Nowadays, people are more flexible. What’s the next step – being flexible to the point of exhaustion? Why actually? And why not?
Well, it will not be about art, but as an introduction to the topic of cultural roles, I will start with the memory of an artistic achievement. It was Abramovic who first moved her body to the point of exhaustion many decades ago. After a long dance she collapsed from exhaustion. In this way, she showed how women are degraded to submissive roles. Thanks to her spectacle and many other activists who screamed to the point of exhaustion, fixed roles were challenged many decades ago.
Well, maybe there is no issue, but wait a minute – what was your first word in this world? And the next question: Why are you in this world? Come on, we are not existentialists. We are here to be who we want to be! And no one can punish us for who we are and who we want to be. But is a fluid identity an answer for many women who have to give up their careers when they have a child. Many of them who face the penalty of motherhood will suffer in the labour market for the rest of their lives. Compared to the Philippines, where women without husbands are exploited as cheap labour, this is still a very weak punishment
In 2002, more than seven million women were physically abused in Brazil. Now, gender-based violence can often be provoked by the victim – many people can still agree with this statement. Nevertheless, we have changed our minds on this subject. In Sweden, only one in ten people agree with this statement. We are more open and flexible when it comes to roles, and that must mean that we have more power in our hands. Power does not come from above. Of course, this is so true today. In the US, the overturning of Roe vs. Wade in 2022 removed the right to abortion from the constitution and gave each state the ability to make its own rules. 14 states have enacted bans on it from conception, affecting millions of women who cannot afford such great gifts as a child.
Womenforwomen.org.uk, private archive e.g. from visits to galleries
