123 Crazy Fake Slut Bitch – Feminist?

I was drawn to Caity O’Leary’s exhibit at the Museum of the White Mountains because of all the bright colors and pretty girls. Then when I really looked at it, I thought to myself, “Wow! What does this mean?” The artwork has a lot of carefully didactic imagery that makes its viewers rethink how they label others.

This piece is called “Freakshow.” It highlights societal issues through different circus icons. We have five beautiful examples: a freak with three boobs, a ringleader, a sword-swallower, a bearded lady, and a jester. Each of these women have their own bright red label. According to their labels, what we really have here is a fake woman, a bitch, a slut, a feminist, and a crazy woman. At first, I questioned why there were four insults and then “feminist.” Then I thought about it for a day and a half and I gathered that the label isn’t the insult on that one, it’s the representation.

This piece is a discourse in itself; one cannot remove these characters from their circus connotation. Where else does one see a ringleader or bearded lady? Feminist critique, specifically the Angel and Monster theory, will aid us in dissecting the moral takeaways of this piece of artwork.

The woman with three boobs seems to be a freak of nature, and an angel detained by a monster. “Natural” women have two breasts; this lady has three. She could not have been born that way, and therefore at least one of her boobs must be fake. Or, perhaps she was ridiculed her whole life for being an anomaly, and so she joined the circus. A green monster is behind her, covering her mouth. This may represent an inner demon that stops her from speaking the truth, and encourages her to lie and be fake in order to gain acceptance in a shallow society.

Men do not pay to see a tri-boobed lady to hear her talk. They pay to look. No one cares about what she has to say. The monster may represent those that buy into this industry of degrading women, through burlesque shows or pornography. Or, you know, Disney movies. Think of The Little Mermaid. Ursula, a monstrous sea witch, takes away Ariel’s voice. In the song “Poor Unfortunate Souls”, Ursula says, “You’ll have your looks, your pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of body language.” Don’t worry about the not being able to speak, girl! You still have that figure – use it! As long as a girl is pretty, she can finesse a patriarchal ride to the top. We’re showing this movie to toddlers. Just a friendly reminder.

The ringleader character is an equipped woman, ready to take charge. However as soon as a woman cracks the whip, so to speak, she is labelled a bitch. That may be an opinionated statement, but we can all agree that dominant and authoritative men are standard. If this were a picture of a man with a whip, I know my mind would go straight to “cowboy”, rather than something equal to “bitch.” Authority looks different on men and women. I want to revisit a quote I used in a blog once before:

“Precisely because a woman is denied the autonomy -the subjectivity- that the pen represents, she is not only excluded from culture, but she also becomes herself an embodiment of just those extremes of mysterious and intransigent Otherness which culture confronts with worship or fear, love or loathing,” (Rivkin & Ryan 814).

This is why we accept powerful men without question, and why a powerful woman is different, artistic, and a bitch. A female ringleader is creatively artistic because she’s shadowed by the classic male ringleader.

The sword swallower. Likely the most glaringly phallic piece of art I’ve seen. But the execution is gorgeous I must say. Have you ever seen such a pretty depiction of fellatio?

Since she’s able to fit an entire sword down her throat, she must have had practice. She can’t simply be a talented sword swallower; surely she must have experimented with oral sex in order to perfect her practice. This assumes that the only phallic object that belongs in a womans throat is a penis. You don’t get sword without penis. It just doesn’t work. Notice this woman’s appearance. Is it just me, or are slutty female characters often redheads? Is it because of the fiery and exotic connotation of red hair?

Why is a bearded woman a symbol of female empowerment? In carnival culture, the bearded lady is ridiculed for her appearance. She’s unfeminine and therefore laughable. Does powering through radical social stigmas mark a feminist? Following that, do passive feminists exist? Or must they always be actively advocating for change?

To revisit an argument we’ve seen in class, is a feminist simply a woman who acts like a man?

By holding up a pair of scissors, she is mocking those who want her to be free of facial hair. She can get rid of her hair anytime. She can also keep it for as long as she wants. I really like that she has four eyes. The bottom eyes are looking up at the top ones, and it seems like a look of approval. This bearded lady is certainly open to gender equality in terms of appearance.

The fifth woman is the most inconspicuous yet thought-provoking. The jester or clown makeup and the lack of eyes give her a malign and scary appearance. However, instead of labeling her as scary, she’s labeled crazy. This is not surprising; people are all too quick to call women crazy. I’m sure every woman reading this has been called crazy in a degrading fashion.

Since it’s so common, there is no central meaning. The crazy label for women is one big homogenous lump of insults. Crazy can mean scary, dramatic, needy, anything really. A woman can be called crazy for arson, or for liking root beer. There’s no minimum level of sophistication with this word in this context.

I think she’s here to tell us to stop calling each other crazy. Crazy is a dehumanizing term that should not be used to describe a person. In fact, none of these labels should be put onto people. They are all demeaning and prescribed by the patriarchy. They are lazy insults that we should stop using.

The short takeaway is stop labeling women! Let us live. Here’s a connection back to the text:

“The “killing” of oneself into an art object – the pruning and preening, the mirror madness, and concern with odors and aging…with bodies too thin or too thick – all this testifies to the efforts women have expended not just trying to be angels but trying not to become female monsters,” (Gubar 823).

Although none of the women show their whole face, the parts we see are done up. They’re all wearing bold lipstick and eye makeup. Even the ringleader, with part of her face covered, put on some lipstick for today. These five women aren’t just monsters, they’re pretty monsters. Like the mythical mermaids who lure men to their deaths, these ladies are deceptive.