Cosima Gilbert

Constricted Genders

Inkjet photograph

This work was created to explore the contrasting stereotypes; ‘hysterical women’ and ‘boys don’t cry’, and ways in which they impact the individual. I have examined similarities and differences between these gender binaries and considered the consequences of such constraints when employed by society to categorise people. The focus of the folio has been to examine different aspects of the gender stereotype or different effects these restraints have upon an individual.

I began my process by interrogating commonly expected gendered reactions, including boy’s crying and women screaming. However, as this process developed so did the potential directions, leading the work towards an exploration of more complex reactions. These included questions about women’s identity and ways in which women become two versions of themselves; an overt social expression of self and an internalised identity which exists as the truth about who they really are. My process also explored the dilemma for men, who are equally restricted by physical expressions of masculinity which constrain them from expressing emotions.

This work explores the ways in which the limitations of gendered stereotypes for both men and women are internalised by the individual and impact their function within society.