Judy Chicago's Is Female To Male As Nature Is To Culture

Gail Collins, the first female editorial page editor of the New York Times, outlines the history of women in her book America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. tells the narrative of women's history with minimal bias and with language that is accessible and in a familiar tone. On the other side of the spectrum lies Angela Y. Davis. Greatly involved with the civil rights movement, Davis was a Black Panther Party and well as the communist party. The active nature of Davis causes her writing to be extremely bias.

In the bibliography “Breaking Tradition”, by Kathleen Ernst, the author portrays the changing roles of women during the Civil War and World War II in a variety of methods. These include diction, imagery, and historical facts. By using these methods, Ernst is able to effectively support her claim that women’s roles in society had changed during the Civil War and during World War II.

She motivated the artists that participated in the Feminist Art Movement (“Georgia O’Keeffe,” n.d.). Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro were some innovators who saw Georgia’s opposing meanings (“Georgia O’Keeffe,”

After studying women and gender history in early America for the past semester, my views about American history have changed tremendously. Having very little prior experience with history, I had many assumptions and preconceived notions from high school history classes. Women were never even mentioned in my previous learning about U.S. history, so I assumed they took on unimportant roles and had little, if any, impact on shaping our country’s history. However, after this semester of delving deeply into the women of early America, I could not have been more incorrect. Although they were not typically in the public realm, we cannot fully understand history without studying women. The following readings uncovered the roles of women in the private sphere and were crucial to my new understanding of the importance of women in American history by bringing women to the forefront.

The 1960s and 1970s typified a period when women not only fought for equality in the United States, but they also began to materialize within the changing trends of historiography. Prior to this, women had often been obscured in history and merited little consideration or focus. Historian Karen Sayer addressed the developing period as one where there was a “paradigm shift, one in which historians began to argue that the experience of the economically powerless and politically inarticulate was important. At the same time, women began to explore their own marginalized position, and women’s history emerged as they made shift to look to the past.”

Feminism is a prominent controversy in present times and is relevant through literary works. In the article, “Throwing like a Girl,” James Fallows analyzes that saying exactly for what it means in our society, and more importantly if there’s any truth to the stereotype. In the article, “Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich shows how feminist historians, by challenging traditional accounts of both men's and women's histories, have prompted more vibrant accounts of the past. While Fallows analyzes the styles of throwing to identify a possible theory of the stereotypical saying, “throwing like a girl,” Ulrich discusses and encourages women to be strong and accomplish their goals, by using her phrase “well behaved women seldom make history.”

In the earlier year’s women suffered a lot when it came down to their own voice. In the eyes of society, women were considered useless and would generally be taken for granted based on their sexual appeal. For year’s women lacked the right to vote and were paid considerably less than men for the same work. As time progressed women were on the rise against society to make themselves heard. Despite all the consequences, there are a few women notable for their contributions to the society we cherish today. Julia Harding is one woman in particular who opened The Century Club to create an organized center for work strictly for women. Julia was able to surpass the idealism men brought upon them and is just one of many women. There were various roles of Women in Pittsburgh History such as the social setting of The Century Club, the occupation of Molly Yard and the movement created by Daisy Lampkin’s that changed the acceptance of women.

Terror and mockery come together in the portraits of Cindy Sherman on display at the Crocker Art Museum. Walking into the large, dimly lit ballroom, one may begin to feel a slight sense of trepidation as the viewer looks around to find nine sets of beady eyes watching one’s every move. Sherman produced her History Portraits during the late eighties and early nineties, nine of which are displayed at the museum. In her portraits she uses lush fabrics, lavish jewelry, and false body parts to decorate herself in these self-portraits. Her portraits have been know to cause discomfort in the viewers who find the general stereotypes, depicted in her portraits, amusing, yet confusing and terrorizing.

