This post is a followup to the question that Dr. Joe brought up in class today and which I am asking each class member to respond to. The question is: are there observable differences between females and males in aesthetic taste, artistic conception, subject matter and art collecting? In responding to the question you can address all of the points or focus on one only. For example one may simply want to talk about art collections and how women such as Marion Koogler McNay obtained works of art that seem to be more domestically related than the more eclectic preferences of Norton Simon or J.P.Getty. Or one may want to tackle the big genetic question on innate genetic dispositions which will require more than a paragraph to accomplish =)
Offer examples from real life and use yourself as an example as a female or male.
I look forward to the dialogue and to Dr. Joes joining into the discussion.
Warm regards to all genetic participants,
Bill
25 comments:
Men are from Mars and women are from Venus, or something like that. That was one of the first fun little phrases I learned as a little one about gender differences. That, and none of the boys wanted to play with my Ken doll for my Barbie adventures.
Men and Women are just different creatures. We are born with particular sensibilities drawing us towards certain things more than others. For example, when I was in Italy this summer I met a couple on the Ferry with two beautiful children, one male, the other female. They said they had raised their children rather remotely with no television or internet, but her son still demanded car and sports toys and engaged in elaborate explosive noises, death and destruction for his play time. On the other hand her daughter clung to her shirt, the mother claiming that all her mannerisms were soft and nothing like her brother.
I think as in human nature, the difference between males and females is also true in the artistic aesthetic and observational differences from a man's work to a woman's. Yes women were confined to home and domestic labeling, and their paintings are a reflection of that, but regardless it is a reflection of their life all around them, and the depictions of what they knew best. Like what Randell mentioned in class, people are painting what they like. How many male painters paint babies? Men don't birth babies, or really even like them much of the time, but women do, because they grow them.
Naturally we paint the things we have a connection to. Many subjects to create art around are not gender specific. Landscapes, portraits, all pretty universal things. But, naked women alluding eroticism is not generally the main interest to female painters. Just as babies and children do not often interest men. Of course there are observational differences between men and women. There are behavioral differences between men and women. We paint what we see, and we all see differently.
Hannah,
I knew I count count on you to kick this discussion off. I underscore the observations you made from life. The children you use as your examples could easily have been my sister and me. I was the guy making all of those explosive noises and can still do it if the mood grabs me and yes my sister was the one who was more gentle and into growing things. She helped me-- along with my dear wife-- to become more humane and I still have plenty of room to grow.
The landscape examples as more neutral are great to cite as there are (as you say) plenty of non-genderish subjects that we can both gravitate toward. WONDERFUL OBSERVATIONS AND THANKS FOR STARTING THIS!
Bill
Hannah,
Your interesting observations get right to the heart of the Nature versus Nurture question about gender and art. I don't think that in 2010 many people will seriously question that men and women have different innate sensibilities; they clearly do. No doubt this accounts for the types of preferences for subject matter that you have pointed out in your posting, above. Further questions about innate gender differences might ask whether there are systematic STYLISTIC or CRAFT differences between men and women (size, pallet, composition, etc) that go beyond (or below) subject matter differences.
And then there is the question of Nurture, which in this case means systematic cultural and political oppression of women in social, academic, and artistic roles. As we saw from our group discusson on Friday, this was the clear focus of the feminest movement of the 60's and 70's but it does not resonate nearly so clearly among the truly modern young female artists of LCAD in 2010, so far as I can tell.
Do you feel political and/or cultural forces acting on your artistic career? Do you think it is primarily Nature or Nuture that accounts for relatively so many men in game art and so many women in figurative painting at LCAD?
