Introduction:
The representation of women in art and media around the world has been an area demanding serious attention, not only because of the adverse messages that it sends to the wider public, but also it’s harmful effect on both young girls and women. The objectification of women particularly is a key issue. As Alison Armstrong once said, “Objectification is the female equivalent of emasculation.” Artists such as Eli Rezkallah and Carol Ann Duffy have seeked to subvert stereotypical gender norms through their work. In a recent photography and concept, named “In a parallel universe”, Rezkallah recreated ads such as ‘Mr Leggs’ from around the 1950’s questioning modern day sexism. Through poems like ‘Standing Female Nude”, Duffy endeavors to reinstate marginalized female voices throughout history through dramatic monologues in the voices of character types whose perspectives are rarely heard or truly acknowledged. Both Rezkellah’s ‘Mr Leggs’ and Duffy’s “Standing Female Nude” challenge the objectification of women whilst exploring how monetary value influences power and societal value.
First Body Paragraph:
Both texts confront the blatant gender bias present through objectification. Through switching the stance/position of the female and male in his recreation of the ‘Mr Leggs’, Rezkeallah inverts the normative gender roles and essentially their spheres of power. The dismembered head of the male model degrades his status to that of a mere object – a trophy hunted. The black high heels of the woman placed upon his head exhibits him as a possession of the woman. Additionally, the women in the original ad was accompanied by a tiger-skin rug, insulating that like apex predators, women are difficult to hunt and tame. In contrast, the man is accompanied by a cow-skin rug, suggesting that men are demure and meek in comparison, and therefore easier to hunt. The humorous nature of this reversal reveals the absurdity of the original piece and the stereotypes at play. In contrast, Duffy challenges the objectification of women through the voice of one – a “river-whore” in her poem “Standing Female Nude. The whore discusses the process of being painted by a famous french artist, named George. Duffy possibly alludes to the french artist, George Braque who utilised cubist style, specifically in his painting “Large Nude” in 1908, where the woman he has painted is distorted and unrecognisable due to the style. In the second line of the poem, the whore recites, “Belly nipple arse in the window light.” Using the rule of three, Duffy displays the whore debasing herself by linking her own worth solely the most commonly objectified parts of the female anatomy, connoting that in the light, these are the only parts of her that are visible to others. Not only does this allude to objectification, but her self-worth also displays the negative consequences of this on women themselves.
