Expression of Sexuality

 Expression of Sexuality 

In this week's reading Framing the Question: Positive Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photographs (1991) Jan Zita Grover discusses images and what they “forget” and “remember,” she discusses her person experiences with bias as well as the presence of lesbians in popculture.

To begin her writting Grover explains that lesbian images are precieved differently by individuals of lesbian and non-lesbian audiences. I thought it was very bold for her to start out by eliminating some bias, with this statement she acknowledges different people have different feelings when seeing such imagery, which brings any reader of her writing a sense of security. Then Grover spends some time explaining an experience she shared with another, where they were selecting photos for a Nicaraguan exhibition and her partner only was stimulated by photos taken by individuals that were North America or European. The answer to Grovers question of “why,” “why no images from Nicaraguans and cubans,” was that their photos were full of too much joy, all the people in the photos were joyful and so were their interactions with others and their environment. It is ironic that the photos being chosen were not photos by the people the exhibition was about because they were not “hip” or “challenging” enough, but the photos taken by Central Americans were taken in a fashion that displayed their culture to the rest of the world exactly as they wanted them to see it. Next Grover discusses how photographs are a method of recording, but in more recent years with the influx of technology photographs have become a method of altering reality as well as enhancing reality for suitability. Grover also suggests that almost all the images we are exposed to reinforce institutions like marriage, a family with both parents and two children, boy and girl, a home, careers and schooling. She at the same time suggests that some individuals who view anything that falls outside those notions would deem it inappropriate. After these suggestions Grover brings up Simon Watney and his ideas about forgetting and remembering. Grover includes a quote from Simon… “We cannot theorise the workings or nature of remembering without at the sametime considering the systematic mechanisms of forgetting (pg 403).” Which goes directly into one of Grover’s main points that the photographs we view are valuable for the institutions that they remember but are insignificant for what they forget (same sex couples, people not in intimate relationships, marriage without children, same sex parents). I think these ideas about what photos as well as cinema and literature forget and remember are vital to Grover’s expression that lesbian and non-lesbian audiences percieve lesbian content extremely differently. 

Something important to acknowledge when Grover brings up lesbian images is that lesbian audiences do not nessicarily read them as pornograph. Lesbian audiences feel acknowledge and heard when represented in media to their liking. Just like the Nicaraguans felt their photos accurately displayed their culture, lesbians after the same thing an accurate representation of their sexuality that validates them in society. It is also important to acknowledge that lesbian images are almost always deemed pornogrpah by non-lesbian or heterosexual audiences. The images are deemed inappropriate or volger solely because they do not aline with these individuals of other preference. How backwards could things possibly become… 

Betty Parsons, The Queen of the Circus, 1973

The artwork shown above is by Betty Parsons, an artist, and art collector of the mid 20th century. Betty Parsons was open and honest about her relationships with women during her younger years. Many people began to speak out about sexuality in the 70’s and 80’s of the 20th century. Although towards the end of her life she receded into herself, possibly because society was not kind to who she was as a person. Much of her collecting art and experimenting in art correlated to abstract expressionism that is commonly described by tortured male artist. I think Betty Parsons felt that her trama was just as valid as these men but abstract expresionism was only valuable for what it remembers… tortured white males and what it forgets… women struggling to find accurate representations of their sexuality. 

LaBarge, Emily. “Betty Parsons at Alison Jacques.” The Online Edition of Artforum International Magazine, 22 Oct. 2019, https://www.artforum.com/picks/betty-parsons-81086. 

Grover, Zita Jan. Sex, Sexuality, Image. “Framing the Question: Postivie Imaging and Scarcity in Lesbian Photogrpahs. London: Pandora Press, 1991. Accessed 8 November, 2021.