Feminist Artwork

"Jailed by Housewifery"

This piece of artwork is supposed to illustrate the feeling of enclosure and oppression that some women may feel, and how many have felt throughout history, fulfilling the role of wife and mother. These are women who are not given the oppurtunity to have a life outside the home and being a wife is their sole identity. Although on the surface they are content, for this woman, it is simply a façade. On the inside, the yearns for her own identity and significance in the world, besides that of a homemaker.

Do men like women who look like 'housewives'?

             The other day, a friend told me that I looked like a perfect housewife. Well, she was not aware of my feminist ideas and was confused by the shocked look on my face when she made this observation. However, it got me thinking about looking like society's idea of a 'housewife'. Although a wife can take any form, I believe that society's idea of a housewife is somewhat akin to the perfect 1950s homemaker who wears high heels while she scrubs the inside of the refridgerator. And, are men more attracted to this ideal? Even further, are they more attracted to women who look like housewives than they are to women who look like 'working women'?
               Of course, it will depend on the person. However, men may tend to be more attracted to a woman who looks like a housewife because 'she' (not necessarily that woman, but the woman she embodies through her clothes) will provide him with a beautified, clean, perfect home with a white picketed fence; this vision is ideal and gives the man the security that he has filled out society's idea of a perfect lifestyle. I found a few items of clothing that reminded me of 1950s housewives while browsing online...

            While these outfits are no doubt stylish and refined, they do look like an outfit that a 1950s housewife would select from her closet before an early morning run to the grocery store. I do not know whether a typical man would be more attracted to a woman who looked like she stepped out of the 1950sbecause of the security that ideal provides, but it makes sense to me.

 

Twilight- a saga plagued by anti-feminism?

        In theaters I recently saw a trailer for the next film in the twilight series and it got me thinking; the roles in the past three installments of the films portray Bella, the main character, as the protected 'object' of Edward, a vampire, and Jacob, a werewolf.

a.  b.

         These installments have portrayed Edward and Jacob as the protectors of Bella, and they fight over her; this concept worn down to basic terms is relatively primitive- two men fighting over what they seem to see as their 'possession'. Both Edward and Jacob are more powerful than Bella due to their supernatural traits. Bella is portrayed as quiet and curious, but once her life becomes intertwined with the lives of Edward and Jacob, she almost becomes dependent on them for her survival. In other words, she needs them to care for her. In photo (a), Bella is protected by Jacob, and in photo (b), Edward has his hand around her arm and is acting as a protector. The only way that Bella becomes powerful is because Edward bites her and makes her immortal and strong, she does not and cannot achieve this level of strenght independently. Also, Edward and Jacob both save her life on multiple occassions, but never, I'm pretty sure, does she come to their rescue.

            However, this story could have another side to it. Edward helps Bella become stronger in the last installment (not without Edward, of course), so he does empower her. When Bella wants to become a vampire so she will be the same as Edward, he tells her that he would care for no matter her form, so he is not trying to fundementally change who she is. But which is it- empowerment/acceptance of who she is or Bella as the simple object of Edward and Jacob?

       

Wisk ad- How much have women's roles really changed?

The other day I was watching television and I came across an ad for a popular laudry detergent, Wisk. The commercial portrays four different time periods; the 50s (when Wisk started out), the 60s/70s, the 80s, and the current.

A woman with a laundry basket in a house walks into one room and then into the next, and she transforms into another mother in a different time period (each room is a different time period). In the transfer between the last two time periods, the woman hands the laundry basket to her daughter who 'takes' it into the present. The ad claims that "The detergent your mother trusted to fight tough stains introduces its next breakthrough in cleaning".

This ad illustrates the clear roles that women have had throughout history and in recent times. If anything it stresses the fact that these roles have barely changed. The woman is portrayed in a home throughout each scene, continuing the role of homemaker throughout the time periods. There are absolutely no men in the ad, refering exclusively to 'mothers'. Showing these ads, along with many other ads of the same kind, ingrain in our society these roles. When children see these ads throughout their childhood they may end up thinking that these are the way things are supposed to be and always will be; another reason to question it and challenge these roles. But the fact that this ad even exists begs the question: how much have women's roles really changed in the minds of society?