Beginning Module Three - Ancient Mythical beliefs influencing Gender Power

How do I begin to navigate my way through this module...? What am I referring to when discussing Gender? In module two, I touched on this concept of how Western society, historically Christian have influenced the way we in which we view people. I wanted to depict one of the founding myths of our culture, the tale of Adam and Eve.

Adam and Eve

In the book, the body social, Synnott explains, ‘People are polarised in our culture as opposite, unequal and at war in a classic example of dual symbolic classification. We define people not simply as biologically different but as ‘opposite’ sexes’ we even refer on occasion to the battle of sexes’ (Synnott, 1993, pg. 38). When we think about this ideology of people, we must cast back to the myth of Adam and Eve.

'In short, Adam was first created, while Eve was created for him, rather than vice versa, thus making Adam the Superior in this dynamic. Eve the sinned first, making her the origin of evil. In cursing Eve, God then commanded her to be subject to Adam. To put it bluntly, this myth creation has only enhanced Christian patriarchalism, misogyny and male dominance' (Synnott, 1993, pg. 39).

This notion of male superiority weaves its way through the performing industry without real thought or reflection of how it even came to be an issue. These traditional views often refer back to religious beliefs. The dynamic that Adam holds a higher sense of power, in control and therefore more important. Eve revolves to serve Adam, rather than vice versa. This religious myth led me to question has this ideology followed through into the performing arts industry. This idea of gendered power, how people in position use their gender and power to manipulate a situation.

The movement #MeToo saw famous artists in higher power take accountability for the sexual harassment suits they had filed against them. When we think about #MeToo we instantly refer back to Harvey Weinstein but for the purpose of my practice it was important to investigate the Story of Ellen Page, now referred to as Elliott Page. How did Ellen's gender and sexuality affect her experiences within the film industry? 

Research into the Vanity Fair article titled, “Ellen Page accuses Brett Ratner of homophobic and abusive behaviour” (Desta, 2017) discusses her accusations against Brett Ratner a fellow co-star during her time filming X-Men opened my eyes to another LGBTQ harassment cases. At the time she had not made her sexuality public and it was her story that helped me to see the discrimination Lesbian/Trans women face in the industry. He openly outed Ellen by making a sexualised comment before they had the chance to publicly come out. It made me question why Ellen? Out of all the women he was working with what made he choose her. This led me to question that it was discrimination against her because she did not have any interest in men. Did he abuse his position and asserted masculinity to harass Ellen, in hopes to intimidate her, assert his masculinity? The biggest challenge was that she could not say anything in case he outed her bigger secret which was her true gender identity of identifying as male as opposed to female. There was a fear that once the industry knew, she would have faced different treatment and find it harder to obtain work. 

Throughout my literature, I have begun exploring further into how gender and sexuality influence identifying women's experiences within the performing arts industry. As I progress further into my literature, I will be exploring these areas more closely, particularly looking at the book, Gender Trouble by Judith Bell.