ists

I feel I should preface this post with the fact that I probably have no idea what I am talking about. A feminist friend of mine who is very much smarter than me, once told me that most people, including many who identify as feminists, ( I assume she meant me) have no clue about what actual feminism is.

So. Feminists.

I have never really been a fan of feminists, or any ist for that matter (ie socialist, racist, fascist, communist, anarchists, rapist, etc,etc,) It seems to me that being a feminist is one of the only ists that average people are ok with other people being. It isn't that I believe women are somehow inferior to men, that would make me either sexist, or chauvinist, two more silly groups of people.

I do however wonder what the role of feminism in art really is, I will say that in my experience, feminists can be exceptionally hard to work with. Story number one. A group of women, lead by this loudmouthed feminist decide that they cannot carry a heavy pot of metal around, and so they should build a smaller, less efficient smaller one so that they can partake in certain aspects of a team oriented project. Long story short, they built a tool that was heavier and required two extra people to carry around, was harder to manipulate and was less efficient than what they started with. The bitch of it is (no pun intended) that if I pointed this out to them, I got chewed out, and I look like the ignorant a-hole...

Later in my life I was a witness to a reception for a group show, entirely made of "feminist artists." Most of the work there was very good work, and then, there was the flowerpot. A lady had done something that teeterd between installation, performance, and just plain nonsense. She put a potted plant on the floor next to a 6 foot tall wooden cross, and then proceeded to read an essay on ties between the church and male dominance, and something else that sounded high and preachy. This was hands down the most boring thing I have ever seen or heard, which might have been cool, if it was like one of those 'secretly ironic' things, but it wasn't. She was serious.

So what is the role of feminism in art, I don't really think of it that often, I would like to imagine that it is more than a matter of pretentious posturing and a sort self fulfilling concept. I would hope that it is more about getting things done, and doing things well, regardless of sex. But it isn't. When we hear and think of feminist artists, we see (mostly) women, doing work about women and being women. Perhaps I simply don't identify with the concept, but it seems kind of weak to me.

One other person I met who I was sure was a feminist, was a sculptor friend of mine from Florida, and she was tough, I mean fuckin tough, and yet intelligent, very well spoken and read, and she worked hard. She probably could have kicked Rosie the riveters ass. I talked to her about it a little, and she doesn't think of herself as doing a lot for a woman, I think is more along the lines of she is a woman who can do everything and anything, without broadcasting the fact. I am not sure if she was a feminist or not, but I hope that that is where the movement is going.

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