Article about women in street art and graffiti
What difficulties do they face and why are there fewer of them?
Abstract:
The article presents the results of exploring gender inequality in street art and graffiti, based on the survey of 50 artists from several countries and a literature review. The purpose of the research was to identify the prerequisites for the gap between men and women in graffiti and street art, as well as the problems and stereotypes that girls face in their practice. The main reason behind this research was the desire to find out why we see fewer girls than boys in the graffiti and street art communities.
RELEVANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH
Typically, graffiti, street art and muralism (legal wall art) are considered predominantly male activities. Girls, indeed, are much less likely to engage in street art. This can be seen in street art festivals, where more than half of the participants are men, and in exhibitions of street artists (for example, “Parts of the Walls”). One might think that women hardly engaged in street art, but this has not been the case for a long time. More and more women are starting to paint on city walls and “bomb” them, defending their right to self-expression and destroying stereotypes about female fragility.
With their activity, female graffiti artists are able to prove that graffiti is not for guys only. Thus, a traditionally male activity, which is a way of capturing and appropriating space, becomes normal for women who want to defend their place on the street and in the graffiti community. And female images and female nicknames on the streets remind of the presence of women and their voices.
Some women bring something new to street art, such as materials (ceramics, embroidery), themes (feminism, empathy, sexuality), imagery and formats, many of which can be called traditionally “feminine”. Thus, women can adapt to the male-dominated city and make it more comfortable for themselves.
The small number of successful women in the art world can be explained by several reasons, including self-doubt, formed under the influence of a patriarchal society and focus on everyday life and family, or the closed nature of the art world, the most influential representatives of which are men. American art historian Linda Nochlin talked about female self-censorship and female self-doubt in her article “Why were there no great women artists?”
In graffiti culture, the gender gap was also visible from the very beginning. The graffiti subculture formed in the second half of the 1960s. Tagging (writing one’s nickname or the name of a graffiti team) began with Mexican gangs who brought the practice of chalo-writing (similar to tagging) to America back in the 20-30s of the 20th century. Interestingly, graffiti crews operated on principles similar to gangster groups. The principle of competition and fight for territory, hierarchy, and even a unique process of initiation when joining a crew were preserved. Members of both gang and graffiti crews were all male.
In America, where the graffiti culture was born, gender stereotypes were especially strong. Only in the 1960s did the second wave feminist movement become noticeable, which fought for a woman’s right to self-determination (equal rights to enter universities and choose a profession). This could not but influence all aspects of life.
In the 1970s, girls who actively tagged in New York became known. These were Eva 62 and Barbara 62. It was their names that remained in history. The first graffiti artist who managed to change the idea that graffiti was not for girls was Lady Pink, who began making “pieces” on trains, which was considered the most dangerous and difficult thing in graffiti culture. However, in her interviews, Pink shared that they did not want to take her with them because they were afraid that she would not be able to do it, that it would be difficult for her to climb over fences with paint. She shared this in a 2006 interview.
In the 1980s, the first street art artist, Miss Tic from France, became popular. All her works were dedicated to women’s personal experiences. Since the 1990s, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of girls in graffiti and street art around the world (Waks, Miss Van). This was a natural process associated, among other things, with the ongoing emancipation and the growing influence of feminism.
Currently, the number of girls drawing on the street is only growing, as evidenced by festivals and our personal observations. For example, only 2 artists participated in the Urbanmorfoginesis façade painting festival in 2022 in Solnechnogorsk, and in 2023 in Zheleznodorozhny there were already 5 (among 23 participants), not counting volunteers. The 2023 Stenography featured 9 female artists out of 19 participants, but not all of them practice street art full-time. An interesting dynamic emerged during the survey—almost all of the girls surveyed, regardless of their country, responded that they started doing street art/graffiti in the 2010s. Thus, historical factors have indeed influenced the fact that there are fewer women than men in street art and graffiti today.
