Week 10 // Focus the Discussion

Question: How can I discuss sexism in a more immediate and/or local sense?

It seems that I could quite easily focus on sexism in sport in New Zealand, which I discovered after reading  this article (radionz.co.nz/women’sworthandsexisminsport). This article discusses the struggle that New Zealand women’s sports teams have with trying to get the same kind of support and coverage that NZ men’s teams do. However, it does also reveal that New Zealand Rugby has put in a lot of effort to growing Women’s Rugby this past year, aiming to get 21,000 women’s players by 2020. 19,500 women play now. This is definitely something I could explore, as it is local and also easily relatable to the NZ public, as sport is a fairly dominant interest in most of the population.

It may also pay to look into sexism in the NZ workplace. I read an interesting article
(http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article) about inappropriate job interviews, in which women have been asked if they are married, what their partner and/or father’s jobs were, and if they were planning on having a baby any time soon. This article framed such questions as sexist and discriminatory, and that it is outrageous that a company could ask such questions. However, this was a very opinionated piece, and after looking through many of the comments, it became apparent that not everyone agreed with the writer’s thoughts. Many people (male and female) made a point that asking about plans for having children is not necessarily sexist, it’s more of an insurance that the employee will be committed to working, and not taking leave after employment. One raised the comparison to when you take out medical insurance, in which the insurance company will always require you to disclose if you have any pre-existing conditions. All interesting points, but what was clear to see was that this is a very grey area, and I could potentially delve into it more.

I am beginning to get some much stronger understandings of how sexism works, and also how things such as feminism work against it. This is a huge subject, and there is almost never a wrong or right understanding of some ideas/events. The majority of issues have grey area, and it can be difficult to decipher what the best solution is.

Something I really wanted to find out was why feminism was called feminism, and not simply referred to as humanism or equalism. This video (huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/feminism-not-humanism-youtube) explained that it is called feminism because it is females that are the subjects of the inequality. Much like the Gay Rights Movement is about bringing the rights of homosexual people up to equal everyone else’s, feminism is about bringing female rights on par with male rights. The vlogger says “You attain gender equality by advocating for the rights of the underprivileged gender.”, which I found much more reasonable than questioning why you can’t just believe in the equal rights of all humans. Humanism/equalism, in my current opinion, is a way to ‘cover all bases’ of equality movements, meaning you could call yourself a feminist, gay rights supporter, fighter against racism, and overall describe yourself as an equalist.

Week 9 // Intro to the Issue

For a very long time, thanks to the people around me and the odd media I had consumed on the matter, I was under the impression that Feminism was a very aggressive ‘movement’ that women joined to spread their disapproval of men. Descriptions of unshaven women angrily waving signs and planning on  destroying all men reached my ears, and despite not quite believing these rumors, I couldn’t help but feel dubious whenever the word ‘feminist’ was mentioned. That was until I actually talked to and met a feminist, who was in fact one of my good high school friends.
Feminism is, for all intents and purposes, the movement against sexism. It is the belief that every single person should be treated equally and fairly regardless of their sex, and that one’s biology should not influence the way that they are treated.

After Googling the definition of feminism and sexism, the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary told me that Sexism is “prejudice or discrimination based on sex”, and the Feminism is “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes”. Fairly simple and straightforward to understand, yet so many people smirk or roll their eyes when they hear the word ‘feminist’. I was further educated by a speech my friend gave at Te Whare Pora, explaining her understanding of sexism and sex equality, and what it means to her to be a feminist. She talks about how she sees ‘gender’ as a social construct, and she questions why we have it, not as a rhetorical question but legitimately. She struggles to see why we should label ourselves as something, when we can just accept who we are, and who everyone else wants to be.

To explore this issue further, and to attempt to understand it as a movement, I will consider Mirzoeff’s understanding of what it is to be a citizen in this global era. He says that “For many artists, academics and others who see themselves as visual activists, visual culture is a way to create forms of change.” (289), something I feel is incredibly important to consider in the world we live in today, which is heavily saturated in visual media. This is because “Today we can actively use visual culture to create new self-images, new ways to be seen, and new ways to see the world.” (Mirzoeff, 297). Using this idea, it is clear to see that visual activism will be incredibly important when considering how to tackle sexism as a global issue. Everyone can interpret visual messages, and everyone knows what sexism is, therefore the message can be relayed to so many people through visual activism.

