The art of genitalia: How gender makes you an artist

In her article "Unfathomable, repellent, delightful" in The Guardian, Iwona Blazwick argues that despite controversy, awards in the arts should be divided into categories distinctly for men and women. She argues that despite its potential sexist and segregating aftereffect, it is necessary in arts competition to divide men and women due to extreme differences in style and the impact feminist art has had on the art world.\nBlazwick describes a famous performance by artist Niki de Saint Phalle, in which she filled bags with paint and shot them with a rifle onto a relief background and asks, were the bags men or women?\nFeminist art is important because of its impressive ability to question gender roles, push the limits of sexism and topple the archaic structure of sex in our society. It began by revolting against the basic characteristics of femininity that were regulated by an invisible social order. You may be surprised, but you and I do the same thing day to day.\nIn society there are two main types of women: the whore and the Virgin Mary. For men, you are either macho or not. There is a large valley in between these binaries that we, in our daily routine, try to enter. We are constantly attempting to prove ourselves as balanced medians of characteristics expected of our gender, with the blind faith that, hopefully, we will be seen as individuals as opposed to men or women. \nAnd isn't it frustrating? Doesn't it provoke feelings of meaning, depth, questioning and pride in yourself? Young people have perfected the art of personalizing every aspect of their lives. What we wear, what we listen to, even what is on our Facebook accounts is personalized to express that we are our own human beings, not one of two categories.\nIt is true that there are many who succumb to what is expected of them. There are those who embrace their wacky sides and point out the ridiculous nature of gender roles and blatantly revolt against them. But for the majority of us, gender roles are something we try to overcome by developing distinct personalities and by just getting by. One cannot deny, hopefully, that every single one of us is worth our own display in the finest museum in the world.