GENDER STEREOTYPES AND SEXISM
From the historical background, the question logically follows about the influence of gender stereotypes on women. We are talking about the patriarchal idea of a woman as a hearth keeper, an ideal housewife and mother. The mother takes care of family members, sacrificing her own interests, and the housewife keeps the house clean and tidy and waits for her husband to come home from work. This image was implanted in women until the end of the 20th century. There are many known cases where, due to this model of behavior, female artists remained in the shadow of their artist husbands, focusing on helping them succeed in their careers, for example, Lee Krasner, the wife of D. Pollock. We were interested to find out how relevant gender stereotypes about women in graffiti are in society. 50 respondents were surveyed: “Why are girls less likely to engage in graffiti/street art/muralism than guys?” The answers received can be roughly summarized as follows:
— Girls don’t want to do graffiti/street art/painting facades because it’s physically difficult, women are weaker and less resilient than men.
— Girls are less likely to start doing graffiti/street art, as it is dangerous, and women do not like danger.
— Girls are more focused on finding a partner and starting a family than on professional growth.
An interesting factor was that even the girls, in more than half of the cases, answered the same about other women. This indicates the spread of internalized sexism (when people apply gender stereotypes to their own gender.)
Such responses showed that the idea of a woman as the weaker sex and the “hearth keeper” is still strong in society.
By conducting a survey of female artists, we tried to understand to what extent gender stereotypes, environmental safety, and the attitudes of male graffiti artists actually influence their work.
Interviews were conducted with 50 girls painting on the street. Most of them are from Russia, the rest are from other countries (Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Indonesia, Germany, the USA, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic).
Such a survey helped to understand their real motivation, find out what internal and external barriers girls face when drawing on the street, and understand whether the problem of sexism is relevant in the graffiti/street art community and society in general. The girls interviewed were conditionally divided into groups according to areas, since each street practice has its own specifics.
The girls surveyed quite willingly answered all questions about their work, except those related to sexism. We noticed that some are afraid to raise this topic openly, fearing that the graffiti/street art community will not treat their “complaints” adequately, and thus their reputation will be damaged. It is in the answers to the last question that it is discovered that women are often prejudiced towards other women and themselves. Quite often they expressed the opinion that street art is unnatural for girls, that they do not like dirty work, carrying heavy cans of paint, going to abandoned places and taking risks. We call this internalized sexism.
Several artists with children noted that street painting takes up a lot of their time and they cannot afford to paint as much as they would like and risk their safety since they are responsible for the children. Several girls expressed the opinion that the biggest influence is from upbringing, during which girls are forced to behave sacrificially and have high expectations for their appearance and skills in everyday life, which prevents them from achieving success in the professional sphere. There was also an opinion that graffiti culture is very “phallocentric”, that is, it is focused on competition and aggression, which repels many girls.
Some graffiti artists from Germany, the USA and the Czech Republic said that they had encountered cases of blatant sexism, which not every girl would want to endure. Several respondents stated that people believed that they “wanted to sleep with graffiti artists”, and that that was the reason they wanted to paint with them. Some faced verbal abuse.
In answers to the question about the sexism in society and the community, the most frequent answers were that the girls did not encounter sexism in the graffiti community in Russia, rather, on the contrary, they received support. However, we learned about some manifestations of sexism on the part of citizens and graffiti artists. First, many girls, who have experienced sexism towards them, are hesitant to call it sexism because this word seems too strong. Condescension takes many forms—from an offer to help carry paint/ladders to a reluctance to take on a crew due to less experience or too “feminine” style. Some girls said that they were not taken to the police while their crew mates were taken away, or the police simply flirted with them. Sexism on the part of city residents is most clearly manifested in disbelief that street art, especially large facade murals, was created by a woman. Almost all the muralists responded that they had encountered such disbelief at least once. Another part of the girls talked about feeling vulnerable when being in the city alone. Some said that their realistic style of drawing is called rather “masculine”; they also talked about the wildstyle graffiti drawing style.
