Female sexuality in performance and film: Erotic, political, controllable? the contested female body in the work of Carolee Schneemann and VALIE EXPORT

Abstract

Carolee Schneemann and VALIE EXPORT defied the traditions of patriarchally-defined female sexuality in their performances and films of the 1960s. Their feminist explorations sought to define powerful images of women for women before expressions of women's sexuality and eroticism became part of the lexicon of feminist art practice in the 1970s. Schneemann and EXPORT interrogated themes of female sexuality and pleasure in a manner that allowed the artists to directly confront the viewing audience with the sexually charged female body. It is argued that the artists' work of the 1960s presents new representations of the female body and sexuality in art, particularly through their emphasis on sexual self-awareness, the specificity of expressed experiences, and political imperatives. Through an analysis of select performances and films of the decade, this essay posits that Schneemann and EXPORT created work in which their bodies exceeded the physical and social boundaries for women, challenged the established patriarchal order to portray representations of women for women, and set the stage for the 1970s women's revolution in art. © 2014 Konsthistoriska Sällskapet.