If men are from mars and women are from venus, who is from earth?

Frida Kahlo

Last Weekend I was at a bar with a friend, chatting about school, finding a job, and general small talk. A very VERY drunk girl came in telling everyone who would listen about her recently failed romance. She sat next to me and tried to drunkenly flirt, but I'm not the kind of guy who likes loud obnoxious women who tell complete strangers intimate secrets (maybe I'm alone here?!?). In any case, my friend gave her the attention she craved and the conversation turned into the persecution of women in the workplace. She still persisted in getting me to talk to her and finally I did because she said something that interested me. Here is our conversation as well as I can remember:

Her: ...so that's why I'm a conservative feminist. What do you think about women getting paid less for the same job as a man Peter?

Me: I fully agree that it is not right, I believe in equality for all races and gender... by the way, what is a conservative feminist?

Her: Well, I think women deserve more rights...(long pause) but I don't want to rock the boat too much because I like my job and I don't want to scare away any potential boyfriends.

Me: Well, based on what little historical knowledge I have about women throughout history in different cultures, it would seem to me calling yourself a feminist should be an all or nothing ordeal. I mean of all the people oppressed in history, The African slaves, the Jewish people, the Irish, etc... Women in general have been held back longer when it comes to overcome simple obstacles.I mean women suffrage, hello? Don't you think being a conservative feminist is one of the last things you would want to do?

Her:(long pause) You don't understand because your just a man...

Mary Cassatt

She had me there. I could describe the racism I faced as a Hispanic in the United States, the stereotypes I face as a male (Yes we do face stereotypes), even the judgments of my lifestyle due to being an artist (mainly being broke but pursuing an art degree over a business degree) but I could not fully understand what it is to be a woman.

Artemisia Gentileschi

This led me to thinking about a 20th century class I had last semester where an extensive topic was the role that women played in the fine arts world. That role was minimal to say the least. If a female artist such as Lee Krasner or Frida Kahlo were married to a male artist (Jackson Pollock and Diego Rivera respectively), they were always seen as secondary to that artist regardless of their own artistic endeavors. This places the female artist on the bottom of importance, at least according to art historians. In the 20th century many female artist during the sixties and seventies began rebelling against this sexist attitude. Artist such as Judy Chicago began a feminist art movement that began changing the art world as we know it today.

 

Another movement began the mid 1980's by a group called the "Guerrilla Girls." This group had clever sayings such as "Do women have to be naked to get into museums?"  They also had a list of reasons that claimed advantageous to being a female artist:

Working without pressure of success

Not having to be in shows with men

Having an escape from your day job in your 4 free-lance jobs

Knowing your career might pick up after your eighty

Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine

Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position

Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others

Having the opportunity to choose between motherhood and a career

Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger

Being included in revised art history books

Not having to endure the embarrassment of being labeled a genius

Getting your pictures in art magazines and wearing a gorilla suit


The group consisted of anonymous members who wore gorilla suits and is still active today.

Alice Neel, One of my favorite artists

So where does this place me, the male heterosexual artist. Why do I care about the plight of women in the art world? Well for one thing, being Mexican in the United states allows me to empathize with people who have faced discrimination and persecution based on prejudice and stereotypes. I am a firm believer in equality and freedom for all. Secondly, all these history books that I have bought or read shed little light on female artists and the few that do have shown me one thing; good art is good art.

I am sincerely annoyed that a discrimination in the fine arts world has deprived me of great works of art due to a difference in genitalia. As an art lover, WHO CARES! I just want to see great art being produced or that has been produced and sadly forgotten. The modern atmosphere is changing due to the feminist movement in the sixties and seventies and I for one am glad. Yet there is still an undercurrent of sexism in the art world and so to those female artists who make great works, do not be a "conservative" female artist, don't even worry about being labeled a female artist, just make the art that you like. I personally judge you by your work, not your gender and everyone else will have to catch up.