It is a GREAT pleasure to be interacting with you wonderful and brilliant young minds and talents! Thank you for that!
i think there is definitely a difference in aesthetic tasted when it pertains to gender. obviously there would be an exception to this rule but in general i think the "feel" of a house changes when it belongs to a bachelor then to a couple, than to a bachelorette. Also look at the overall taste in cars when it comes to men and women. Once again there will be exceptions to the rule but in general boys like bigger more rugged and women go for sportier more luxury rides. These are some rather obvious comparisons but i think the idea holds true across the board with other aesthetic decisions; dress, hygiene, music, hobbies. I realize that these observations i stated are changing. i think we are closing the gap on gender based differences and are moving evermore towards an androgynous culture. men are increasingly becoming more feminine and women are increasingly taking on more masculine positions. An even better question is to ask how this relates to the gays? If there are two male partners living in a house together, is it ultra masculine? like an insane bachelor pad? no! or how about two lesbian partners? thats where i think this question gets tricky. All im gonna say is my friends dad is gay and lives with his partner, their house is beautiful.
There are definite aesthetic differences in men and women. The bottom line is that there are cultural expectations that are set up at an early age, by society that define how boys and girls behave and what is expected of them in society. As we grow, we come to find that although society has determined how we are to behave there is still a sense of self that determines how we see the world.
I was brought up with the expectation of work hard and be a provider, that men never wore shorts and don’t even think about being an artist because the arts were for sissys! That was my reality. That being said I broke away from my reality and followed my own path. But that doesn’t mean that my aesthetic is defined simply as male and female issue, there are cultural and socio-economic factors that come into play.
This is actually what I wrote for my journal topic, so sorry if it sounds super formal. But I thought about it more in the terms of LCAD. So, here it goes!
During a presentation on Modernity and Space of Femininity in class, Joe proposed a question for everyone to really think about. The question was, “Do men and women have different aesthetic sensability? And how does it effect their perception or consumption of art?” The topic of LCAD's majors came up and how genders were distributed. Someone brought up the point that most fine art majors are female, whereas game art has more males. One could go on to assume that females are more attracted to to fine art and the fact that most fine art derives from emotions which women are stereotyped to have more of. The other part of that argument is that men tend to gravitate towards more technical things, so game art would fit that description.
However, I have a counter argument. In the graphic design major it is fairly even between genders. Next would be the factor of how they designed. Most of the time you truly can not tell the design was by a male or a female, but of course one could guess there is a 50/50 chance of being either wrong or right. I myself am a graphic design and I would definitely not say that it is male dominated just because it is a technical way to create art.
I do not feel that because I am a woman that I enjoy anything more feminine than I do things more masculine. Yes, I enjoy Monte, but then again I am in love with Goya's later and much darker work. I find that mind is something that we will never truly figure out, especially based on aesthetics. We have all lead very different paths in life and because of that our range of what we find to be beautiful is so incredibly unique to us that we could never pinpoint it solely on gender.
I think a persons interests and activities probably have an influence on their aesthetic disposition more than their gender. Perhaps the early female painters painted domestic scenes because that was what their lives were centered around. The same applies to the fact that game art is male dominated maybe it is just that video games are more directed towards man than women. I am a female and I find paintings of domestic scenes boring and play a lot of video games so though I do thing men and women are very different I don't think it entirely dictates our sense of aesthetics.
I feel that, obviously, men and women have different attractions aesthetically for biological reasons. There are clear differences in personalities and tendencies. Woman tend to be more nurturing, flighty and protective to raise young, and men seem to be more aggressive and psychical to secure a mate. I feel the nature of a person is conditioned by their life experiences, culture, and attractions. Our passions, and thus our subject matter, are a result of our attractions throughout life.
Because of the base nature of females, their passions tend to lean towards tenderness, which is why they commonly like to draw families, gardens, etc. However, I don't think that any aesthetic appeal is specific to any one gender. They can all cross over depending on a persons conditioning. There is a lot of conditioning that goes along with culture which can steer an individual in a certain direction if they let it.
When I was little I used to play with G.I. Joe, dig up worms in the backyard, climb trees, beat my cousins at video games, drew dragons, went fishing, and watched X-Men with my dad. However, I also wore dresses, collected stuffed animals, thought boys had kooties, and took ballet lessons.
