GALLERY PROJECT: WOMEN AND THEIR WORK

This group's gallery project, Women and Their Work, was organized for the purpose of highlighting (1) art that brings awareness to women's issues, (2) the work of female and woman artists, and (3) healthy depictions of women that are often underrepresented in media and entertainment.



GENERAL RULES & INFORMATION


:bulletgreen: Check to make sure that you are submitting your deviation to the right category/gallery.

:bulletgreen: Do not submit a specific deviation to more than one gallery.

:bulletgreen: Unless it is a deconstruction, do not submit work that: is classified under Pin-up or Fetish Portraits, objectifies women, has male gaze POV, is just a body part, depicts violence against women, or depicts women silenced or dehumanized.

:bulletgreen: Non-members can submit up to 2 deviations per week. Members can submit up to 10 deviations per week.

:bulletgreen: You can expect your submission to be approved/rejected within 3 days.

:bulletgreen: If your submission does not fit the category/gallery you specified, you'll either be asked to re-submit it or it will be moved to the appropriate folder by a Mod.

:bulletgreen: If your submission was rejected and you would like to know why, PM a Mod. Do not leave a comment on any of the group pages asking about why your submission was rejected.


CATEGORIES

Feminism and Women's Rights: Art that has a pro-feminist or activist message, is designed to spread awareness of women's issues, or provides commentary on sexism or gender stereotypes.
:bulletblue: Galleries: Art, Photography, Literature, Other

Gallery of Women: Art that depicts a single woman or group of women.
:bulletblue: Galleries: Art, Photography, Literature, Other

Art by Women: Art created by women, that do not fit into the other two categories. Please submit work that you are proud to show off.
:bulletblue: Galleries: Art, Photography, Literature, Other



OUR APPROACH

It must be acknowledged that there is nothing inherently wrong with Pin-up, Fetish Portraits, or sexualized depictions of women on an individual basis. The problem is not simply sexualized depictions of women, the problem is the overrepresentation and prevalence of sexualized depictions of women in our culture*. And the same applies to the other ways in which women are often degraded to sub-human status in media and entertainment.

The overall portrayal of woman in our television, music, movies, etc, is deeply problematic, mainly because there is an incredible lack of diversity. Women are commonly depicted as objects, as sexual objects, as props, as a body part, headless, faceless, with their mouths covered, chained, tied-up, held down, infantilized, bruised/violated, in awkward or silly positions, or in positions that emphasize a body part. Advertising and the media present selected body types as being ideal, therefore implying that body types outside of that narrow and rare range are not considered ideal.

These kind of depictions and implications are everywhere, and as such, they reinforce several negative values in society as the assumed norms: violence/abuse against women, women as the "others" ("man" is the default, while "woman" is the sub-category or deviation), a woman's sexuality not being defined on her own terms, women's sexuality only considered acceptable if it involves/prioritizes pleasuring men, lesbians and their sexuality only considered acceptable if it's for men's pleasure, the Madonna/Whore binary,  people not knowing the difference between sexualization and sexuality, only white or light-skinned women being associated with ideal beauty, the expectation that women must strive to attain ultimate perfection (while also being told that they can never achieve it), the contempt for women as they age (a woman is only beautiful while young), the notion that only [THIS TYPE] of woman is beautiful, the notion that women are only worthy if they [ARE LIKE THIS], and so on.  Because there is a lack of diversity and variety, there is very little to counter these problematic messages, and that ultimately helps foster and maintain an unhealthy environment for women and men.

Let it be clear: the problem is definitely not women being portrayed as sexual--it is that women are disproportionally portrayed as objects, functioning only to carry out specific versions of sexual appeal and availability, to the exclusion of other humanizing dimensions. The main goal of this gallery project is to celebrate the diversity of women and the voices that are so often ignored by media and entertainment.



Suggested material for learning more about this subject:
Miss Representation
Killing Us Softly 4 (or watch Killing Us Softly 3 here)
Reality Bites Back
Can't Buy My Love
So Sexy So Soon

*I must note that I speak from an American perspective.

Welcome to Mad Machine!

:police:IMPORTANT!: READ THE RULES BEFORE YOU JOIN, SUBMIT, OR COMMENT (CLICK HERE)

Welcome to #MadMachineBlog, the companion dA group to Mad Machine, a blog dedicated to examining sexism, misogyny, and gender stereotypes in media and entertainment, and how they reflect and affect our culture and social structures.

The purpose of this group is to intersect with the dA community by cross-posting excerpts/updates from the main blog, and promoting the influence of women in art via our group's gallery project: Women and Their Work.

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