Date of Award
2005
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts Honours
School
School of Communications and Arts
Faculty
Faculty of Communications and Creative Industries
First Supervisor
Nicola Kaye
Abstract
The position being explored within this dissertation is that feminism has been deemed 'passe' within contemporary western popular culture. The research wishes to counteract this overriding negative impression of feminism, which extends through from popular culture, into the institutions of academia, and beyond, into the gallery context. Female artists are often subjected to gender based readings of their artwork such as 'feminine' or 'feminist', which serve as a way of dismissing the importance of their work. Labelling work feminine involves similar implications as work labelled feminist - both can be seen as negative, which in turn can render the work of women artists ineffectual. I would suggest that the unpopular position of feminism places not only feminist, but female arts practitioners in a position of having little market value, and consequently affects the showing of those works. The dissertation will explore these notions, and will look at ways of 're-visiting' the site of feminism through multi-valent and subversive practices in order to address and possibly reinvigorate its position within a contemporary western context.
Recommended Citation
Zeligman, B. (2005). The Unpopular Practice: Being Feminist in an Anti-Feminist Age. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/1387