For example, this mobile billboard created by the ‘Guerrilla Girls’ is highlighting the fact

Guerrilla Girls, Boston Mobile Billboard Project

that it is strange that an art museum would have so many pieces involving naked women, and yet a tiny amount of female artists. This questioning and almost comical approach to the issue is created solely through this visual piece, made even more effective due to it’s availability online on their website. Like Mirzoeff mentioned, this visual piece is creating a new way to see the world, which is to see how strange and unfair it is to not include female artists in an art museum dominated by artworks including naked females.

REFERENCES

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.

Nicholas, Mirzoeff. “How to see Yourself.” How to See the World. London: Pelican, 2015. 31-69. Print.

“Stella Bogdanoff – Young Woman Artist. Feminist.” SoundCloud. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.

“PROJECTS.” Guerrilla Girls. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2016.

A2 Component B My Best Blog Posts 2016

Can’t seem to find Component B posts? Fair enough, this blog is a mess. So I have cut out all the needless searching, and linked all of the posts right here! Yay!

1. Mind-map

2. a. Best posts ONE and TWO

   b. Week 7: Task 2 Paragraph

3. Reflection on learning

4. Tool–kit 

Mind Map (Updated)

Tool Kit

Planning and Preparation

 

• Gathering information from various sources
• Thinking of various different approaches
• Fleshing out ideas through discussion and sharing

Writing Skills

• Building paragraphs/essays from ideas through structure
• Working through different ideas by writing a lot more than just one kind of paragraph
• Making use of new vocabulary and definitions to better explain my concepts/ideas

 

Content and Visual Text Analysis Tools

• Making use of critical thinking to effectively analyse an image and break it down
• Looking at the context that the text is in, and using that information to further my knowledge on a related topic
• Recognising different techniques used in the creation of an image that denote and connote different messages

 

Research and Information Gathering Tools and Protocols

• Gaining a better understanding of how and why MLA is used
• Being able to find better sources for my information
• Always being aware that I need to know where my information is coming from and whether it’s a reliable source

Week 7 // Task 4

My essay will focus on the shift of identity in art, going from the artist being a hero until gradually becoming the people are now the heroes. Within this, I will explore how different artists, such as Marcel Duchamp, Diane Arbus, and Brandon Stanton, show identity and self through their work. I will also highlight the differences between their work, and how identity has shifted through it. I will use this information, that of Mirzoeff’s How to See the World, and Brandon Stanton’s On How I Approach Strangers in the Street presentation to help explain my discussion. Through these artists and authors, I will discuss how the artist’s idea of identity in their work has shifted through time to arrive here and now in the present day.

Reflection

This paragraph could quite possibly influence my introduction and perhaps my conclusion, but I am yet to be sure of such a thing.

Week 7 // Task 3

The understanding of ‘self’ has shifted from the artist as a hero, to the subject is the hero.

This statement is important, because it captures the entire concept of the representation of identity shifting from focusing on oneself, to looking at other people’s selves.

I will compare the two following images as both represent very similar messages but very different representations of identity.

RROSE SELAVY (Alias Marcel Duchamp). 1021. Photograph by Man Ray.

A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street, N.Y.C , 1966

The first image is Marcel Duchamp’s Rrose Selavy, an alias he created for himself that he used to build on the idea that anybody can be who they want, and that your gender, identity even, is quite simply a performance and there’s nothing to stop you from being who you want to be.
However, in Diane Arbus’ image of this man in curlers, she is not using herself as the subject. She is taking another person who actually is expressing himself as who he wants to be. Similar message, but instead of using herself, Arbus uses someone who is experiencing the real thing, as to reveal the inner uniqeness of his being.
The main difference between these two images, is that Arbus is focusing her understanding of identity on real people, instead of creating a message by making herself the subject. There is a more tangible ‘realness’ to her work as opposed to Duchamp’s.

I feel that this subject is also something Mirzoeff directly references, saying “The modern period, defined by its heroic artists, radical political divides and the dramatic expansion of the industrial economy, seemed to be over.” (48). He understands that the understanding of self and identity was shifting slowly from focusing on the artist, to focusing on the people around the artists.

Another source I might reference is the A Photographic Truth video, which talks about how photography in itself is “…inherently, not truthful.”, which could imply that any portrait photograph is not telling the truth, and thus any identity that is shown to us is distorted by what different people see. This is because everyone interprets images in a different way, therefore it is near impossible to determine what messages will be sent through each photograph.

