Thesis Outline - Due Jan 18
As a female artist working with body imagery, the conversation is inevitably a feminist one. The history of photography is rich with women exploring the mode of representation when it comes to the female mind, and more often, the female body. These women have a desire to know themselves, know their bodies, and in turn, have focused their camera on any and every part of themselves. Artists like Wilke, Schneemann, and Sheerman had a hand in creating this body-talk dialogue. They have gone as far as to put themselves through painful, and sometimes disgusting experiments. Their works serve as reflection of the dominant sexual dogma laid by the white, western heterosexual male which supports the concept that being seen is the epitome of female sexuality. This trend of female artists working with female bodies has become a genre all of its own. It has allowed women to speak of their own unique sexual nature. Beyond the fine art context, women have begun to create pornographic genres that explore a new erotic languages. But in this new genre of “feminist pornography”, and the “cyber-feminist” media artists, as with the older tradition of the artist's body as canvas, these woman are not turning the camera to the object of their desire : the male body. In the context of sexually, do we really receive our gratification and sexual understanding from looking at ourselves, and knowing were being seen by others, or is this because this is how we have been taught to understand our sexuality? Through this institutionalized male gaze? Is there any aspect of heterosexual female that derives sexual pleasure from looking at, or being shown the male body? What I aim to discuss here is the gap in the heterosexual erotic image of the female’s object of desire: the male body. After generations of female artists working with the nude, with sexual identity, arousal, and desire, no solid, lasting image of the picturesque sensual male has been created in or by the heterosexual community. We have the iconic image of the gladiator, the lumberjack, and the firemen, but these are not very relevant sexual motifs in 2016. In comparison to the development of the queer and gay movements, the level of diversity and richness of subgenres within heterosexual erotics is narrow and dominated by a weak range of familiar fantasy. As the queer movement, founded on sexual freedom and individuality is carving out an unlimited variety of sexual niche, fetish, and genre, the heterosexual erotic has remain stale and controlled by the old guise of traditional, male gaze. The male gaze has been defined as : men look at women, and women watch themselves being looked at. This was defined as a cinematic method, but this is largely the hetersexual erotic exchange.
The more traditional an area, the less defined it is. Where as most people never consider their position within this “norm” of heterosexuality, so there has been no self reflection on this tradition. It has been defined for us by the mainstream, and so we accept that is who we are, and we do not question if there is more or less. We might question our preference for men or women, I suspect most stop there. We’re told it is the feminine that wants to be looked at, to be submissive, and dominated. And so it has become a submissive, degrading act to be seen, to be erotically looked upon. But with this “low” connotation, the gay community has still been able to create diverse erotica of men looking, and being watched. In a comparative essay on gay vs straight porn, Tom Waugh noted : “Specific sexual practices as depicted in a given image do not necessarily coincide with relations of exploitation or domination, nor with any other power relation. A man or woman portrayed as getting fucked cannot automatically be seen as victim. Gay porn in particular, and of course gay sexuality in general, undermine the widespread assumption in the porn debate that penetration in itself is an act of political oppression”(Waugh). With this leveling of powers between the dominator and the dominated, I wonder if the heterosexual community can incorporate the principles defined by the gay and queer community in regard to erotic relations and in representation. With in the act of simply looking, can the heterosexual male refuse the idea that to submit yourself to another person, must be considered a weak act? Why does sexual objectification have to be degrading? Is there room for an erotic female gaze, to sexualize and devourer the male body? The work I am aiming to create is a female gaze onto my own object of desire, along with a dialogue with my object about their own limitations in regard to sexual expression, fetish, body image, partnership communication as a result of past experience, pornography, and the myth of submission. I want to discuss the appeal of submission and of being seen, and how the lack of hetero-male presentation has affected sexual relationships and sexual culture within the heterosexual male and female. I will use the diversity of the queer community and gay male porn as a outline for the possibilities for exploring desire, beauty, and sexy anxiety. Primary Sources: The Feminist Porn Book : Taormino, Shimizu, Penley, Miller-Young Art & Obscenity : Kerstin Mey The Artist's Body : Amelia Jones
Secondary Sources: Men’s Pornography: Gay vs Straight, Thom Waugh Slutever.com
Art Obscenity Kerstin mey
Frida Kahlo Camille claudel Sophie Calle
http://www.liberalamerica.org/2014/10/20/42-frida-kahlo-quotes-you-need-to-read-today/