Now I like to draw ugly monsters, cute kitties, pretty girls, hot guys, action, serenity, landscapes--almost anything. However I don't like drawing mechanical things, like cars, buildings, mechas, or anything dealing with perspective formulas--I always associated it with using different parts of my brain that were creative rather than mechanical, not with gender.
Gender, especially in current day, has less and less relativity to things in our lives. There are, no doubt, genetic differences between males and females. I was always partial to the whole girl power saying, "anything boys can do, girls can do [better]." However, the truth is that there are some things males can do that females' bodies just won't permit them to replicate; and vise versa. There are also, as stated above, differences between specific males and females due to their surroundings and upbringings. Those upbringings are frequently gender-based traditions though.
A personal experience: I've grown up in a latin family with my dad being the most conservative when it came to issues of gender roles. Through his eyes/conditioned ideals, girls and young women were supposed to have long hair. And consequently I kept my hair long basically ever since I can remember, until I recently chopped it all off. Initially my dad was not happy and said I looked like a dude. That is a textbook example of gender ideologies placed on a society from a young age.
Besides those traditions/upbringings, and genetic differences between males and females, I don't believe our interests really coincide with our genders. We all do what we want, and whatever makes us happy. But I have noticed that even though the female to male ratio within the majors at LCAD are generally balanced, there have typically been more males in the gameart major and more females majoring in drawing/painting. I have also noticed that these statistics have changed since I first came to LCAD though; in that more females are entering the animation and gameart programs, as well as more males in the fine arts and illustration programs.
I contend that there is a universal aesthetic disposition that bridges the gap between males and females. A clear example of this would be our aesthetic experience with infants. As a species, we are absolutely compelled to protect infants principally due to their aesthetic qualities. However, it is apparent in contemporary society, and similarly throughout human existence, that men and women posses a variable aesthetic disposition based on genetic inclination and gender identity. Qualities that men and women find attractive in each other, as illustrated by The Human Face, vary between both sexes. Men often look for youth and vitality, while women look for resource security. Perception of either quality has a direct impact on aesthetic perception. Otherwise, it would be impossible for an individual to gauge their level of attraction to a potential mating partner when viewed against other potentials. It is my opinion that aesthetic disposition is somewhat variable between males and females but also possesses innate similarities that are essential to our coexistence as a sexually reproducing species.
This is avery interesting question, and has been a hot topic of debate for sometime. In a general consensus, I would have to say that woman are geared more toward aesthetically beautiful things, such as flowers, soft colors, and tendencies of nurturing. Male's are reared to be drawn toward more violent aesthetic. I can remember my childhood with my older brother. We both played that same games, but with different toys, he had Heman, I had Barbie. Another incident I can remember happened at a toy store, I wanted to purchase a dinosaur toy, but was told to purchase something that was not from the boys section.
Recently I have been inside a department store and have observed the differences within how their toys and clothes are displayed. Girls get bright pinks and glitter. Boys get neon colors and lots of grays and metallic.
In terms of art however, I would have to believe that these extreme differences do not exist. I am a female, who was geared all my life to like the pretty girly things. But instead, I grew up having a linking for all walks of art and expression. Of course I cannot speak for all other woman who have been raised in similar environments as myself.
Sir Brian had mentioned how this relates to gays. Well I am gay, and I do not believe that my being a lesbian pre determines me to have a more masculine approach toward art. In fact, most people would not assume that I am in fact gay, because I do draw both make and female subject matters equally. I do not fall into the stereotype of lesbian. I am who I am, and I choose to like all walks of art. Again I cannot speak for others who are gay, I can only speak from my own experiences and how I look at art critically.
I have met male gay couples who are incredibly masculine. Being a lesbian myself, I am considered to be incredibly feminine. We cannot make assumptions that those who choose to have a different sexual orientation must obviously have extremely different tastes in art than those who are heterosexual. I was nurtured to like pretty and soft art, but I naturally accepted both masculine and feminine styles of art to appeal to a much larger audience.
