Everyday Sexism

https://twitter.com/EverydaySexism

This twitter page was set up so that people could share their stories of sexism in everyday life.
The feedback has been both terrifying and enlightening with many people posting photographs of highly offensive advertising that we somehow seem to have become completely desensitised to.

These are a few examples of genuine advertising campaigns, often used by massive corporations:

There has also been a lot of upset cause because of the censorship used by large social media websites like Facebook.
They have images of women breastfeeding but have allowed images and comments such as the following to remain:

Can You Tell The Difference Between a Lads Mag and a Rapist?

http://jezebel.com/5866602/can-you-tell-the-difference-between-a-mens-magazine-and-a-

I found this article absolutely phenomenal. It explains that the majority of people cannot tell the difference between quotes from British 'Lad's Mags' or quotes from convicted rapists.
They have published a list of some of the quotes used within the survey, have a look and see if you can tell the difference.

I certainly couldn't.

What more effective way to shut her “girl-power” nonsense up...

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/theres-nothing-empowering-about-girls-who-expose-themselves-online-look-what-happened-to-tulisa-8462195.html

I read this article, It infuriated me.
I completely agree that being exposed online is both dangerous to yourself and your reputation but the part that really ticked me off was this;

"Remember when Tulisa from The X Factor named herself “The Female Boss” and began striding around in shoulder pads singing about her female strength in a male-dominated world? What more effective way to shut her “girl-power” nonsense up than some grainy mobile phone footage of her with a penis in her mouth."


Firstly, Tulisa and her team went to great lengths to have the video removed, she did not publish it herself. 
Secondly, why does our society seem to think that a woman has to 'give in' to having sex with a man?


Why is a woman not allowed to be as sexual as a man without being perceived as submissive to him?
The only thing Tulisa is actually guilty of is trusting the wrong people.

From the Other Side...

http://jezebel.com/5858717/fun-chrome-extension-genderswaps-the-internet

I downloaded this app to my Google Chrome that swaps the gender of everything that I read on the internet. He becomes She, Queen becomes King, Husband becomes Wife.
It is interesting because it draws your attention to the things that you don't even realise are gendered.
I found that it was most successful on social networking sites or particular articles.

Let Her Earn The Right to be Hit On...

Upon reflecting on 'The Bigger Splash' exhibition I began to realise that what I was interested in was not the differences between men and women, but rather their relationships with each other.
For example, why is it that our society has formed so that women who do not wear makeup in order to attract are strange and unusual (perhaps even lazy), yet men have no compulsion to do the same?
I decided to play with this question and take a series of photographs of my own face, starting bare with no makeup on going up layer by layer to fully made up. I wanted to question why it is that we feel like we have to better ourselves in order to be good enough.

I titled the work, "Let Her Earn The Right to be Hit On", a quotation from 'The Game'.

A Bigger Splash.

Feeling as though I had some interesting theories to look at within my work I felt lost as to how to put that into a physical piece so, I went to the 'A Bigger Splash- Painting after Performance' exhibition at the Tate. Many of the art works present feature the use of the body or face as a medium.

I really liked this piece; "Just Another Story About Leaving" by Urs Lithi because it is clear and evident what he is showing you, yet very simple in its form, which I felt made it quite poetic and clever.

However, The piece that I was most grateful for seeing during the exhibition was Lynn Hershman Leeson's 'Roberta Breitmore'. This is a photograph that she has labeled with everything that she had done to her face in order to make it more attractive.

When looking at this I felt like Lynn Hershman Leeson and I had the same questions to ask. Is there a recipe  for womanhood?

The Game.

After having read texts written by females I went back to the book shop and found 'The Game'. The Game is a novel written by journalist Neil Strauss. It is a novel that follows his journey of transformation from shy and geeky Neil, to confident 'Mystery' with the ability to woo any woman into bed. It is a glimpse into the secret undercover world of the 'pick up artist'. Totally unaware that anyone would even lay claim to that title, let alone the fact that hundreds of these men meet up to attend seminars and swap tips, I was both fascinated and pretty disgusted whilst reading this.

At the back of the book is a glossary of terms, explaining the 'pick up jargon' to those as ignorant as myself, this includes such definitions as:

"PUA; Pickup Artist"
"ASD- (Anti Slut Defense): The maneuvers some women make to avoid taking responsibility for initiating or agreeing to sex; or in order to avoid appearing slutty to the man she is with, to her friends, to society, or to herself. This can occur before or after sex, or it can prevent sex from occurring."
"BF DESTROYER- (boyfriend destroyer): a pattern, routine, or line a pickup artist uses with the intention of seducing a woman who has a boyfriend."
"BUYING TEMPERATURE- the degree to which a woman is ready to make intimate physical contact with a man. unlike attraction, a high buying temperature generally appears and fades quickly. to maintain a woman's level of physical interest over a long period of time, a pickup artist attempts to pump her buying temperature with fast-paced routines."

 During the book occurs many different tactics and 'routines' that the PUA's share and use against women. The book condones and even celebrates the use of lying to bed women and then leave without fulfilling any ill-made promises.

Whilst reading it I found myself empathising with the female characters and I noted down many quotes that I found interesting or inspiring due to the anger it revoked in me.