AMAZONS AND ART : WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF LITERATURE, MUSIC, FILM AND ART BY ISRAEL KASHIM AUDU

 

AMAZONS AND ART : WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF LITERATURE, MUSIC, FILM AND ART BY ISRAEL KASHIM AUDU

 Though the 21st-century has often been referred to as the age of women-empowerment when every crusader against patriarchal norms is applauded, representation of female emancipation, be it in films and serials or in literature, often assume distorted forms. The depiction of women in media and literature seems to be aimed more at satisfying the subconscious male voyeuristic desires than at how the females have become modernised enough to take on the world.

 Importantly, this is not a novel phenomenon. With the powerful men looking down upon their female counterparts merely as submissive sexual objects. Women have been consistently stereotyped as unintelligent human beings who are expected to serve in kitchens, follow the directions of their male and female in-laws, act as caring mothers to children, and ensure, on the peril of unpopularity, that servants did their tasks ‘correctly’. Even in Europe, which seemed to have had been modernised by the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, women were not allowed proper education or encouraged to write. Only as late as in 19th-century did some sensitive intellectuals, starting with John Stuart Mill, and involving personalities like Frances Cobbe, Harriet Martineau, and Josephine Butler among others, began clamouring for equal rights for women.

 20th-century critics like Kate Millett, Simone de Beauvoir, Elaine Showalter, and Judith Fetterley have, in various publications, cautioned their female readers about the ‘traditional male hypocrisies’ which seek to dismiss the importance of females even while clamouring for their developments. Fetterley, especially, speaks for the necessity of ‘resisting readers’ who would identify the specific areas in male-constructed literature which offer demeaning portrayal of women and conspire to keep them submissive.

 However, as far as casual re-readings of post-modern literature reveal or cursory glances at films and television serials notice, women are directly or unwillingly participating in their own commodification, and allowing themselves to be sexualised on screen or in print. Rather than becoming a century for women’s liberation, the 21st-centutry has become a period of gross female sexualisation. In such an age of artistic and aesthetic decadence, it has become necessary to identify the specific areas where women are being, on daily basis, distortedly depicted, patronised, or dominated. Even if such identifications and relevant publications would not normally stop violent attacks on young women, they would at least make maturing readers aware of the deplorable ground-realities for women in Nigeria and on international arena, and make them stake and encouraging views of the female efforts for liberation. The present critical anthology collects a number of essays, most relevant in context of the mistreatment and misrepresentation of women in the 21st-century.

Women like Mo Abudu, Genevieve Nnaji, Funke Akindele, Rahama Sadau, Hadiza Gabon, Omotola Jalade, including many great women are doing Nigerian movie industry proud. Looking at literature ; Balaraba Ramat Yakubu writing books of love in Hausa to Kiru Taye and her sensual and passionate romance and erotica stories. Nigeria's literary history also includes Adaora Lily Ulasi and her 'juju fiction, the first published Nigerian female playwright, 'Zulu Sofola, contemporary poets - Jumoke Verissimo and Ijeoma Umebinyuo who are producing exciting works, writer, editor, critic and great contributor to literary arts in Nigeria. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is also a Nigerian writer whose works range from novels to short stories to nonfiction. Focusing on music ; Yemi Alade. One of the most talented and loved female musicians in Africa.  Yemi Alade is undoubted among the best female musicians in Nigeria. People like

Tiwa Savage, Simi, Tems, Teni, Niniola, Mercy Chinwo, Chidinma, Seyi Shay  are also doing the Nigerian music industry proud. This and many more female need to be encouraged. Women who go into prostitution or any evil act should be discouraged. 

"There’s a genuine desire to move with the times. But there’s still a long way to go. We need to stop featuring women as peripheral characters"

A research study shows that in business settings, men’s independent entrepreneurial behavior is usually celebrated — while women get negatively referred to as bossy or disruptive. But women have a certain creative advantage in music because they’re more collaborative and open to working with others. “In the context of creative production, female artists may actually benefit more from large collaboration networks than male artists,” the study says. “The latter are constrained by expectations that ‘real men’ do not engage in behaviors like seeking help.” Further more, when women make it in life, people see their success as unrealistic saying "She slept with a man or she sleeps with men hence the reason for her fame" This may not be the case because women work hard to be were the are today and need to be celebrated and encouraged in their craft and creativity. 

Since arts industries like music are so collaboration-based, “having more women in one’s network may introduce an artist to more novelty-rich diversity, especially if the artist in question is a man,” researchers note.

Another factor affecting women’s musical creativity is the bifurcation of genres by gender. In the same way female lawyers “cluster in family and estate law” and female engineers in “non-core social work activities” because of social pressure, the research study’s authors found, artists affiliated with female-dominated genres may experience status insecurity and be more likely to conform to conventional production practices than those in male-dominated genres. So, even if women show a stronger ability to create original work, societal norms try to put them in boxes that discourage ingenuity.

Even though female music creators were found to be more creative, women are still held back from measurable success in their fields due to gender bias in evaluations of their work and abilities by critics and peers. 

Finally, In whatever you do first believe in yourself, be proud of what you do as far as it's good. Keep pushing and shine and you will be celebrated as a woman, never be intimidated or distracted. 

Happy women's day 2021.