One step Forward, Five Steps Back

So on the theme of feminism and what not, I'll present one of my favorite bands who also happen to be feminists. Their name is Le Tigre, and the song I'll share is called FYR, it comes from the album "Feminist Sweepstakes". I guess they're a continuation of the Riot Grrl movement, nevertheless, here are the lyrics, and the video's below.

"Ten short years of progressive change, fifty fucking years of calling us names. Can we trade title nine for an end to hate crime? RU-486 if we suck your fucking dick? One step forward, five steps back. One cool record in the year of rock-rap. Yeah we got all the power getting stabbed in the shower and we got equal rights on ladies night. Feminists we're calling you. Please report to the front desk. Let's name this phenomenon. It's too dumb to bring us down. F.Y.R. Fifty years of ridicule. F.Y.R. take another picture. . . . . Mrs. Doubtfire on mother's day. On-the-job stalker for equal pay. Toss us a few new AIDS drugs as national healthcare bites the dust. While you were on vacation black people didn't get reparations. You know these days no one's exploited. Sorry dude can't hear ya with my head in the toilet. Feminists we're calling you. Please report to the front desk. Let's name this phenomenon. It's too dumb to bring us down. F.Y.R. Fifty years of ridicule. F.Y.R. take another picture. . . . . . You've really come a long way baby. It's you, not the world, that's totally crazy. Cuz we really rocked the fuckin vote with election fraud in poor zip codes. Celebrate gay marriage in Vermont by enforcing those old sodomy laws. One step foreward five steps back. We tell the truth they turn up the laugh track. Feminists we're calling you. Please report to the front desk. Let's name this phenomenon. It's too dumb to bring us down."

Womanhouse and The Feminist Art Program

Ok here we are, there are five articles so we'll divide this up into five sections.

The Education of Women as Artists: Project Womanhouse

• since when does one need to be educated to be an artist, maybe I should read more.
• interesting how in Womanhouse, rather than becoming disillusioned with the formal idea of a woman's role in the house, the students embraced it as a common thought, and at the same time revolutionized it.
• So what started as a place of study and struggle turned into an art exhibit that signifies the triumphs and troubles of women. Literally a "Womanhouse".

The First Feminist Art Program: A View from the 1980s

• Again, I don't believe in ideology before art, the opposite seems to be more fitting for me.
• "We knew we had to take a hard look at who we were--and when we're in the society of men, we're generally prohibited from doing that. We're permitted to see ourselves as men want us to see ourselves but not as we really are." --kind of makes a lot of sense I suppose, I find it tragic how some women's lives are governed by the other sex's opinions.
• "I concluded that in the visual arts the necessary first step is to be able to see women's work as work by women." I don't agree with this, I believe that a woman artist should never strive to be a woman artist, but strive to be an artist that happens to be a woman, and be regarded on the same level as any other artist.

Every other remaining article:

• The rest of the readings are all related to Womanhouse, the Feminist Art Program, and Judy Chicago; now I do understand that the entire feminist movement is an answer to the misogynist train of thought, but I again do not believe in women making art simply for the sake of showing that they are women through the art.
• Womanhouse and Ablutions are genius. Finally something that lets everyone know about the entire experience of being a woman, and mostly the things that one would not think about. The bathrooms, the bathtubs, they all speak out to anyone who listen, on a level that simply cannot be expressed by mere words.

In conclusion, while the minds behind these exhibits and programs are brilliant minds, I respectfully disagree with their general idea. I just like to think that I don't believe in gender, for anything. But these women are placing their gender in front of their artwork, which I ultimately cannot accept.

Hello.

So this is my ILS 275 sketchbook blog, where I'll mostly comment on class readings and what not, but also on random things that I find are related to the class. Enjoy!