereotypes are always people of the female gender. However, there are a various people who have always tried their best to undo such stereotypes. Designers and artists are some of the people who have been actively involved in this course for centuries. They do this by coming up with designs and art works that tend to disapprove these stereotypes. Some of them do this through their way of life, including things like their way of dressing. With reference to the theories of performativity and masquerade, this paper seeks to discuss how artists and designers have used their work and dressing to disapprove gender based stereotypes. The paper is going to focus on Oreet Ashery, Claude Cahun and Grayson Perry and their use of dress and dress up to challenge such stereotypes. The theory of performativity by Judith Butler views gender as an act that has been repeatedly done, just like a script, and human beings, as the actors, turn the script into reality by repeatedly doing it, thus turning such performance to belief. The theory suggests that gender distinction is a fiction that was designed by people in order to make sure that an oppressive status quo is maintained. The theory suggests that gender should be an expression of what someone does instead of being used to determine who someone is. The theory suggests that there are no such categories as heterosexuality or homosexuality. It suggests that these statuses are never permanent and thus can change with time. A close look at the theory will reveal that Judith Butler was seeking to overturn the common notion that by being of a certain gender, then someone would always be expected to exhibit certain strengths and weaknesses. Masquerade theory suggests that the female gender has over the centuries been bold but silent performer in the day-to-day activities. However, they have always been seen as the passive participants in political and social activities that involved human beings of both genders. The theory suggests that femininity, however, can be treated as a mask that can be put on and off at will. This is that women can put on femininity with the aim of seeking certain results and put it off when they know it is convenient. This will mostly depend on whether or not an individual knows exactly how to use this “mask” for her own advantage. This “mask” can accord a woman more power if it is properly and conveniently made use of. For a woman to do this conveniently, they have to know exactly when and how to put this “mask” on and off. The theory suggests that this knowledge will enable women to use stereotypes that were meant to work against them to work in their favour. The first visual example, that will be looked into is a fictitious Orthodox Jewish character Marcus Fisher by Oreet Ashery. Marcus Fisher is an alter ego that Ashery has used in many of her interventions. One of the most popular pieces in which he feature in is the Marcus Fisher’s Wake. This piece is 15 minutes long mockery of the fictional life of Marcus Fisher (Johnson 2013, p. 122). The piece shows details of his life right from childhood till his early death. In this piece, the character, Marcus Fisher is Ashery herself disguised in clothes that are in normal circumstances perceived to be worn only by men. Apart from the clothes, she also wears a beard, which plays a very important role in bringing out her alter ego in this piece. In all the pieces in which this character appears, the image is always by a woman, though disguised in a manner likely to suggest that she is a man. In this piece, she uses Marcus Fisher to depict the marginalisation of the female gender that is common in most societies. This marginalisation is encouraged by most cultures and religions. By choosing to use a male character as her alter ego, she seeks to overturn the stereotypes that tend to make the male humans superior to the female ones. She appears to put more light to the theory of performativity by using this character to show that gender does not necessarily always what a person is. Like, in this piece, the character is male, while, Ashery remains to be female. This is further explained by the fact that she has used the piece in various instances to support groups of people who are always marginalized because of their sexuality. Feminism can be said to have taken a different dimension through works such as this one which doubtlessly put a halt to several stereotypes that are aimed at undermining efforts that are made by the female gender. The second piece is a Claude Cahun’s self-portrait photograph of the year 1928. This is a silver gelatin print on paper portrait of Claude as a muscular man. In this portrait, she does not reveal neither persona nor her identity. Here she presents a jacketed male and a reflection of his. The man appears to be masculine. The man’s gaze could be implying of various sentiments (Johnson 2013, p. 87). A quick glance might suggest that the subject was caught by the photographer unaware. The look can also depict of subtle anger at the photographer’s intrusion. The look might also hint a suggestive craving and sexual undertone with a readily distinguishable feminine connotation. Most people always have a problem of determining whether the person in the portrait is a man or woman. In this portrait she challenges an idea of sexuality and gender by posing as a male. Though she chooses to pose as a man, she still leaves some traces of femininity. With this she tends to approve of the performativity which view gender as a weapon used to discriminate on the female gender. The portrait leaves viewer wondering whether the person in the portrait is female or male. This portrait was termed as disruptive during those times because of the way it evidently went against the orders of the then society. This just shows the level to which the society have always stereotyped the gender issue making it seem as the primary determinant of a person’s personality and capability. The portraits can also be said to be putting to light the possibility of people being judged on other basis other than their gender. Since she decides to make a portrait of herself as a man, she tries to disprove the stereotype that depicts women as passive participants in the society. The final artist whose work is going to be looked into in this paper is Grayson Perry. With this artist, someone can notice that both his works and dressing have been aimed at discrediting various genders based stereotypes in the society. His piece of art that will be talked about in this paper is Cuddly Toys Caught on Barbed Wire. Through this post, Grayson Perry reveals why he prefers dressing like a woman. He says that women are viewed in the society to be second class beings. Just as women are viewed as second class beings, pottery is also viewed as a second class career (Johnson 2013, p. 101). The funny thing in this case is that he had opted for this type of art as opposed to joining the military, which is one of the most adored professions for the male gender. Through this piece of art he also reveals that his mode of dressing has anything to do with his self-esteem. Grayson Perry started putting on female attires while stills a child. At this early stage, he mostly did it secretly though he later started doing it publicly. This went on until he became one of the established ceramic artists globally. At first he had a problem with making his family come into terms with his feminine side. However, they eventually came into terms with this fact and accorded him full support. In the year 2003 he attended the Turner Prize dressed as a girl. During this occasion he was awarded the Turner Prize, being the first ever ceramic artist to win this prize. This in a way must have really helped in the disapproval of unfair stereotypes against women. As much as he accepts that his choice of dressing has anything to do with how the society view feminism, he stills uphold his way of dressing and even does it publicly with pride. It is clearly evident that the above artists have played a very important role in ensuring that the influence of unfair gender based stereotypes is minimized. Unlike other feminist, who might just speak feminism, these artists have chosen to make feminism an integral part of their work. They have also made feminism a part of their life and their lifestyle. This might be a more effective way of fighting unfair gender based stereotypes. People interact with art in their daily lives and there is no better way of passing on such messages rather than using art. Bibliography Johnson, C 2013, Femininity, time and feminist art, Palgrave Macmillan, [Basingstoke]. http://www.palgraveconnect.com/doifinder/10.1057/9781137318091. Read More