Sunday, November 29, 2009

What is it that makes a woman?

For his final year degree show at London South Bank University, Lee Slaymaker asks, "What is it that makes a woman? Or for that matter a man? Gender is often argued to be a social construction, free of the constraints of biological sex, with the result being that the term ‘woman’ may just as easily be applied to a feminine male subject as it is to a female one."

For the project, Mr. Slaymaker created three photographic images titled The Woman As Homemaker, The Woman As Sexual Object, and The Woman As Chef (photo above).

In each photo, a male inhabits the feminine role, "thus calling in to question the rigidity of socially accepted notions of the gender binary: not only do these images seek to challenge representations of the feminine gender but also those of the male subject."

To see the entirety of Mr. Slaymaker's project, click here.

9 comments:

  1. I have a difficult time believing it's a dude. But wait, is it a chick because of the reaction it evokes, or is it a dude because of genitalia? Or is it indeterminate because we don't know if the model is thinking and feeling as a man or a woman?!?

    Does it matter? Should it? But if the social construct didn't exist, how could we exercise our fetish? Or for those with deeper feelings, express femininity from a male sexed body?

    Thanks for sharing this. It's freaky mind bending.

    JamieLin

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  2. Wow! Great find, thanks for the post! Consider my brain stretched :)

    Mel :)

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  3. I love this series of photos.

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  4. A wonderful post, than you

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  5. Thank you for your intelligent thoughts on all things tg!! Your blog is a breath of fresh air. Women like us are normal and should feel no shame in expressing our natural female side. Thanks for all you continue to do!!

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  6. The photographer never claims the subject of the photos is a male: he simply asks, "Does the sultry temptress in the pinup images have to be female?"

    It is very obviously a woman in the photos.

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  7. Jamiegottagun --- Then what do you make of his statement that "Within this project a male subject inhabits the feminine role in the photographic image, thus calling in to question the rigidity of socially accepted notions of the gender binary: not only do these images seek to challenge representations of the feminine gender but also those of the male subject."

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  8. why its the scenester mika doll

    http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=195518609

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  9. It is indeed - have to say, it's hard to believe Mika is a femulator - lucky girl!

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