From Fire Escape, we want this manifesto to be the catalyst for the rupture between gender stereotypes. Therefore, through the 10 artworks that will be exhibited in our gallery, we will offer a new reading that will allow us to question many of the classifications related to gender roles.
From English the gender role is formed by the set of norms, prescriptions and cultural representations that society dictates about behaviour, which can be expected for a given sex. Likewise, roles are directly associated with the spheres of relationship and these mark different times and spaces.
Stereotypes=
Female:
*Weakness *Dependence *Sensitivity *Emotion *Intuition
Male:
*Force *Independence *Objectivity *Decision *Reason
From them, the roles of women and men are symbolical “expressions of femininity and masculinity” and standards to become rigid stereotypes that limit the potentialities of people, by stimulating or suppressing behaviour in accordance with its suitability for the feminine or masculine ideal. Although in their individual development, each person is more suited to the set of expectations and behaviours considered specific to their gender, gender roles are so deeply entrenched that they even come to be considered as the expression of the biological foundations of gender. In the text of The Queer Years. Images and concepts about masculinity in recent practices and in the exhibitions (2007) of the theorist Juan Vicente Aliaga who advocates the deconstruction of gender, questions the categories of femininity and masculinity since to speak of both is also to deal with appearances and presences. He gives the example, that the nail polish is capital, because it is almost exclusive feminine territory except for the case of some boy thrown, of a component of Scissor Sister, or of some unprejudiced drag queen, and I am referring clearly to the so-called western countries (from Europe to Japan…) where the type of colour is also very important because while black may denote, although not always, cult or sign of an urban tribe or a post-punk boldness cultivated by some artists, The rose covers a wide spectrum of feminine and sugary aesthetic calls that go from Britney Spears to the host of the morning television programs.
From the exhibition of Fire Escape, we propose a solution to break with stereotypes and offer a new way. We present it as an effort to question gender, without plots or borders, as Judith Butler already said: Is there a gender that people can have or is it an essential attribute that the person is, as the question implies, What gender are you? When feminist theorists claim that gender is the cultural interpretation of sex or that gender is been culturally constituted, what is the mechanism of sex construction, What is the mechanism of that construction? If gender is built, could it be built in a different way?
With these questions, the exhibition discourse begins with the works of 10 young artists, 5 women and 5 men, as a celebration of the 2nd anniversary of the gallery.
Javi Moreno