Barbara Kruger's Untitled Your Body Is A Battleground

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Before the feminist movement in 1848 women were not treated in the same way that men were. There were specific roles for both men and women in which men were thought to be dominant, and women inferior both physically and intellectually. Only men were able to be in the government and vote for matters that concerned everyone in the country, as it was not considered proper for a woman to do the same. Women were not considered equal to men. The feminist theory is that both men and women should be treated equally and 1848 was the year that it became recognized when women’s rights conventions started. More progress followed with the Woman Suffrage Association forming, their goal being to get women the right to vote. During the Second World War, many …show more content…

She created this piece to be used as a poster for a march for women’s right to choose contraception and abortion. Kruger does this by splitting an attractive woman’s face in half, one a positive and the other a negative. This shows those in support of the movement, and those against. The bold words on top of the painting demonstrate how the outcome of the battle they had begun for contraception and abortion would affect them differently to other political battles. It was life changing for them to bring a life into the world, especially if it hadn’t been the woman’s choice. She also suggests the battle it is to get out of the stereotype of what their society told them a woman should be. This is shown by the image behind the text. Without the text the viewer would believe that this beautiful woman was what every woman should strive to be like. She would be seen as an icon of beauty . With the photo being changed into two different halves and three different lines of text going through the photo Kruger helps us to realize that this image is trying to give us that ideal view of what every woman should aim to be like, a perfect woman and she is challenging that. She is challenging women to become themselves, the woman they are, instead of what society wants them to

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