Page 125 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

Schneemann unapologetically showed pride in her femininity and sexuality while also
reclaiming her body (The Art Story, “Feminist Art Movement, Artists, and Major Works”). This
performance was not without backlash, though, as her work was extremely controversial and
seen as taboo.

Carolee Schneemann is just one specific example of many, many women who have been
influenced by women that the patriarchy so readily labeled monstrous. These monstrous figures
represent the struggle women have historically had every day both internally and externally. This
struggle is with themselves and how they identify with or personify their femininity and wear
their stories, as well as externally with men and other women who desire to reduce women to
sexual possessions. While in modern times, the challenges women must face are not quite as
difficult or horrible as all of those that women had to face in the past, there are some situations,
such as rape, hypersexualization, possessive or controlling men, and being seen as less because
of the fact that one is a woman. All of these things create the feelings of inferiority and rage that
make monstrous women so easy to identify with, as they are victims of the patriarchy just like
almost every single woman from all throughout time.

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