The Heidi Chronicles ~ Art and feminism.

It is hard for me as a male growing up in the period in which I have, to try and put myself in Heidi's shoes and see the world as a place that is overtly hostile to women. Where the patriarchal system of male dominance has essentially reduced women to having no say in their lives except for to "choose" to be a housewife or a suffer alone all their lives. Women have a lot to thank the women of the feminist era for the power and rights they have no for without them who knows where women would be today.

What to say about looking at those pictures. As a male and at first glance, they are terrifying. The paintings display two women holding down and decapitating a man. More than likely these images were supposed to mean something more than base line female gang violence against males. Consider the painting Judith Beheading Holofernes, by Artemesia Gentileschi. The women in the picture are showing a significant of struggle holding the male down as they remove his head. This is reminiscent of the struggle that Hiedi and the other women went through on the road to claiming their independence. Furthermore the women are using a sword, not unlike the sword that Lady Justice is known to carry. While these paintings more that likely were painted at the time to tell a story such as how some guy was beheaded, they have come to mean much more because of the actions of the Feminists in the 60s, 70s, and 80. Through a feminist perspective we could see the paintings to mean the up hill battle for women's rights and independence against the mail chauvinistic world. Or we could interpret the removing of the head, as seen in the paintings as the attempt by women to sever the male power base of the patriarchal world. Also interesting to note, like in the play despite Hiedi's efforts to be individual of forces that bound her to her female stereotype and ideologies, she was only semi-successful in achieving here goals. In these paintings the women have not succeeded in removing the male's heads but implying that women have not yet actually being able to free themselves from male tyranny but at least they are moving in the "right" direction.

As a gay male, I often have troubles understanding hardships that females have to go through. This is not to say that I do not know the statistic that males are much more likely to succeed in the work force and that a women who transgender to a male stand a substantially higher chance at making more money than his old female counterparts. But I also know that the gay community has yet to have its day, and I would like to believe that maybe we can take a tip from the feminists and actually make something happen.