Draft 01

How have graphic design and visual arts been a part of the feminist movement on the course to equal rights?

Modern feminism has seen women investigate patriarchy in the forms of education, culture, history and the arts. This essay will touch on each of these forms and how graphic design and visual arts have been crucial to the effort of interrogating and analysing. The imagery seen through the waves of feminism has been key for spreading agendas in the ongoing battle for equality of the sexes. At the beginning of the 20th Century women used print media and ‘found their voice’; now with all the changes and advancements in graphic design and art, at the start of the 21st Century, they can easily exercise it to the full in digital media. Now with the internet we have social media, email and other platforms such as blogs to use to strengthen and spread the movement further afield than would’ve been possible with traditional print methods, this comes with the added bonus of lesser expense and smaller impact to the environment.

The definition of the word feminism is ‘the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes’. It was coined by the utopian socialist Charles Fourier, originating from the french word “feminisme”. It was first used in England in the 1890s in association with the movement for equal political and legal rights for women, which is known as first wave feminism. First wave feminist fought for the opening of higher education to women and the reform of secondary education for girls; the Married Women’s Property Act, 1870; however failed to get the right to vote.
Suffrage began in Britain’s Australasian colonies at the back end of the 19th century. New Zealand was the first country to grant women the right to vote in 1893, this was achieved by the campaigning of self-governing colonies. South Australia was the second to grant in 1895, with Australia following in 1902. Over in Britain, Emmeline Pankhurst gave the Women’s Social and Political Union’s the motto “deeds, not words” to encourage suffragettes to do the work themselves as in 1903 they had still not been enfranchised. When World War I broke out in 1914, the suffragette campaign was suspended, however in 1918 the Representation of the People Act gave the vote to women over the age of 30 who met certain property qualifications. 1928 saw all women aged 21 and over electoral equality with men through the Representation of the People Act, by the 1980s women could vote in almost all countries in the world, with the exception of a few Muslim countries. In both World Wars, governments offered women the chance to be liberated, by taking on men’s jobs and joining in on war work. However they would be prompted back into the kitchen the minute their services were no longer needed.

Before graphic design was formalised as a profession, similar fields such as decorative arts, fashion design and art were heavily dominated by men. However at the start of the 20th century, women had already started to cause change both socially and politically; early forms of graphic design were in full use. Poster design and caricature was practiced by many artists, mostly male, and in Britain the suffragettes realised they could use this medium to further their cause of gaining voting equality. There were several different feminist organisations, each using different methods to get their message across, dependant on whether they were militant or not. Despite this, there are similarities in style and political message across the posters that were given to Cambridge University Library in 1910, and released to the public in 2018, 100 years after women over the age of 30 got the vote in 1918. The posters used fictional characters well known at the time, such as Mrs Partington, a famous, satirical, outspoken Conservative woman. The different Suffrage groups were associated with colour schemes; the more ‘peaceful’ or constitutional Suffrage movement were represented through red, white and green, whilst the militants were white, green and purple. Posters would depict women as factory workers and university academics, to show how the movement would help improve women’s rights ranging from education to work if they gained the right to vote. ‘The suffrage movement was very interested in how to link colour schemes and logos with politics, really, it was at the forefront of visual branding.’ (Delap, 2018).

