Following on from my previous project where I questioned why people speak of women as if they are objects or trophies, something they can control. I wanted to understand why people are so demeaning when describing or speaking about women’s bodies. I scrutinize how influential language is in society and how it shapes ideals, opinions and the way we think about ourselves and others. It encouraged me to examine language (slang terms and phrases) further in relation to female genitalia.
I wanted to continue exploring language, slang/ euphemisms and how it is used for communication between people.
Language and communication is one of the fundamental features of humanity. The ability to communicate – to receive, process, store and produce messages – is central to human interaction and participation.
The primary modes of communication are speaking, listening, reading and writing. (sign languages, online audio/video communication or non-verbal modes such as crying and touch.)
This made me think about different ways people communicate with each other and how technology is changing, meaning we no longer need to interact in certain ways as we have social media and the internet. I began to look at forms of communication:
Passing notes
Writing letters
Sign postage
Advertisement boards
Carrier pigeons
Cave paintings
Telephone calls
Text messages
Social media - Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter etc...
Smoke signals
I thought about how many of these types of communication are no longer or very rarely used due to technology continually changing. For example, the demand for telephone boxes have been on the decline for many years as majority of people own their own mobile phones nowadays. Telephone boxes are spaces for communication.
To solicit on the streets became illegal in 1956 and sex workers found other ways to find clients. This would often mean sex workers would advertise their services on cheaply produced cards which they'd place discreetly in shop windows and telephone boxes.
"The 1953 Post Office Act made it illegal to advertise in or “in any way disfigure” telephone boxes in the UK. When this act was repealed in 1984, business-savvy sex workers were quick to move their cards out of shop windows and into public telephone boxes. Although tart cards are still found in the telephone boxes of cities all around the world, they garnered something of a cult following in Britain, and are most immediately associated with London." (Dial ‘S’ for Sex: A History of a Phone-Booth Subculture in the United Kingdom)
Tart Cards - (sometimes called Slag Tags) were printed on cheap, brightly coloured paper or card and featured simple block designs in black ink. The designs would often have images of nude women, stilettos or sex toys which directly communicated the different types of service they had to offer.
Technology advancements meant tart cards could feature fancy typefaces and glossy photos of erotic figures.
(Examples of Tart Cards.)
Despite the images being clearly provocative and suggestive, the language used on the cards would rarely mention sex directly. Sex workers are frequently called “models”, anal sex is referred to as “going Greek” or “A levels”, while oral sex is called an “O level” or “going French”.
The cards would often use a lot of word play and puns. They use euphemisms and puns to avoid directly mentioning sex. E.g. ‘In Diana Jones’ and "Anal-yse".
In 2001, Criminal Justice and Police Act made placing Tart Cards in phone boxes punishable by six months in prison or a fine of up to £5,000. There are still the occasional card which can be found in a telephone box but many sex works feel safer using the internet to find clients. Meaning that Tart Cards have had their day.
I wanted to explore the different ways I could create my own type of Tart Card to communicate with people using the demeaning slang and euphemisms which are used to describe female genitalia. This is because I want to show how throughout history, society have come up with many different ways to be more indirect when describing sex or female genitalia. I aimed to do this through guerrilla art.
My aim was to do this through guerrilla art and the language which are used in sex work.
I want my work to show the gritty, sinister truth that lies beneath Tart Cards as many women were trafficked in the sex industry and even though Tart Cards are playful and witty there is a dark underlying truth to them. Which is what I want my work to show as I'm trying to highlight the dark truth behind slang terms and euphemisms.
I began by creating digital drawings which visualised the language used to describe women’s bodies. I wanted them to look quite child-like and innocent but for them to also have quite a humorous, amorous edge to them. As I was inspired by guerrilla art, I didn't want people to find my work offensive or for it to upset children. I wanted my work to have hidden 'adult' meanings in them. If was a child was to see one of my drawings, they'd see it as just a colourful, fun looking character. However, as an adult looking at the image, it could suggest a more racy meaning.
