All my art teachers from age 6 to 18? Female. (College is a whole different story, but I'll get there.)
Hmmm...something just doesn't add up here.
The most recognizable names - the most famous of the artists in history - they're all male. And yet, there is a thought - a generalization, a stereotype, an assumption - that has been instilled somewhere that art is for girls. At least, that's the way I've seen it. In all my years of taking art classes before coming to Maryland, girls have been the dominant gender. And yet, I still don't know of one current famous female artist. My ARTH201 (Art history from 1300 CE - Present) certainly didn't inform me of any influential female artists. Just a small handful from the Baroque and Mannerist periods. I would venture to say that even in my art classes in college - I'm taking my 5th class now - girls have been more prevalent. The only difference is that I have had three male professors out of the five total.
So how does this all relate to graphic design? Well, I'm glad you asked.
I'm going to focus here on gaming and animation. Gaming, as you might know after a previous post on some research on gender and gaming, is male-dominated. You don't need to read a study, really, to know that. You could simply walk down the hall of my dorm and find at least two rooms full of boys playing Super Smash Brothers Brawl or MarioKart. And conversely, walk down the other side of the hall, and see that the girls are simply not.
Maybe that's because video games are generally more geared toward boys. (Or maybe this is a "Who leads who?"-type of issue, in which you can't be sure if the gaming world is leading, or if regular boys are making it such.) So those graphic designers, those animators, are they predominantly male? It's possible. My Computer Graphics professor is male. The TA of the class is male. In fact, this class is probably the most evenly split art class I have seen yet in terms of gender ratios. Otherwise, I would still say the classes are about 60-40, girls vs. boys.
So how come the boys keep getting all the credit? Food for thought.
Oh boy, such a broad (but important) question you pose.
ReplyDeleteI think we have been socialized into our gender roles enough to not question it when video games are all about shooting and killing and when the males are all about those video games.
I think however the shift is being made slowly but surely. I know more and more girls who are getting on to play world of warcraft, or whatever they play. I think it is much less socially accepted for females to spend their time this way, and maybe those girls keep it under wraps more.
But there are some very popular gender neutral video gaming systems, such as Wii for example.
I don't know... I think it is a cycle that feeds off of itself. The games are produced targeting young males, they buy the games and enjoy them, thus more are produced and more try them, etc etc. Make sense?
But it is extremely interesting that you point out the female teacher ratio... what exactly would you say your female professors have given you that a male professor hasn't, and vice versa? Why do you think most younger grades (k-5) are taught by women?
food for thought. :)
Like it or not, the world's iconic pieces of art were painted, sculpted, or created by males.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is because when the majority of these were created (think Sistine Chapel, statue of David, Mona Lisa) -- "artist" was much more of a career than it is now. These people were sought out for specific works of art, specific creations. This does not occur nearly as frequently today.
Also, I think it's interesting that all your art teachers were female. My art teachers were actually all males ( I only took art 3 times when it was required of me...I'm not artistically inclined.) I think that teaching in elementary, middle, and high school is gender stereotyped. People expect teachers to be females, not just art teachers, teachers period. That may have something to do with it, in my opinion. I feel like many problems, including this one, boil down to gender stereotypes. These things change generation to generation, so hopefully a couple years from now, this will change. Hopefully female artists will be influential, and we will have females that become household names like Picasso, Monet, or Da Vinci.
also interesting -- the Washington Post recently published a list of the top 100 influential American plays...only 3 women made the top 25, and much less than a third of the list was women. What is it with women, success, and art that do not mix?
Weird how no guys have commented on this post...
ReplyDeleteBut I really liked how you questioned the lack of female influence in art. I just wish that there was an answer. However I think this can be related to the lack of women in high power roles or successful positions in society. In feel as though, in general, women are seen in the building blocks of society but not seen at the top. Women work hard to advance in society but men are given their power. Also do you think that feminine versus masculine stereotypes play a large role in class selection at any level of education?
There is no reason for the lack of acknowledgement of the success of women in history and present day. Remember: "Behind every man, there is an even greater women."