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gorillagirlsTrevaniaGnodtke

The first thing you notice about the Guerilla girls are their gorilla masks. So, what does that mean? What do they represent?
The Guerilla girls formed in 1985. Their masks get people to focus on their messages instead of their individual personalities. The masks stand for the conscious of the art world. They liken themselves to batman and bizarro. They wear them to undermine the ideal of a cultural mainstream.
The Guerilla Girls first project were posters about discrimination against women. Male artists, white male artists in particular, get more money and more attention than women and minorities. I had no idea that so few artists were represented in the art museums. They took a survey and less than 5 percent of the artists in the Modern art sections are women. Frida mentioned that they went back a couple years later and the percentage actually went down to around 3 percent.
Frida asked the crowd to show hands of how many people in the audience considered themselves to be feminists. Just the word feminist seems to cause a lot of controversy. Feminism is demonized in the media. This was shown to the audience in so many ways. I remember a male artist that was quoted saying "the best work of art a woman can do is in bed". Well, that's a pretty controversial and offensive statement. I thought the Permission de Tranvestite was pretty funny. That was the woman in France who obtained a permit from her doctor to dress as a man so she could advance her work. The skit at the end of the presentation showed that this sort of attitude is still alive and present in the art world.
So, the Guerilla Girls combat unfair and unequal treatment with their art. "The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist" for example, listing humorous "advantages" such as never having to worry about the pressures of success and the like. The "Guerilla Girls Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art", the well know art books retitled "White Male Art Through the Ages" and the "History of Mostly Male Art". That's funny.Frida talked about the low number of women and minorities working behind the scenes in Hollywood. Very few women and minorities win Oscar's. So they created the anatomically correct Oscar billboard. They also created the movie poster for the birth of feminism featuring Pamela Anderson and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Also funny.
It was interesting to me to hear about all the stereotypes associated with women. These were from "Bitches, Bimbos, and Ballbreakers". The girls who do, the girls who don't, and the girls who do girls. All of us women can fit into some category from daddy's little girl to the old hag. A bitch is a woman giving her opinion. A slut is someone who sleeps with everyone and a bitch is someone who sleeps with everyone but you. There is the bimbo/dumb blonde stereotype. All the mother stereotypes, controlling moms, hot moms, soccer moms, etc. The witch stereotypes. The old hag, especially single ones, devalued in society. The women who became stereotypes like Lolita and Aunt Jemima. The Guerilla Girls response to these were the dolls they made. Theresa, the good Catholic girl. When you push her button she apologizes for everything. Susan the white girl who goes after black men. Like Frida said, guarantted to offend. People should be offended. The Guerilla Girls use humor and creativity to get people to recognize important issues of discrimination of women and minorities in the art world.

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