I wanted to visualise these slang terms and euphemisms to highlight the ridiculousness of these vulgar and derogatory terms as they are built on masculinity and the patriarchy. They shouldn’t be used loosely in conversation as they are demeaning. The words are trophy-like when used by men because they can be seen as an achievement.
Beaver-
Beaver - Men reference women’s pubic hair a lot when using slang terms. For example - metaphors that are invoked by furry animals. My assumption is, that because the presence of women’s pubic hair is foregrounded by its position in relation to the vulva, it is then noted often by men.
I wanted to make the beaver look slightly provocative but still be child friendly. I thought by adding blue eye shadow (which is a common assumption that prostitutes and strippers wear blue eyeshadow and is now thought to look "tacky" and "cheap") and knee high boots would add the edge I wanted to the drawing. The way I positioned the beaver could also be suggestive.
I drew the same beaver and positioned her differently. This time, led down on some wood which could be seen as more amorous.
I really like this drawing as it's very simple yet achieves the exact amount of suggestiveness I wanted.
Fried Eggs-
I wanted to make these drawings very simple as I wanted to turn them into lino / mono prints.
Food terms for women and women's genitalia position women as up "for consumption" - argued by Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch 1970.
Hairy Handbag -
I wanted this to look really tacky, like accessories you'd find with Barbie.
I really struggled with the hair as I wanted it to be simple enough to create a print from. I'm unsure whether it is going to actually work as a print.
Hairy Handbag is similar to Beaver in a way. It refers to the position of women's pubic hair. It also speaks of Women's genitalia as potential space. A handbag is a place to put things. Other examples of this are: letterbox, slot, box, bucket, hole etc...
Feminists have asserted that paradigmatic women are "holes, receptacles, containers- things [men] can or want to fuck" (Penelope, 1990, Speaking Freely
Axe Wound -
I didn't want the Axe Wound drawing to be too graphic. If I was going to be using these drawings to place around in telephone boxes and other public spaces I didn't want to offend or upset anyone.
Abjection was invoked in various ways: through reference to dirtiness and wounds. When men describe women's genitalia using this language, it would often refer to a violent act. E.g. Axe Wound.
Wizards Sleeve -
I sketched out a very quick idea for my drawing of Wizard Sleeve. I also experimented with the idea of adding a whip in the other hand of the 'wizard' but felt as if it didn't really work and didn't make much sense to have it there.
I chose very fleshy colours as usually wizards wear purple, blue or black cloaks and I wanted it to suggest that it represented a vagina. Which is why the inside of the sleeve has pinky/ red colours.
I was curious to see how the the sleeve would look in a red colour and adding pale coloured stars to the wizards sleeve but that also felt too much.
For this drawing, I felt the more simple it was, the better and more effective.
Milk Jugs -
I found this image very fun to create. I wanted to keep the simple, cartoon style I had done with my previous drawings. I do think I could have changed the colour of the milk jug itself as it does blend in with the cows udders.
"milk jugs, Slang: Vulgar. a woman's breasts"
The reason I decided to draw a cow milking itself was because larger breasts are often referred to as 'milk jugs'. Cows produce milk and jugs are filled with milk. Similar to breasts when a woman is pregnant.
As playful and silly looking I wanted my drawings to look, I wanted my work to remind people that the language and slang that I was visualising adds to everyday misogyny and that is dehumanises women.
I wanted my drawings to look ridiculous and silly as I thought it could further highlight that breasts, vulva and vagina are seen as a 'bad' word. Instead of using the correct terminology, we use slang terms and euphemisms. These words are seen as “bad” because society seems to think of a woman’s sexuality/body as a negative thing that shouldn’t be talked about. The words 'Breast', 'Vagina' or 'Vulva' have no power, we only give them power by refusing to use them correctly.
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