Postfeminist Sanatta Cinsiyet Statüsü

Abstract

The report entitled “Gender Status in Postfeminist Art” aims at questioning the relationship between the concepts of status and gender, and the content of the concept of role shaped by this relationship, and analysing the works that have come to the foreground in artistic platforms within the context of identity and gender roles. It is observed that low and high status positionings, which are created by the concept of status that develops in accordance with gender roles in the social system, have great influence on gender. However, the concept of gender, which has started to be questioned owing to the feminist movement that came to the foreground from the mid-19th century onwards, has given the message that it is necessary to reconsider gender roles, which have become clichés in the cultural background, with the support from different activities and artistic works, and constituted the base for gender roles that will be expanded by the individualistic point of view emphasised by postmodern theories that have become widespread in the late 20th century. Hence, the masculine culture that has situated the female to a lower status than the male throughout the ages is questioned through a deconstruction of female identity by a postmodern approach. Within the context of psychoanalytic theories endorsed especially by postmodern feminism, the reasons underlying identity formation that are necessary for the analysis of gender roles are analysed by interpreting them with artistic works. Thus, the female’s purification from gender roles attributed to her by society will be possible through her own subjective experience and self-awareness, and this condition will bring about a fairer status to the female in society.