Femininity
This Project explored Femininity and questions how the media and social norms define the female gender. This topic was heavily influenced by Sayaka Maruyama, who explored the ways in which the West and East portray gender roles in society. I find these social norms and expectations for both females and males to be suffocating. These traditional ideologies mainly stifle an individual’s voice; as a girl I constantly feel fulfilled to meet these expectations of what to wear, how to speak - the sole purpose of a woman in a patriarchal society is to simply look pretty and fulfil the needs of others. I don’t think it is as bad in the West, because I have had the privilege to grow up in a society to speak freely and apply for the jobs that I want, however there are still major problems in the West and I believe that these problems stem from education and the way the media portrays women. I don’t believe that female empowerment comes from taking your clothes or singing songs about men, I believe that the solution to female empowerment is through words and art! Yes, being naked and sexy and exposing parts of your body with specially cut clothing can feel very liberating, but I never feel empowered, I feel way more empowered as a woman when I use my words to engage somebody and when I use my art-work to make people question whether this so called civilization is normal.
Sketchbook Work
