[Senior Thesis] The Valkyries

[kouject]

Hello gracious members of the internet!

Serey's in her final year of college as a studio art major. Serey wants to graduate with honors, very much. Help Serey out with her thesis please? :D;;;

My project is a series of dressforms that address gender identity and how we as people view ourselves in relation to gender. Do you see your gender stereotypes as a constant burden? Or do you overcome those somehow? Does your gender add to your identity, subtract from it, or is it just neutral? You don't have to answer these questions specifically. Just write whatever comes to mind. Use this as catharsis if necessary, or a personal exercise. BUT BE WARNED, IF THINGS HEAD IN A DIRECTION I DO NOT LIKE (i.e.: arguments that are derogatory towards another person's opinion, things that are just hurtful and not constructive), I WILL LOCK THE THREAD AND TURN ON SCREENED COMMENTS. DO NOT THINK I WON'T. That being said, if there is something you'd like to tell me, but don't feel comfortable posting it, please let me know and I can give you a place to email your piece. :3

Well, I'm not exactly looking for ranting per se, but more how you view yourself in relation to gender. :3 Like if you feel more empowered by being female/not being feminine/acting feminine or masculine/etc. These are just some ideas I thought up just now. XD; But that doesn't mean that negative things are undesirable! This is just supposed to be more scholarly and (to be honest) positive.

I was ranting to a friend the other day about how I was sick and tired of seeing negative contemporary art, screaming about how the world sucks. I'm tired of hearing the world sucks. I want to find something good somewhere and show people that through a subject that most consider ugly (gender separation, prejudice, gender bias, gender expectations), something bold and beautiful can come through by just expressing yourself and saying, 'hey world, this is me! Screw you if you don't like it, because I'm cool with it! ♥'

...that's the mission statement, at least. ._.;; Idealistic? Of course. Who do you think I am? XDDD

And that's that! With the theme and general outline in mind, go crazy! Post with your journal, RP journal, Anonymously, whatever! I'm really excited to see what you guys have to say!

Comments

[neldluva.livejournal.com]

Well, I quite like being a girl, in general. There are some things that aren't as nice, like cramps or bad hair days or getting makeup to work or people who think you should act a certain way just because you have ovaries, but overall it's pretty fun! I've read an article or two on the differences between the way men and women think, mostly related to social networking, and that's what I like about being female. The downside of social networking/forming groups is the formation of cliques or people you just plain don't like but can't seem to get rid of, but the group forming itself is fun. I see it as kind of forming a clan of sisterhood, and that's really cool. And so far, I haven't bumped into many people who are like, "OMG why are you doing that you're a girl!!1one!!" I just kind of do my own thing, and it happens to be feminine, whatever my definition of feminine is.

PS: I totally love your Valkyrie idea. Just thought you should know.

[wigglykittens.livejournal.com]

Well. I do think of myself as very much female, so it fucks me up when people ascribe either things that are "female" but not me to me and then decide I'm less female, or vice versa. Although I don't always want my "femaleness" to enter into my interactions with people, or at least not femaleness as it often gets translated in this culture, especially as "thing which represents teh sex" or even worse "fragile innocent." I get the latter a lot at first glance because I'm short, quite thin, blonde, and very fair of skin. Several people, all guys, interestingly, have compared me to a fairy of some kind. So when I meet someone new, especially a guy (simply because they seem more likely to judge, in my experience) I spend a lot of time initially fucking with that impression. Which includes changing the way I dress and talk. Then after I feel like they get that, I balance out more, mostly dressing unobtrusively, with an occasional foray into costumage when I need a confidence boost and/or feel really happy/comfortable with myself and my environment. But I really hate having to do that initial phase and "breaking in" my friends. I hate that I have to fight for space to exist as my whole self in their heads because of their constructs of femaleness. I don't want to be a poster girl for "short thin girls can swear and fuck and think too, really," just like I don't want to be a poster girl for bi-ness or poly-ness, (and sometimes the ways people interpret that in relation to gender role are just fucking gross, like when they hear bi and think "omg hot threesomes/girl-on-girl action" or poly and think "slut.") But at the same time, I do want people to validate my gender identity and if I AM doing costuming to notice that too, which sends out mixed messages to those people whom I later have to educate, I feel like. I can't find any style that avoids these problems and would still reflect myself, probably because the problems are in other people and not me, but I wish I could, just so I could go through life in peace when I don't want to play teacher. (Granted I want to BE a teacher, so this isn't terribly often. And fyi, wardrobe is generally jeans/t-shirt, with forays into goth-loli, no make-up, plain wash and wear hair, although I have colored it unnatural colors in the past.)