The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies was a unity of smaller Suffrage organisations, under the leadership of Millicent Fawcett, the method was non-confrontational and constitutional. Working women wanted the vote for many reasons: laws were made which specifically affected women’s work and the work of their children, and if the laws under which women work are bad, women cannot have those laws changed unless they have the vote, to name two. Figure 1 depicts a Lancashire cotton worker, showing that the campaign was not limited to wealthy women. The woman is protesting the fact she has not been asked her opinion, or even informed about the changes to factory rules and regulations. The caption for the piece of art is ‘They have a cheek I’ve never been asked’, the use of vernacular speech against the sign would have assured working-class women it was about them, as much as about middle-class women.  Figure 1 is an example of one of the more peaceful and non-confrontational posters that can be found from the movement, figure 2 on the other hand is a lot more disturbing in tactic. Figure 2 is referencing the hunger strikes that suffragettes would embark in protest when sent to jail. In the picture, a woman is being held down and force-fed, leading the viewer’s mind to think about men being in power and subsequently rape. Figure 3, entitled ‘Votes for Women’ came from the Californian Suffrage campaign, they took inspiration from the English Suffrage movement and started organising poster competitions to source new designs. Figure 3 was designed by Bertha M. Boye, she was rewarded 50 dollars and it was used for San Francisco College Equal Suffrage League postcards and placards. The print is not sending out a militant message, but instead reads as a reliable and unassailable truth ‘Votes for women’, writ in an elegant typeface it reflects the line of thought that women having the vote would strengthen existing culture. The symmetrical design reinforces the sense of serenity emanating from the stoic figure.
There was a lot of backlash during and after the suffragettes, and feminist movement in general. At the start of the 20th Century a number of publications attacked feminists claiming they were immoral, bad mothers and lesbians (Jenainati & Groves, 2010). There was a widespread public support for anti-suffragism, however modern history prefers to focus on the success of suffragists/ suffragettes, rather that those who were opposed to the movement. Figure 8 is a poster that was produced for the National League for Opposing Women’s Suffrage, it is titled ‘A Suffragette’s Home’. The poster depicts a man arriving home ‘After a hard day’s work!’ to domestic chaos;  the children are upset, the lamp is smoking, and there is a note attached to a Suffrage poster on the wall. ‘Back in an hour or so’ the note reads. The poster uses graphic art to get the message across; this is the state things will be in if women are granted the vote and therefore freedom. The poster tells the viewer - and therefore society that it is a mans job to go to work. All whilst failing to appreciate that the domestic chores that women are obliged to carry out, along with looking after children are too a hard day’s work.
However, the criticism feminists received, along with deterring methods used by the governments and professionals didn’t stop a second wave of feminism from occurring. In the US the beginning of second-wave feminism is credited to Betty Friedan, author of ‘The Feminine Mystique’. This wave saw the first oral contraceptive developed by American scientists approved for use in 1960, the start of the National Organisation for Women and the Women’s Liberation Movement. For the first time, the struggle for women’s rights could be understood as a continuum, women began to see themselves in a league with a long line of freedom fighters.

The second wave was a celebration of heroines and activities, which brought a sense of continuity with past struggles and encouraged a new vision of creativity in the present day. There was a lot of critical examination about how women are represented in art and advertising, a long with the language that would be used. An example of this sort of sexism is figure 4, an advertisement for Warner’s shape fitting underwear. The ad uses a tactic that society is still very much familiar with now, body shaming, the text concerns itself with “girls with too much bottom and too little top”. The ad then goes on to claim Warner’s has the solution for all the women out there, in a very patronising manner - they take your misshapen body and remold it into something socially acceptable, that which men will find attractive. Even though feminism and awareness has come a long way since the 70s, the fact this method of selling products is still familiar to us, shows we have a long way to go yet. The advertising and marketing industry are still largely under the illusion that women’s consumer decisions are primarily based on male desire.

Graphic formats, such as posters, magazines and posters were at the forefront of the movement, they held the messages and emotions of the revolution, spreading the development of ‘women’s culture’. Spare Rib was a feminist magazine, the best-known from the second wave that was produced with the intention of reaching a national audience. At its peak it is estimated to have had 100,000 readers and was distributed through WH Smith newsagent chain. The iconic magazine challenged the stereotyping and exploitation of women, it’s aim was to bring the unequal position women held in British society to attention. It also focused on female identity and female liberation, which was a key part of the second wave. Figure 5 is a selection of issue covers, the pages show women smiling naturally and fully clothed, represented in a non-sexualised way, which is polar opposite to the non-feminist magazines of the day, see figure 6. Although Spare Rib covered similar terrain to other more commercial women’s magazines such as Cosmopolitan, it was approached from a feminist-conscious perspective; with women in mind rather than the illusion everything women do is to please men. An example being in figure 6, one of the lines to attract consumers ‘Are you a good lover? This quiz will tell’. The issue here wasn’t women’s sexuality being openly spoken or written about, rather the focus being on male pleasure. The message from Cosmopolitan is very much in contrast to some of the adverts and columns in an issue of Spare Rib - as seen in figure 7. Spare Rib provides women with information on where to get help, advice, as well as a column about sex. The abstract seen in figure 7 is written by a woman and in her point of view, whilst considering the male perspective in an equal
and fair manner.

Figure 8, a screen-printed poster illustrates a woman’s face, the woman has her mouth wide open and flowing out of her mouth are several female figures. The female figures are seen in their underwear and are different shapes and sizes, there is however one distinct beauty queen. The poster is entitled ‘Protest’ and was published by See Red Women Collective in the 1970s, raising awareness and protesting women’s objectification and beauty contests. The posters use of abstract colours, red, yellow, green and black enables all women to relate, rather than being exclusive to a certain skin tone.