Biologically Men and Women are very different, and although in modern society sex does not restrain any individual from expressing their individuality, it does play a role in what subject matters that we are interested in.
Everyone have witnessed this numerous times throughout their lives whether it is through family or friends. As said by other students, men and women tend to be interested in what are deemed a sexual stereotypes. This is because we are built for what we like.
Why are most Men fascinated by warfare and violence? It's because it is in our nature to be warriors and protectors. Hence our muscular advantage to women. Girls on the other hand are nurturers and peace keepers, so it is only suited that they tend to be more attracted to subjects of peace and harmony.
In the gaming industry you witness this all the time. Although it is gradually changing, why do most girls not play videogames and are actually bored with them within minutes, while all the boys in the room can play for hours on end.
I have a group of friends who live together and it's 4 boys and 1 girl. It is definitely a Man's House, filled with a collection of mutlicultural weapons, endless hours of video games, and that lingering smell of a fine selection of beers. The girl however is the polar opposite to this. She is a pacifist with a very spiritual lifestyle. She spends her time making tea, practicing yoga or meditation, or just observing nature.
The best part about it though is that it really balances out the energy within the household, and creates a very entertaining, humorous, and comforting atmosphere within the residence.
There is an undeniable difference between Men and Women, but that is not to say that there isn't meaning behind this. We are different, but we are also the same, that's the beauty behind existence.
Kevin Duong
I believe that many of the differences in preferred aesthetics between men and woman is a result of social conditioning. The most obvious manifestation of this is the old stereotype "pink is for girls and blue is for boys". Why? Why is pink for girls and blue for boys? Why isn't it green is for girls and purple is for boys? No, that doesn't work for some reason. For some reason the colors pink and blue are so synonymous with male and female that using any other color would just seem silly.
One of the reason that pink and blue seem like such a good representation of male and female is that they are exact opposites, meaning they are two colors representing both sides of the color spectrum; Blue is a cool and red is a warm cool.
From the day we decorate our babies rooms with these either color the warm colors of pink and the cool color of blue is engrained into the mind of the child. Later in life you may see that women tend to dress and decorate in a variety of warm colors or muted tones of warm colors while men tend to dress and decorate in a multitude of cool colors. This distinction is very evident at any formal get together.
Dear students,
Bravo, this string of comments contains a range of important parallel observations and equally a range of variables and alternate views.
I am hoping we can get everyone's input in class and then lets see if we have a nonsenses as we summarized the running commentary. But so far the dialogue has been rich because of the personal examples you shared. The more actual real-life examples the better. For we can analyze specific instances while general comments remain vague.
Warm regards,
Bill
Aside from our genitalia men and women are fundamentally the same. The notion that men and women are different creatures has been established within us humans due to centuries of social conditioning. Women and men have accepted that women like pink and boys like blue amongst other roles.
I think a major aspect we need to consider is sexuality. For example some lesbian women are much more masculine in not only their own personal aesthetics but in their taste as well, they prefer women over men and beer over wine and you get the idea. Likewise gay men can be very feminine and have feminine taste. Not that one can truly label taste as "masculine" or "feminine". What is that?
In our society, I mean America in particular our conservative history plays part in this idea of role. Man is the breadwinner, women stay home and raise kids. Women like knitting wool hats and men like football. I have to strongly disagree simply because I know women who are just as into sports as any man I know.
Furthermore a case can be made that male and female aesthetic preferences are merging. Look at hipsters for example. Simply look around and you'll see hipster boys and girls wearing the same outfits. Tight jeans, flannel or plaid shirts with Tom's sneakers. Is it just my imagination?
On the surface it may appear that men and women are different and therefore have different aesthetic preferences but this is all completely culturally and socially influenced. Women and men are not by nature distinguishable by anything other than our physical components.
