It’s been a banner week for Sexist History! First, we revisited an 1893 New York Times piece which informed us why children are the sexiest swimmers of all. Then, we wrote some Sexist History of our own and discovered why male models may inhabit sexism’s final frontier. Now, for some Sexist Art History: Why we should give a shit about Judith Leyster, some painter lady who was born like 400 years ago.

Read More “This Week In Sexist Art History: Judith Leyster And the Rapiness of Yore” »

There’s art, too: Untitled by April Behnke

What can I say? I give, and I give, and I give. If you’ve always wanted to thumb-wrestle D.C.’s most illustrious drag queens—and who hasn’t!—your wish can come true tomorrow afternoon. Transformer Gallery, in order to celebrate the final night of its “Summer Camp” exhibit, is staging a drag queen thumb wrestling tournament refereed by Nellie’s female impersonator Shi-queeta Lee. Not to be missed: The headlining bout, a battle of the thumbs between Summer Camp and Heidi Ho.

Official deets are after the jump.

Read More “Drag Queen Thumb Wrestling Tomorrow” »

The blogger over at Teaching Artist knows it’s tough. It’s all about ladies. It costs ten bucks. It took Teaching Artist a year and a half to make a visit. Still, TA says just suck it up and go to the National Museum of Women in the Arts:

I’m aware that there may be some apprehension among you out there that you’ll buy a (relatively cheap) ticket only to find the museum is a case of gender politics going too far. Maybe you don’t have art in a museum and you’re bitterly delusional about reverse discrimination. I don’t know. In the least you’ve probably seen art exhibitions that fall short because they assemble a bunch of very different art works on the single unifying principle that they were all made by artists who have similar, non-phallic, genitalia.

It took me five years in D.C. to get over there. Yesterday, I finally did. I’ll have a review of one of the NMWA’s current shows, “Role Models: Feminine Identity in Contemporary American Photography,” in next week’s paper.

Photo: Nikki S. Lee, “The Ohio Project,” 1999

Ask The Sexist “is this sexist?” and she will whisper back softly, “maybe.” Contact The Sexist with your queries.

Dear Sexist,

What is a woman to do when sexist decor appears in one’s office? My government office uses art “on loan” from the artists. When we moved into the office two years ago, a bizarre picture of fat, smirking, hairy men was placed between the office doors of two “high feminist” workers. Bad enough. But now a new picture has appeared in the reception lobby. It is placed directly over the head of the receptionist. It has a bright yellow background. The object in the picture looks like a bright blue tattooed penis. The original title, “Welcome,” had been crossed out and changed to “Lady of the Lake.” An unusual nickname for one’s penis.

Upon exiting the elevator and looking up, a common response is “Whoa!” I find that this oppression is hurting my productivity and that of my fellow workers. I believe a guerilla incursion is required. Your thoughts?

—A Reader

Dear Reader,

Is a man’s penis implicitly sexist? It is not. Are fat, smirking, hairy men implicitly sexist? They are not. Is the placement of a collection of fat smirking hairy man penis art in your feminist work environment sexist? Maybe.

Read More “Dear Sexist” »