Graphics and visual arts were essential in keeping everything together, as the Women’s Liberation Movement was an umbrella over a wide range of groups and activities, who had the common aim to end the oppression of women. Graphic art allowed the process of change to be visible and documented through publications. The WLM claimed the female biological sign as their own emblem (figure 9) as it embodies identity, presence and strength. The symbol was ideal for the movement, simple and easily drawn by anyone whilst also being very distinct. The symbol was often accompanied by the text ‘in sisterhood’ at the end of letters and was like a code for a secret society. The fist up to the air, seen in figure 9, communicates the strength women have in them, along with the unity the movement felt. The symbol was used all around the world as it was universal, it didn’t use any language or culture references, this was also a factor in why it to this day still one of the most widely reproduced political statements.

In 1972 Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro organised a feminist art installation and performance space in California. The space was called Womanhouse and the organisers encouraged their students and local arts to use consciousness-raising techniques to generate content for the exhibition. Figure 10 is an installation titled ‘Linen Closet’ and shows the mannequin of a woman forced and stuck in a closet, between the shelves and surrounded in linen. The mannequin has one foot forward, as though she is trying to escape and come out of the closet. The piece is by Sandy Orgel, the caption being  ‘As one woman visitor to my room commented “This is exactly where women have always been- in between the sheets and on the shelf”. It is now time to come out of the closet’. This installation raises awareness of how society views women, a view that comes from a patriarchal place - women are good for sex/ having children and housework. They should not have a voice and should instead stay tucked away at home looking after their husband. Womanhouse was reviewed by Time Magazine and subsequently became the first feminist art project to receive national attention, it received around 10,000 visitors during its two months open and served as an introduction of feminism to the public.
Sheila de Bretteville is a well known trailblazer for the feminist movement, her legacy is in design education: Founder of the Women’s Design Program at the California Institute of the Arts in the 1970s and initiator of the communication design program at the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design in 1981.‘In 1970, a liberation movement had 'my name' on it, the 'women's liberation movement'. I was fascinated by looking at women as a category of people who have been undervalued. That was a new and information rich way for me to understand what being a woman had meant to others and to me.’ (Bretteville, 2012). De Bretteville explored the idea of ‘feminist design strategies’, whilst casting new light on old graphic design tools. She introduced strategies that would allow participation from the viewer, an example of this was the use of a grid as a non-hierarchical way of presenting different viewpoints, as seen in figure 11. Figure 11 is entitled ‘Pink’ and allows the viewer to decide on a reading order for themselves. An example of her forward-thinking on design using her strategy of ‘asking a question without providing an answer’ in use by See Red is shown in figure 12. The strategy invites viewers to come to their own conclusion, using the text and graphics provided, they were invited to join a discussion, and feel their opinion mattered. Figure 12 sees text and image together in a contradiction ‘My wife doesn’t work’ exclaims the man,  although the illustrations seem to show otherwise, and a picture really does speak a thousand words. This method is with the aims to get the viewer thinking, whether they agree or disagree, at least they are thinking about it.

The second wave introduced sisterhood and gave female values and experience as an alternative to the controlled patriarchy. Sisterhood allowed a recognition of inner strength amongst women and represented empowerment of a new kind. Graphic and visual art was a massive factor in creating this sense of unity, the start of installations that allowed women and men to open their eyes and consider that the patriarchal society isn’t allowing for equality. Another tool that really helped women connect and be recognisable as part of the movement was the Women’s Liberation Movement emblem. The use of design and art was just as prominent in the next wave, third wave feminism saw women oppose commercial media. Commercial media had dominated and preached about how their life should be since the beginning of time and they had had enough. Women used traditional communication formats against the media by appropriating things such as billboards and signs to put across new messages.
Third-wave feminism focused on abolishing gender-role stereotypes, and expanding feminism to include women of all races, classes and cultures. It is mainly associated with the development of feminist punk subculture ‘riot grrrl’. Tobi Vail, the drummer of Bikini Kill put the message they stood for blunty: “Not only do we live in a totally fucked-up patriarchal society run by white men who don’t represent our interests at all, but we are in a country where those people don’t care if we live or die. And that’s pretty scary.”. Another group from the third wave is Guerrilla Girls, an anonymous group of feminist, female artists who focus on fighting sexism and racism within the art world. The group uses culture jamming to expose discrimination and corruption, usually in the form of posters, billboards, books and public appearances.

Now that there was an alternative view of society that the Punk Movement had played a key role in producing, women were able to explore individualism and creativity, ways of expressing themselves such as playing in bands, producing fanzines and subversive fashion. In the 70s, feminists of colour criticised the movement because their voices often weren’t being heard over the volume of white feminists. They were angry as the white feminists tended to try and speak for all feminists and cry ‘sisterhood’ whilst only focusing on gaining equality with men, ignoring other types of difference in society such as race, sexuality and ability. The uprise of zines was an opportunity for feminists, including those of colour to speak their mind, share their stories and talk about the issues of the movement. This was now easier than ever as self-publishing meant that anyone with a photocopier and some adhesive tape could produce a fanzine on the subject of equality, music or whatever they felt expressed themselves.

