Women can now cultivate their own businesses, sell their own merchandise, network, advertise, and empower and inspire people independently online. Social media has given women something female artists throughout history never had: access. However, with that access comes a new sort of vulnerability: Women who use the Internet to promote their own work often have to put up with aggressive online harassment, especially if their art focuses on their sexuality or their identity.
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This article is so powerful and makes very many great points about the publicity and sexuality focused around women artists of today. Female artists are constantly being ostracized from the artistic community because of the sexual connotations and bereavement facing their work online. People like to exploit themselves on the internet because they feel a certain degree of separation between themselves and their internet comments. What I think is the most important topic of this article, however, is how these female artists are in fact dealing with the harsh and sexualized commentary they are receiving. Carly Jean Andrews takes an amazing stance with the issue saying that “They have the right to say what they want, but I have the right to not associate my art with it." Giving power to both the people who comment on her public art and herself, which is really how it should be. Any one should be able to publish things how they feel is appropriate, and people should be able to comment as they like, but no attachment should be required.
Online sexual harassment is unfortunately a reality that most women face daily, so I'm definitely not surprised that this has made it's way into the world of art. Women are constantly forced out of so many creative spaces, and when they produce something that's even the slightest bit provocative they're attacked. Whenever a woman creates something that could be viewed through a sexual lens people seem to think that they're entitled to comment on it in a sexually explicit or even violent way. Grace Miceli's really struck a nerve with me when she said "I can't count the number of times a male has reached out to me about 'working together' only to quickly turn the conversation into a personal/romantic/sexual discussion". Her work wasn't even sexual in female, she just happened to be an artist who is female. There is no reason and no excuse for a difference in how artists are treated purely because of their gender. Being behind a screen allows people to attack these women, and so far we have not done enough to prevent it.
Sexual harassment in the arts is something many may think is a non-issue, as creative communities tend to be more open and accepting of female empowerment and free self-expression through possibly sexual channels. However, I feel that the sheer amount of misogynistic responses that can be found to even the least sexual (not that the responses should be especially different) would shock even the most seasoned supporter of the arts. While a there is an amount of control that female artists have in moderating the amount and nature of the feedback received (for example, artist Carly Jean Andrews blocking "five to 15" people a day from an Instagram account featuring her artwork), but the sheer amount of people who interpret art featuring the nude (often female) human body as something pornographic, waiting to be exploited for (often male) sexual pleasure is sometimes overwhelming and discouraging. Even collaboration within the art world can turn into something uncomfortably sexual, with female artists wary of unauthentic requests to "collaborate." Says artist Art Baby Doll "I thing an unsolicited dick pic should come with a $1k fine." As a female creative professional, this makes me a bit nervous, and I look forward to seeing things change in the future.
A few years ago, a friend of mine made some sort of post on Facebook involving a photo of her face. Standard fare. For whatever reason, several "trolling" boys from our high school decided to comment on her level of attractiveness. After a long back and forth on the merits of feminism, one comment made them give up the fight: when one of my other friends essentially said "You have the right to say whatever you want, and I have the right to call you an asshole after you say it. Shut up."
This memory really resonated with me when referencing blocking people from instagrams. When artists treat social media like a portfolio, it makes perfect sense why they would not want lewd comments staining their work. The right to one persons free speech does not negate that of another's.
Another quote that stuck out to me was this: "Social media is crucial for my work in ways that intersect," she said. "Some have offered me greater freedom, whereas some keep me enslaved. It is a paradoxical relationship I'm always trying to figure out." I think this shows the attempts by men to police women on an almost unpoliceable field - the Internet. In one way, constant barrage by men is a punishment for growing expressionism, but at the same time, it is the only way to make women's voices heard effectively and quickly. It is a challenge female artists face daily, and the decision to post a selfie or drawing can take as much deliberation as adding a piece to ones portfolio.
Last year, I was watching either Law and Order: SVU or Criminal Minds with my mom, and we were watching an episode focused around the kidnapping of the head of a video game company, who happened to be female. In the episode, the woman had been getting harassed and threatened for her entire career, to the point where she just got used to them and thought nothing of them. It was because of this desensitization that she was kidnapped, raped, and nearly murdered. The violence that was shown to her was specifically because she was a woman in the video game industry. Any complaint that was made against her was made by angry men who felt that women should not be involved with the video game industry. I remember my mom asking me in disbelief if this was actually realistic, or if it was being exaggerated for television. I told her that the death threats and general anger and hatred toward women on the internet, specifically in the game industry, was definitely realistic. The level of harassment that occurs on the Internet is ridiculous. While it's a lot easier to be horrible to people from behind a screen, it seems like most people would generally have enough of a conscience to not be cruel to other people online. Why men are so threatened by women being on the Internet is something I will never understand. I'm glad that the Internet exists, so women can express themselves and share their art to millions, but it's infuriating that men still create obstacles in this environment by sending death threats and sexually harassing the artists.
I think it's interesting that we talk about creating while female on the Internet as if it's any different than existing while female on the Internet, or existing while female in real life, or existing while female as I ran down the street with two girlfriends last night to avoid some guys yelling profane things at me. Yes the Internet gives people a very easy way to say what they want to say and have there be no consequence, and yes women who want to showcase their sexuality in their work get more attention than they should about things that don't matter, but isn't that just life? Isn't that just what we are living outside of Instagram? It's not that I don't sympathize with these artists, or think thinks don't need to change, because I do, but I think we need to stop using the Internet as an excuse for people to say horribly demeaning things and have there be no consequence. And the first step to doing that is to have there be a consequence in real life. I have to be able to get the guy who screamed at me as I ran away last night into trouble, so that I can get the guy who writes "nice ass" on the picture of me and my 7 year old cousin on Instagram in trouble too. I am all for creating work that owns sexuality, and women embracing themselves and making work they are proud of, but nothing becomes illegal on the internet until it is illegal in real life. We have to stop making excuses for people who say whatever they want whenever they want. It's rude it's not tasteful and it can be very scary.
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