{"id":{"repo_id":"gsu","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1139"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/gsu/oai:digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu:etd-1139","repository":{"repo_id":"gsu","name":"Georgia Southern University","base_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Sexuality: Social and Cultural Constructs of Women Represented through Art","abstract":"Life is one beauty pageant after another. There is always competition, be it physically or mentally. Societal rules have always determined the constructions of gender both accepted and taboo. My research explores how these social constructs pertaining to sexuality began and how they have been perpetuated throughout history in art. Because of my personal struggles with social constrictions as a woman, an artist, and as one whose sexual identity has been designed from these social constructs, I have explored women's roles as artists: how women and their sexuality have been portrayed in the past through artworks using various media; how the viewers of these artworks saw the women that were portrayed and society's reactions to these works of art. My intent here, and in my work, has been to focus on the construction and constrictions of female sexuality, beauty, and competition. I will also be discussing the role of sexuality as content in ceramics and how the influence of ceramic objects from history and the contemporary world has had on my own artwork. My interest also includes how western religious aspects control our sense of our bodies, the vagina for example, as the yawning mouth of hell (Blackledge, 51) and how these ideas form the construction of womanhood.","abstract_html":"Life is one beauty pageant after another. There is always competition, be it physically or mentally. Societal rules have always determined the constructions of gender both accepted and taboo. My research explores how these social constructs pertaining to sexuality began and how they have been perpetuated throughout history in art. Because of my personal struggles with social constrictions as a woman, an artist, and as one whose sexual identity has been designed from these social constructs, I have explored women&#x27;s roles as artists: how women and their sexuality have been portrayed in the past through artworks using various media; how the viewers of these artworks saw the women that were portrayed and society&#x27;s reactions to these works of art. My intent here, and in my work, has been to focus on the construction and constrictions of female sexuality, beauty, and competition. I will also be discussing the role of sexuality as content in ceramics and how the influence of ceramic objects from history and the contemporary world has had on my own artwork. My interest also includes how western religious aspects control our sense of our bodies, the vagina for example, as the yawning mouth of hell (Blackledge, 51) and how these ideas form the construction of womanhood.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Clark, Gayle Shaw"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)","degree_level":"Thesis (open access)","degree_discipline":"Department of Art","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Julie McGuire","Marc Moulton"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2008,"date_issued":"2008-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2008-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:29Z","subjects":["ETD","Sculpture","Ceramics","Sexuality","Gender","Women","Constructs","Women in art"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/139","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Julie McGuire","Marc Moulton"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Clark, Gayle Shaw"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Art"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis (open access)"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["ETD","Sculpture","Ceramics","Sexuality","Gender","Women","Constructs","Women in art"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/139"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Life is one beauty pageant after another. There is always competition, be it physically or mentally. Societal rules have always determined the constructions of gender both accepted and taboo. My research explores how these social constructs pertaining to sexuality began and how they have been perpetuated throughout history in art. Because of my personal struggles with social constrictions as a woman, an artist, and as one whose sexual identity has been designed from these social constructs, I have explored women's roles as artists: how women and their sexuality have been portrayed in the past through artworks using various media; how the viewers of these artworks saw the women that were portrayed and society's reactions to these works of art. My intent here, and in my work, has been to focus on the construction and constrictions of female sexuality, beauty, and competition. I will also be discussing the role of sexuality as content in ceramics and how the influence of ceramic objects from history and the contemporary world has had on my own artwork. My interest also includes how western religious aspects control our sense of our bodies, the vagina for example, as the yawning mouth of hell (Blackledge, 51) and how these ideas form the construction of womanhood."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Sexuality: Social and Cultural Constructs of Women Represented through Art"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Julie McGuire","Marc Moulton"],"dc:creator":["Clark, Gayle Shaw"],"dc:date.available":["2013-10-17T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Life is one beauty pageant after another. There is always competition, be it physically or mentally. Societal rules have always determined the constructions of gender both accepted and taboo. My research explores how these social constructs pertaining to sexuality began and how they have been perpetuated throughout history in art. Because of my personal struggles with social constrictions as a woman, an artist, and as one whose sexual identity has been designed from these social constructs, I have explored women's roles as artists: how women and their sexuality have been portrayed in the past through artworks using various media; how the viewers of these artworks saw the women that were portrayed and society's reactions to these works of art. My intent here, and in my work, has been to focus on the construction and constrictions of female sexuality, beauty, and competition. I will also be discussing the role of sexuality as content in ceramics and how the influence of ceramic objects from history and the contemporary world has had on my own artwork. My interest also includes how western religious aspects control our sense of our bodies, the vagina for example, as the yawning mouth of hell (Blackledge, 51) and how these ideas form the construction of womanhood."],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/139"],"dc:subject":["ETD","Sculpture","Ceramics","Sexuality","Gender","Women","Constructs","Women in art"],"dc:title":["Sexuality: Social and Cultural Constructs of Women Represented through Art"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Art"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis (open access)"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:26:29Z"}