To further solidify my case that gender role and sentiments are conditioned I'll simply point out that from birth parents choose colors and themes for baby's room that identify them as male or female as dressed babies are androgynous in virtually every way. From the baby's first day out of the hospital it is immediately placed in an environment that is creating its gender identity without it's knowledge or consent. As baby grows older they are encouraged to engage in activities to suit their gender. Most boys that want to play with "My little Ponies" or whatever the hot new toy of the day I'm guessing would be told by his dad "those are for girl" and be redirected to a baseball bat or toy construction set. Speaking of baseball, what is up with softball? If I was a woman I would be offended that the female version of America's past time used a softer ball, a smaller field and underhand pitching.
I short gender plays no role whatsoever in defining aesthetic dispositions.
Aside from our genitalia men and women are fundamentally the same. The notion that men and women are different creatures has been established within us humans due to centuries of social conditioning. Women and men have accepted that women like pink and boys like blue amongst other roles.
I think a major aspect we need to consider is sexuality. For example some lesbian women are much more masculine in not only their own personal aesthetics but in their taste as well, they prefer women over men and beer over wine and you get the idea. Likewise gay men can be very feminine and have feminine taste. Not that one can truly label taste as "masculine" or "feminine". What is that?
In our society, I mean America in particular our conservative history plays part in this idea of role. Man is the breadwinner, women stay home and raise kids. Women like knitting wool hats and men like football. I have to strongly disagree simply because I know women who are just as into sports as any man I know.
Furthermore a case can be made that male and female aesthetic preferences are merging. Look at hipsters for example. Simply look around and you'll see hipster boys and girls wearing the same outfits. Tight jeans, flannel or plaid shirts with Tom's sneakers. Is it just my imagination?
On the surface it may appear that men and women are different and therefore have different aesthetic preferences but this is all completely culturally and socially influenced. Women and men are not by nature distinguishable by anything other than our physical components.
To further solidify my case that gender role and sentiments are conditioned I'll simply point out that from birth parents choose colors and themes for baby's room that identify them as male or female as dressed babies are androgynous in virtually every way. From the baby's first day out of the hospital it is immediately placed in an environment that is creating its gender identity without it's knowledge or consent. As baby grows older they are encouraged to engage in activities to suit their gender. Most boys that want to play with "My little Ponies" or whatever the hot new toy of the day I'm guessing would be told by his dad "those are for girl" and be redirected to a baseball bat or toy construction set. Speaking of baseball, what is up with softball? If I was a woman I would be offended that the female version of America's past time used a softer ball, a smaller field and underhand pitching.
I short gender plays no role whatsoever in defining aesthetic dispositions.
Daryl,
It is certainly the case that cultural conditioning plays an important role in aesthetics no doubt. However it is a fact that there are physical differences that go well beyond genitals. The skeletal structure including pelvis form, pitch of the legs from more angled to straight etc. skin, hair even the eyes are more open in a woman allowing more white to be seen than in a male---many things that are very remarkable. The brain of a woman contains more connective tissue between brain sides which allows more inter-connectivity and therefore allows more multitasking. This mental construction allows a woman to be aware of say a child playing while she is doing another task---genetically more complex even to immune system allowing for birth etc. No, the physical differences are very extensive and the physical is inseparable from psychological they are interdependent. So the idea that it is all conditioning is simply not supportable--- it is both nature and nurture as we have known for centuries. As many of the students such as Hannah have freely shared they noted that children without much cultural conditioning have predispositions to male and female behaviors and aesthetic attractions as well.
I am sure Dr. Joe can speak on these issues offering more data.
