The Difference Problem: Art History and the Critical Legacy of 1980s Theoretical Feminism

In die past two decades, theoretical feminism has come to be associated with a limited range of semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches (often reduced even more specifically to gaze theory and a caricatured repudiation of visual pleasure) - theoretical approaches, that is, which have come under fire...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inArt journal (New York. 1960) Vol. 71; no. 2; p. 19
Main Author Mondloch, Kate
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York College Art Association, Inc 01.07.2012
Subjects
Art galleries & museums
Art history
Deconstruction
Eye movements
Feminism
Semiotics
Sex differences
Theory
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Summary:In die past two decades, theoretical feminism has come to be associated with a limited range of semiotic and psychoanalytic approaches (often reduced even more specifically to gaze theory and a caricatured repudiation of visual pleasure) - theoretical approaches, that is, which have come under fire for their alleged inability to credit positive benefits to passive, corporeal, and/or pleasurable interaction with works of art, and for their focus on sexual difference in lieu of all other forms of difference. [...]as critics have attempted to move beyond "heavy-handed theory," all feminist theory appears expendable, and the unshakable association of 1980s feminist art with strong social-constructionist models makes an entire generation of artistic production appear suspect by association.6 This essay is concerned with retracing the discursive construction of an increasingly narrow idea of 1980s theoretical feminism to better theorize current artistic production and its relationship to previous feminist activity.
ISSN:0004-3249
2325-5307