Sugar and spice and everything nice.... Many parents are delighted to find out they are expecting a baby girl and can't wait to declare their great news - It's a Girl! Many other parents are proud to announce they are expecting a boy that is made of Snips and snails and puppy-dogs' tails. Imagery is immediately altered for the rest of that child's life once the gender is declared. Expectations begin to form a lifetime of social liberties and constraints for both girls and for boys.
This is such an important pinnacle of delivering a baby that many couples have not only found out the gender of the child with the technology of ultrasounds but have made their announcements public with Gender Reveal parties. Guess how they reveal the gender? Yes...with colors of pink or blue that represent the color of gender. The colors themselves have not always defined gender, in the 1800's colors for babies were opposite and boys were associated with pink and girls were associated with blue. Marketing and department stores have set the color of gender trends more than any social or psychological preference. The main difference is that the colors are very different and set tones for feminine and masculine influences in our society that are supposed to represent softness versus strength. The colors lay a groundwork and if a baby is wearing pink it makes it easier for people to compliment the cuteness of him or her since most babies have similarities of baldness and small facial features.
When babies grow up and become artists is their work as easy to identify gender through colors used? Of course not. So why would society recognize men's art as more valuable? The answer is not as easy as looking at differences based on masculine or feminine art as there are varying levels of work by each artist. One could argue that Gentileschi's portrayal of "Judith Slaying Holofernes" was much stronger than Caravaggio's portrayal. We can all read about very strong women in our history and would not necessarily think of them as fragile or soft tones of pink. Artists have been perceived as male dominant the same as Chefs, Physicians, Politicians and many other occupations of prestigious status in our society. Strong careers that offer protection like police officers, firefighters and military have also been associated as male careers. Do we still have residual bias when it comes to women in traditional male careers or is our society an equal playing field? Our laws have changed and we now have women running for the highest office of the land as well as meeting and performing all physically demanding positions that were previously reserved for men only. We have entered into the male dominant military schools and are teaching in Universities everywhere. So what more do women want? Why would we still be talking about promoting women artists? Does society still have expectations of people based on their gender? Being in the same workplace is not enough for women...we want to be paid equally to our male counterparts as well as treated with respect and value. This cannot be done overnight by laws or regulations, but instead must be through social awareness and self-awareness of women's true value. Men must also learn their true value and can only become aware of their multi-facet worth through women's recognition of value. Both genders must break down the social constraints that are enforced from that first announcement of their gender and developed through life by social expectations.
At nine years old my mom stopped me while I was walking by her and asked me what that lump in my throat was and I remember telling her it was my Adam's Apple. After my mom chuckled she explained that girls don't have Adams Apples - and that was the first time I was aware that the differences between my brothers and I would have implications. I did not only learn that I had a thyroid tumor but that my early physical development distinguished my emotional response to the surgery. While at the hospital I remember lying on the surgical table under a large bright light with many medical people surrounding me and preparing me for surgery. I remember the coldness of the room and I remember feeling very upset when they lowered the sheet covering my chest to prepare markings on my neck and in that moment I became embarrassed and acutely aware that my small but developing breasts were exposed. I remember being groggy and trying to pull the sheet over my chest but too weak to fight the hands that pulled the sheet down. Vulnerability is a trait that is very human and not based on gender but is expected by society to be expressed differently by women and men in the American culture.
Vulnerability and emotion are often expressed through tears. I was around seven years old and my six year old brother, Keith, had been punched by a neighbor and called a Sissy because he cried after being hit. I witnessed our dad taking Keith in the backyard and slapping him in the face and chest in an aggravating way to make him cry and then he yelled at him over and over to get him to get mad and fight back instead of crying. This made me really sad because Keith and I were very close and I liked the gentler side of Keith. Equally troublesome was when I went to my mom and asked her if I could keep a stray kitten that came into our upstairs flat. She told me I had to get my dad's permission and that I needed to ask him by crying and pleading with tears so that he will feel bad for me and let me keep the kitten. I was confused by the double standards between my brother and me. My father taught my brother not to cry so that he would be strong and my mom taught me to use crying to get something I wanted. This was not fair to my brother or to me but did give both of us a message of gender expectations. There were many gender revelations and constructs throughout my childhood that I did not always understand, but they were influential and were to become standards that I would need to accept or challenge for the rest of my life.
If our families lay down the foundation for our gender roles then society is the architect that builds on that foundation. Many of the differences between gender roles were built into my education, military service, jobs, and through social marketing. I remember how upset I was when I met with my school guidance counselor in high school after I scored poorly on my SAT. His words were to "take typing so that you can at least have a secure career for your future because you are not going to college." My brothers also did poor in high school and I am pretty sure they were not advised the same. Then there was my military experiences. At my first duty station I was a non-designated striker (meaning I had not been designated for a rating or field) and had to choose a rate. When I discussed possibly becoming a Signalman with an officer I was told not to pursue it because "you will break your nails." I did not even have nails and never wore fingernail polish! The same officers that made comments like that also told me that I could afford to lose a little weight. I weighed 120 pounds and 5'2" tall. They were very comfortable telling me what they thought about women in the military and went as far as to tell me that they did not believe that women would ever be in combat or on combat ships. This was in the 1980's and I took all of their words quite literally not because they were officers but because they were men. My grandmother always said that it was a "man's world and there's nothing we can do about it." Ironically, both the officers and my grandmother were wrong. Nothing ever stays the same forever and women's roles are definitely evolving.
There are many other examples of gender bias that are becoming more challenged today with women's voices and movements. Women's voices are not only revolutionizing our roles but also liberating men's roles. When we demonstrate strength with our confidence we enable men to embrace their feminine side and bring acceptance and value to our unique identities rather than expected roles based on our gender. Freedom to express our true selves creates appreciation of diverse and unique individuals and we can celebrate humanity and cultivate a better society with all spectrums of colors outside of pink and blue.
So when people ask if FemArt is a Feminist organization or if we hate men...our answer is "It's a FemArt"! Gray and Aqua is our Reveal colors...we are best defined by our unique artistry and vital voices that exemplify our true selves. We look forward to a future "Reveal" show that will allow artists to create art that is not defined by the gender of the artist but by the worth of the voice expressed in the art.
Kimberly Miller
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