Bill
From what I've observed, humans as a species are extremely diverse, and possess such a wide array of myriad facets in the human psyche. One of these is gender identity, and this holds greater importance for some over others, and varies culture to culture. This sense of gender based identity plays a prominent role in aesthetics, as it was mentioned earlier how cultural conditioning can instill this strongly from infancy. There does however seem to be some fluctuation between gender based disposition. There are of course our subtle natural predispositions ingrained in our psyche, that dictates our sense of aesthetics; this seems to always be most obvious in younger children, who seem to be more motivated by the difference of gender. However when it comes to adults, personal experience seems to play a larger role: those who have experienced a reasonable portion of life experience, there seems to be more subjectivity in the what they perceive to be as aesthetic. For example someone who has been exposed to a lot of middle eastern art and design motifs while spending time in that culture may develop an appreciation for that particular aesthetic. In the case of artists, this gender line tends to blur. I think that this may be the case because the nature of aesthetics itself is what appeals to humans on those various deeper levels (as identified in the HFAP) and this is the goal of art to convey. So in the pursuit of creating meaningful and aesthetically pleasing art, men and women's taste sometimes converge in this aspect. However the differences that do exist seem to exist for a purpose. Most harmony in nature is found in the balance of opposites. So to have varying aesthetic predispositions between women and men would only make sense, so as to understand a fuller overall aesthetic vision. Both aesthetics need to be appreciated to come to a richer, more complex and harmonious vision of our world.
I believe that there are strong differences in the aesthetic taste between men and women. There is in fact, no doubt about it. Why this is I don't know but I'm sure it has to do with how we are wired cognitively or even maybe a genetic wiring, but I don't think that's highly likely.
I like Hannah Cosner's remark," Men are from mars and Women are from venus.." We definitely come from two different worlds or even the universe. The difference between genders is so strong: women are more soft in character, sensitive, like barbies, make-up, pay attention to how they dress and gear towards styles that is more "feminine" (fitted clothing), whereas men like power tools, trucks, generally like the rougher qualities of life that seem simple and goes back to a mindset of neanderthals- hunt, finding the best mate to reproduce with, eat, sleep, finding shelter. Maybe that may be too much of a stretch but its an extreme view. Yet, I believe that's the how men are deeply wired as. It's not to say thats right or wrong, I don't know if it is or not. I'm stating my own obersvational opinion.
An example of an aesthetic difference between genders would be best to talk about art. I would prefer a Frida Kahlo painting over a Diego Rivera murals, anytime. Why? That's simply because I am sensitive to her surreal like images that narrate her pain, her journey through her life during that period of time. I don't prefer Diego's paintings because they are too mechanical, stagnant and harsh- like, to me. I remember Dr. Ferguson made a statement that he likes and understands a Diego Rivera painting and disregarded Frida Kahlo's work. There's something more masculine and orderly about Diego that possible attracts the attention of men and gain approval of the art work. OR Maybe- its because the art work is not so personal, but more political, or making a strong clear-cold statement. Who knows. I don't like it. I guess another reason why Kahlo's work would be more appealing to me, is because it evokes more of a personal response and emotion that I can connect to. I don't get the same feeling from Rivera's work.
I think in order to address this topic we must first make clear the distinction, between "Gender" and "Sex".
Gender is Socially and Culturally defined where as sex is purely physiological. Both of these affect Aesthetic Taste differently.
Physically, Women have profoundly unique experiences such as childbirth. This affects their aesthetic taste in ways we(men) can not understand.
As far as Gender I feel like there are still a lot of inequalities between men and women in our society and even more so in other cultures. A friend of mine recently visited Marrakesh Morocco and said it was one of the most beautiful places she has ever experienced. Unfortunately Women are still very much "second class citizens". So much so, that the tour guide would not even acknowledge her presence, and she had to have her male friend ask questions, etc. This was almost incomprehensible for me at first, and makes me realize how much progress still needs to be made in other parts of the world. So despite all the beauty of the vast landscape around her, she did have a different "Aesthetic Experience" being a Women.
@ Dr. Havileck- Just out of curiosity what is your source when you said "The brain of a woman contains more connective tissue between brain sides which allows more inter-connectivity and therefore allows more multitasking"? I agree that most women are better than most men at multitasking, but I was under the impression that brain proportions have nothing to do with intelligence. It is the connections that we form between neurons that make us intelligent. Maybe Joe can help clear this up.