Shocking Pink was a publication that sat somewhere between a magazine and a fanzine. It was in circulation through the 80s and 90s with a total of 16 issues, the name Shocking Pink subverts notions of conventional pink femininity. The content covered topics such as sexuality, racism, queer issues, violence against women, how to form a band and other skill sharing, to name a few. Being in the pre-internet age sales were done face to face, in bookshops of the left wing variety or through mail order. Shocking Pinks audience was teenagers and young women, a group of people who wanted to be a part of the movement, but before found it wasn’t that accessible. Before the start of Shocking Pink there was little out there for feminists, aside from Spare Rib and if you lived in London there was something called the Women’s Liberation Newsletter (Orson Jones, 2011). Shocking Pink was a diy zine, they did everything from the layout, photography and copy, developing their skills as they went on. At the time they wouldn’t have called themselves designers or photographers, just simply writers who put together a magazine, but looking back they themselves were creatives. The creation of the publication was a learning curve and the collective received guidance from the women behind Spare Rib; they knew they wanted to react against other existing publications from the mass media such as Jackie (see figure 16). Jackie was aimed at young women, written by men or women who certainly weren’t feminists, as the titles on the cover in figure 16 illustrate. This is the sort of message that feminists were up against, it didn’t even consider that a young woman may have a brain, just that they must, and or want to please men. Shocking Pink introduced a lighter and younger alternative to feminist magazines such as Spare Rib, by not taking themselves as serious, providing comedy and personal stories. They took a feature Jackie used often, a series of photos that told a story and used it to talk about issues such as sexual harassment and rape as seen in figure 17, they used this form of storytelling in print media to educate women about consent.

Guerrilla Girls formed in the year 1985 in New York, with the motto ‘Reinventing the “F” word: feminism!’. To remain anonymous the group have always worn gorilla masks (see figure 13) and used the names of female artists who have passed. Their initial formation was in response to the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition titled ‘An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture’, the exhibition showcased a total of 169 artists, of less than 10 percent were women. The lack of women artists being featured in museums pushed them to produce protest art that could be displayed in New York neighbourhoods such as Soho and East Village. Figure 14 is a poster that was commissioned by the Public Art Fund, which supports public art projects in NYC, it is in response to data they collected from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, they looked at the ratio of male-to-female artworks on display in the Modern Art Department and discovered that less than five percent of the works were produced by women. Even more shockingly, when investigating the art that featured nude models they discovered eighty five percent were of women. The poster features a reproduction of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s ‘Odalisque’, the reclining nude lady symbolises idealised female beauty, however rather than a beautiful profile the female figure has been given the head of a gorilla; this is the Guerrilla Girls hallmark. The use of the mask shocks the viewer into giving the poster attention, it is so out the ordinary people will be intrigued and read the message they are putting across. The Public Art Fund rejected the Guerrilla Girls design when they proposed it as they believed the shape of the fan held by the figure to be phallic, yet they had no objection to the nude lady, further proving that the society is patriarchal and it is fine for women to be seen as sex objects, but of course not men.

The Guerrilla Girls wanted their messages to be conveyed in an accessible manner and so appropriated the visual language of advertising. They were also devoted to being intersectional feminists and representing women of colour. Their piece ‘When Racism And Sexism Are No Longer Fashionable, How Much Will Your Art Collection Be Worth?’ (see figure 15) was produced in 1989 and was part of a portfolio entitled ‘Guerrilla Girls Talk Back’. The format of figure 15 is bold block text, followed by a list, it reminds the viewer of a newspaper article or ad, something familiar that they are bound to read and believe. The poster serves as a warning to art collectors who invest all of their money in art only produced by white men that when society eventually rejects racism and sexism; they will be left with one painting that is ‘unfashionable’, when they could have at least one piece of work from each of the listed women and artists of colour below whilst supporting the minorities.

Third wave feminism is associated with the beginning of so called lipstick feminists, along with the rise of raunch culture. This is down to the new feminists spreading the message that female sexuality and expression are a challenge to objectification, dismissing any attempts to restrict or dictate how women should act, dress or express themselves.

Fourth-wave feminism began around 2012 and is very different to the first wave, as it is mainly associated with the use of social media. The focus is justice for women, and key issues are the fight against street and workplace harassment, violence against women,  sexual assault and rape culture. Each wave has been different from the previous in terms of its focus and tactics, the fourth is the most widespread and accessible across the world through the use of technology. Technology is allowing women to build a strong, reactive and popular movement online.