Sexual Constructions

Desire is based on various symbols and codes created in society. Several people have created symbols that are based on an unfavorable personal history and have transformed it into an erotic activity, fetishism. The sexual constructions imposed in society have been impregnated within our imagination, stopping seeing the inequality of gender  but normal and neutral actions. Sexual clichés are more common within female sexuality such as their passivity and submission, the emphasis on their body and youth, their purity, and the clothes and fashion they must use to be sexy. The rules during sex are governed by the male sex, where the objectification is a matter of women, and the feminine desire comes after the masculine one. Moreover, the clothes are different for each one giving an emphasis to the feminine body, to show the purity of women before a sexual relationship but at the time of the act turning them in a whore.

Ghada Amer, a contemporary artist borned in Egypt in 1963 explores the desire and seduction of the women’s body. Amer is a multimedia artist that works with painting, drawing, prints and sculptures reflecting a feminist perspective in the society. Moreover, she rejects the oppressive laws for the women’s body, and in turn she presents a deconstruction of the male gaze in the sexuality. Her objective is to empower women to feel attractive and seduce by her own body.

Amer is well known for her technique of erotic embroideries, where she represents the female desire in a different perspective. Therefore, the woman is not being the passive sex and the desire is not focalized in the male organ. Likewise, she depicts explicit sex acts with the delicacy of needle and thread in order to reflect a tenderness and finesse in the women’s body.