Cheers,
Eric Heaton
Eric, The medical sources are many on the connective tissue issue in brain differences between men and women. I first read about this at Claremont Graduate University in their medical library collection while researching the concept of human creativity. The notion of general intelligence is not the same thing as innate wiring or dispositions for one can be predisposed to behave in a certain way and that is not the same thing as having a high IQ. I am simply reporting on innate physical differences which effect behavior. You seem to equate this with high intelligence issues which are related in a general way but not to be confused with gender. Lets stay on course and just talk about what we observe in every day life between preferences in men and woman in aesthetic choices. It is helpful when we all share works of art we prefer as men and women that seem to be tied to our gender. I would agree for instance that Diego Rivera appeals more to me as a man than Frida. Here Dr. Joe and I share a common preference and I would not be surprised if most men in our group go along with this. Related to this is my wife Jeanne who responds to teddy bears and little fluffy stuffed animals and these have marginal appeal to me. Give me a hardware store and I will start to emote on the great tool selection. Lets share these kinds of specific aesthetic preferences as they relate to our gender. This can tell us something.
Last note on the brain differences and the multi-talented propensity of females, it may have aesthetic connections which I would hope to learn more about as we share in these more specific ways.
Bill
Observable differences in aesthetic taste between men and women can be seen early on through historic artworks and taste between artistic subject matter. More female painters are shown painting domestic scenes of women and children. However, observable differences and roles between men and women are constantly changing and therefore art seems to be changing as well. Cultural expectations between men and women are no longer as strictly enforced as it had been in the past. However, art in different cultures will expand differently. Cultures in more traditional/conservative countries, such as many Asian countries, where gender roles are still largely enforced will affect the pace and changes in their art. I believe the art created by artists is largely a reflection of the cultural expectations and roles the artist was raised in.
-Hannah Ryu
The aesthetic tastes between men and women really do differ depending on the environment and culture they were raised in. Culture plays a very significant part because for many, it teaches certain gender roles that one is told to follow and act accordingly.
Growing up in an asian cultured family, gender roles were strictly enforced. Having an equal number of females and males in the household there was a vivid fine line of what the women should do, and what the men should do. Honestly, I despised it, and because of my thoughts against it, naturally I reacted opposingly. In cultures that enforce strict gender roles, the perspective and the opinions of the opposite gender and their own mentality really change. Men think women are inferior, have no right to speak. I have been personally told, "you must learn the ways and your roles in order have a good and healthy family in the future". In the American culture, feminism really changed that, but especially in the asian culture, it still heavily exists in my opinion. For being a first hand witness to many situations, over the years naturally I've developed a feminist mentality. I think men and women aren't too different. I think subconsciously we are told what we are supposed to like and not like
and simply adapt to them. In the end we're human beings, using our brains daily and fully capable of change.
In opposition to the asian traditions, there are cultures where they view women and men equally and having strict gender roles, such as the U.S. We as human beings live and adapt to the environment we're in, to what culture we're in.
But yes taste aesthetically differs among everyone because taste deals a lot about the meta-aesthetics. Taste and preference in itself is something unarguable.
No, there are not observable differences. If you are not observing, rather, comparing pre-determined stereotypes, then yes, there are differences. Some people say stereotypes are true, especially gender-based stereotypes. However, I believe that people follow stereotypes, not make them. In other words nurture kicks in and makes stereotypes true only for those who choose to follow them.
It makes absolutely no sense to compare male and female work in and of itself. Furthermore, the definite association of women+family and males+well, everything is just not true. Its also not fair and quite sexist. In reading this statement, an easily influenced person would believe that women are by nature meant to take care of others, cook, clean, and be domestically driven while the men can venture off in an unlimited vas of worldliness. This is a stereotype that feminists have been fighting since the 1940s.
Individuals. That is who we are. I am a person. “Woman” does not define who I am and it definitely does not define my artwork. Some men are sensitive, stay-at-home dads; some women are masculine, prefer to bring home the bacon, like to travel (be worldly) etc.
Clearly, the bigger question is, “How much does culture define who you are?”
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