#Me Too (Resting #15)

My favorite place was my bed (until it wasn’t, but that’s another story). This drawing is one example from my Bodyscapes series where the figure beneath the striped blanket is almost always hidden. In this piece, #MeToo is repeated and repeated, becoming the stripes of the blanket. As here, perhaps my hidden figures reflect suppression of my agency as a woman. Let me explain: I was part of the first generation of women in my family to go to college although the males of prior generations had gone. Later, as an artist in a prestigious MFA program, I was one of three women compared to fifteen men. I knew the quotas for women at the other programs I applied to were even fewer. The females on the faculty taught art history; none were practicing artists. I ended up as a college professor and found the unfair treatment continued: We women professors earned less than the men of the same rank; we had lower rates of promotions although equivalent achievements in teaching, publishing, and service; yet we women also served on more committees. We women have earned our stripes.