Another viewpoint is that in modern times, we the people can both be the artist and the subject, thanks to the concept of the selfie. This is seen in the video Selfies – a Visual Analysis. The speaker talks about ‘self’ now being a fluid concept, adn that each moment captured is not a ‘real’ moment, it’s a staged expression and moment for the sake of sharing the self you want people to see.

Resources

TEDxTalks. “Selfies – a Visual Analysis: Elizabeth Urbanski at TEDxNavesink.” YouTube. YouTube, 2013. Web. 10 May 2016.

Metmuseum. “A Photographic Truth.” YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web. 08 May 2016.

Nicholas, Mirzoeff. “How to see Yourself.” How to See the World. London: Pelican, 2015. 31-69. Print.

Week 7 // Task 2

When a visual text is created, there are multiple messages being created along with it. The artist has a certain demographic in mind when creating their work, and so they include details that will denote specific information, which in turn will imply messages that will be directly understood by the intended audience. Such things can reinforce views people already hold, for example there could be an advertisement for a gym with an image of a physically fit and attractive woman. The image, although seems fairly normal, also sends the message that it is important for people, especially women, to maintain an ‘attractive body’ by going to the gym. This is a common world view, that you are more attractive when you are thinner and more well built, and thus more likable. This world view is in turn a part of the greater ideology that being physically healthy and fit are positive, and people should strive for it.
All of these understandings and messages are being sent through one single advert for a gym. Add this to the various other images we see every day on the street or the internet, and you can begin to understand how certain ideologies and world views can be reinforced every day simply by being viewed by people, thus ‘normalising’ said ideologies.

Reflection

These ideas may just influence the way I interact with my own, and other peoples’, work as an artist or designer, because it is something I will have to keep in mind when thinking about an image’s purpose. When I create a piece, I will need to consider what messages my work is sending, and in contrast I will now take every image I see with a grain of salt, questioning what its actual messages and purpose are.

Wk 6 Reflection on Learning

The most interesting thing in this paper has been discussing the various different ways of interpreting and ‘seeing’ the visual world around us, and the messages being relayed to us as the general public. Along with this, engaging with other students’ ideas and opinions has been fascinating.

Most of the content, resources and tasks have been in some way helpful, but in saying that I don’t think I made use of very many of our resources/readings, because I had so much of this information but no direction or ideas to apply it to. Some of it was a little repetitive, but that probably made the key ideas and themes really pop into my head. I guess it was just good to have something there that I knew I could use if I needed it.

What didn’t work so well I think was how the blog tasks were used. I have found that I haven’t actually used a lot of the content I have posted, because the way I structure my thoughts and ideas for an essay relies more heavily on me just writing it down. Writing a whole bunch of separate posts with different ideas and tasks kind of makes me feel a bit overwhelmed with all of the various content and ideas rushing around. I think I might have been better off getting a very clear idea of what points I wanted to make and then fleshing it all out by focusing each post on what I want to know, as opposed to what I might want to know.

If I’m being perfectly honest, I don’t think I put in as much effort into this paper as I could of, not because it was difficult, but because it wasn’t as engaging as other tasks I have done. Assessment 2 has just been another ‘thing to do’, and so I just tried to get the work done, and didn’t focus so much on pushing everything to its best.
This assessment has certainly showed me a different way to look at visual culture, but I don’t think I have gained such an insight that I could incorporate it into my work throughout my entire course. The skills used in this paper have not been much different from any that I have used in my classes in Level 3 Media Studies.

Overall, I don’t believe that I have a new appreciation for papers like this, but I do understand it’s relevance. However, I don’t feel that I have discovered or learned much information that will help me after this paper is over, at least not in other papers in my course. I am just more aware that the visual world we live in is very complex and there is  much more than just the images we see. Perhaps it will help me recognise things I haven’t recognised before now, but only time will tell.

Week 6 // Task 1

• Identity in art
• Self expression art
• Historical identity
• Modern portraiture
• Artists and expression

Can Art Change the Future for Racial and Ethnic Identity? A Roundtable Conversation

Who am I — identity, race, science & art | Bart Vargas | TEDxOmaha

Gender and power, identity and history | Maria Perstedt | TEDxUmeå

Friday Morning Lecture & Tour Series | Modern and Contemporary American Portraiture

Creativity and Art Expression