Modernity and the Spaces of Femininity was written by Griselda Pollock in 1988, and later published in The Expanding Disclosure in 1992. Griselda Pollock is an art historian, and writes this article for fellow art historians. This is an article written to show the different approaches to femininity in the late 19th century, mainly dealing with the field of art. This article shows how during this time period there were women artists, but due to the gendered ruled ideas attached to art history, these women are largely ignored by art historians. Pollock thought that these women artists are primarily overlooked due to the fact that they are judged by the same standards that are affixed to the work of their male counterparts. But she argues

In this essay Hills goes into the mindset of artist John Sloan. Sloan wanted his paintings to be different from his political art, and one of that ways that he separates them is by using women as his main subjects. With the aid of Sloan’s dairy Hills gives the reader why he chose to separate his political drawing from his paintings. This essay also goes into details about how women are used in his paintings. The fact that he sees them as people in and of themselves, not just another object to admire; going about their lives like in the painting Three A.M and being more visible then there male counterparts in a painting like that of Turing Out the Light, doing the action and not just being the receiver of it. Hills goes into detail about the

Hoch experience professional obstacles as a result of her sex, “[she] would remember her relationship with Husmann and the Berlin Dadaist only with considerable pain… she considered it ‘torture’ to think about how her high hopes for a fulfilled personal and professional life had been dashed at that time” (Makela, 64). The hypocrite behavior of the Berlin Dadaists men, in regards to women and men equality, had let Hoch to create photomontages of the “new woman” as it was understood by the majority of the men, artworks that represented the woman both as fragmented and pensive; a critical account that meant to awaken the women within Weimer.

The “Rejection Quintet” was finished in the order of “Chicago Rejection Drawing”, “Childhood Rejection Drawing”, ‘Female Rejection Drawing”, “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” and finally “Rejection Breakthrough Drawing”. The series’ exploration begins with the first line of “Chicago Rejection Drawing” which asks “How does it feel to be rejected?”. Chicago describes an exhibition her husband was having her hometown. She explains she felt a little jealous so she was interested when a friend of hers told her about a gallery owner who would possibly be willing to give Chicago a show in her hometown. Ultimately the gallery owner rejected her work and turned her down and Chicago was devastated. The second drawing in the series “Childhood Rejection Drawing” addressed the contradiction between Judy Chicago’s “rhetoric” and art. She calls it a gap and explains that the structure that masks her content stems from her time in graduate school where artists would reject her work that lacked structure. Chicago realized that she could not artistically be herself if she wanted her degree. She goes on to describe the rejection she felt from her father because he disapproved of what she exposed. ‘Female Rejection Drawing” is very profound in it she explains how male culture denies that women have separate experience. She addressed the contradiction between her art and rhetoric and explains that it comes from her attempt to use the male established art language to explain her female experience. She ends this piece with what feels like a call to action she uses anaphora to ask how many people will move forward and appreciate women? “Rejection Fantasy Drawing” describes Chicago’s fear of rejection from her mother and friend after they read her manuscript for a book she continues

     Alice Walker is an African American essayist, novelist and poet. She is described as a “black feminist.”(Ten on Ten) Alice Walker tries to incorporate the concepts of her heritage that are absent into her essays; such things as how women should be independent and find their special talent or art to make their life better. Throughout Walker’s essay entitled “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” I determined there were three factors that aided Walker gain the concepts of her heritage which are through artistic ability, her foremothers and artistic models.

In “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, Alice Walker looks to educate us on the hardships that almost all black women face when trying to express themselves through things such as art. She delves into many sociological and psychological concepts that have affected black women throughout human history. These concepts and ideologies created a realm for mass exclusion, discrimination, and oppression of many African American women, including Alice Walker’s Mother, who Alice utilizes as one of her particular examples. The writing thematically aims to show how these concepts of sexism, racism, and even classism have contributed to black women’s lack of individuality, optimism, and fulfillment for generations. The author does a tremendous job of defending and expanding upon her arguments. She has a credible background, being a black woman that produces the art of literature herself. As well as being raised by one, Walker’s first-hand experience warrants high regard. Therefore, her use of abstract and introspective language is presented clearly and convincingly. Also, her use of evidence and support from sources like Jean Toomer, Virginia Woolf, and Phillis Wheatley, all produce more validity for her stance through poems, quotes, and even experiences. All these individuals have their own accounts pertaining to the oppression of black women and their individuality. Successfully arguing that the artistry plights of black women described in “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” are

     The essay “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens” by contemporary American novelist Alice Walker is one that, like a flashbulb, burns an afterimage in my mind. It is an essay primarily written to inform the reader about the history of African American women in America and how their vibrant, creative spirit managed to survive in a dismal world filled with many oppressive hardships. This piece can be read, understood, and manage to conjure up many emotions within the hearts and minds of just about any audience that reads it. However, Walker targets African American women in today’s society in an effort to make them understand their heritage and appreciate what their mothers and