Sitting Like a Lady...?

From: Brianna

My project is making a statement around the "Sit like a lady" social construct. I put on a traditionally tomboy-ish outfit, and a traditionally girly one. In both outfits I made poses of man-spreading and of "sitting like a lady" to create a stark juxtaposition of how people, especially women, can/are expected to and taught how to sit while wearing certain clothes in order to prevent revealing what should be private parts of someone's body, disproving that clothes by themselves don't dictate how you are physically able to sit/hold yourself.

 

For the tomboy-ish outfit, I kept my hair tied up and messy, my shirt disheveled, no jewelry, and used makeup to create dirt, bruises and redness. All signs of hard, intense, and exhausting work, which women are not expected to be seen doing. In my girly outfit, my hair is brushed and down, my dress is laid properly, I have jewelry and heels on. Typically signs of a put-together, feminine, respectful/proper lady.

 

The juxtaposition comes when I'm posed doing the opposite of what is expected of that outfit. With the tomboy-ish outfit of a flannel, jeans with holes, work boots, dirty rough skin and messy hair, it would be expected to be more manly and sit with spread legs and to be assertive in my space. But I can still cross my legs, shrink down and shy away from a prying gaze (the camera) in the outfit. In the girly outfit of a dress, heels, brushed hair, smooth unabraised skin, and jewelry, it would be expected to have legs crossed/closed, arms closer to your body, being seen as proper or not being outwardly noticeable. But I can still sit with my legs spread, "revealing" those private parts, with my arms comfortably behind my head, relaxing in my space as much as possible and stare down the prying gaze (camera) with a challenge of power. Creating more of a visceral, negative reaction to why a lady is being so preposterous to think its okay to sit that way with a dress. However, someone in jeans doesn't need to shrink in on themselves and they have freedom to sit however they want because the implied femininity and revealing aspect are gone. 

 

In the mini excerpt of "The "Two Cultures" of Childhood" provided to us, it is mentioned that "Gender schemas associate maleness and femaleness with a myriad of different attributes, behaviors, and objects,  Defining "masculine" as rougher, tougher, and more active and feminine as nicer, softer, and more passive this theme carries through to gender stereotypes applied to adults including associating strength and power with men and warmth and nurturance with women this general theme also emerges in the earlier associations children make with each sex such as which toys are for boys and which are for girls" (page 2 in the canvas handout, page 60 of the actual text). This is what led me to create/emphasize my outfits in relations to my poses along with where my attention is focused in the photo. A rougher, less put together but ready to work, signs of dirt from that work-type outfit was used to convey the masucline look. A pretty, well done up, accessorized, clean outfit was used to convey the feminine look. In my photos of the man-spreading pose, my gaze is directed at the camera to acknowledge the gaze and give myself a sense of a power (power of choice to sit how I want, not conform to rules) in the photo while trying to take up as much room as possible. While my gaze in the “sit like a lady” pose is turned down and away from the camera/gaze to give a sense of shyness, dainty-ness, submissive-like aura. 

 

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood."

The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations

The Guilford Press,

2015, 59-63.