URBAN ENVIRONMENT SAFETY
Until the 18th century, in Russia it was considered indecent for a woman to go out unaccompanied. For example, only in 1718, thanks to the reform of Peter I, women were able to participate in assemblies, the prototype of the balls at that time. Until erly 19th century, in many European cities, women were also not allowed to walk without a man. It turns out that women rarely went out into the city, limiting themselves to their personal space (home), where most of their lives took place. Accordingly, the city was not considered from the point of view of women’s safety. Hence there are many potentially dangerous places in the city for women, poorly visible or simply dead-end. Based on the results of studies of the crime situation, it was revealed that poorly lit places become the most dangerous places for women.
Could a risk factor be more significant for women than for men? Statistics show that women are more likely to experience violence in the city, as well as violence in general. Especially in poorly lit areas. When it comes to graffiti and bombing, they often involve working outside in the dark. This is not a problem if a woman is accompanied by men, but the need to find such significantly complicates the process of drawing on the street at night and reduces the likelihood that the girl will start doing it alone.
According to the survey results, 41 out of 50 girls noted the danger factor of the street environment as particularly significant. It turns out that a woman feels vulnerable on the street, which, unfortunately, corresponds to the real state of affairs, and for this reason she may go out painting less often, or may never start doing it.
ATTITUDE OF THE GRAFFITI COMMUNITY
Another interesting aspect is barrier to entry the graffiti subculture. Several times concerns have been expressed from girls who would like to start doing street art or graffiti that they have already encountered rejection from the graffiti community, or were afraid that they would. At the same time, almost all the interviewed girls from Russia said that they did not experience aggression towards them when they began to draw in a group of graffiti artists. Moreover, the graffiti community is considered especially friendly, contrary to the idea that it is closed and aggressive.
However, according to my observations, in Russia most girls who paint on the street prefer to do street art rather than graffiti, remaining aloof from the graffiti community. Girls more often come to street art during their studies or after obtaining a degree in visual arts, unlike boys, many of whom try to do graffiti as teenagers, and only then some of them come to street art.
Street art can hardly be called a single culture, since most of its representatives work alone, not to mention festivals. There are no common signs of the work of different street art artists, just as there is no organized activity, with the exception of examples of individual exhibitions and festivals. Girls involved in street art most often began to draw on their own initiative—either with a helping friend or began to engage in street art after several years of graffiti practice. In graffiti, it is quite common for a girl to start doing graffiti after her graffiti boyfriend, and then continue her journey independently. Also, some girls encounter sexual innuendos and sometimes harassment from townspeople and graffiti artists. I heard about such situations from girls from Russia and other countries, and sometimes I observed such situations as well.
GENDER FACTOR
If we consider the factor of physical differences between men and women, then it is worth noting that indeed the average woman has as much physical strength as men, while aggression, which is often a stimulating factor for graffiti artists, is taboo for women in society. It is customary to suppress and condemn it, instilling the values of a “good girl.” Almost every woman in Russia feels this on an intuitive level, feeling ashamed when violating generally accepted norms of behavior in public.
With their activity, female graffiti artists are able to prove that graffiti is not for guys only. Thus, a traditionally male activity, which is a way of capturing and appropriating space, becomes normal for women who want to defend their place on the street and in the graffiti community. And female images and female nicknames on the streets remind of the presence of women and their voices.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can say that women’s experience on the street is somewhat more complicated, including because it is necessary to look for a reliable male assistant to ensure greater safety in the city. The research also showed that one of the important barriers is women’s self-image as a weaker, more vulnerable and insecure person. Stereotypes imposed by patriarchal society prevent women from expressing themselves and fulfilling their potential professionally, but the FEMSTREET project demonstrates many bright and inspiring examples of women who were able to become themselves and achieve great results.
The article presents the results of exploring gender inequality in street art and graffiti, based on the survey of 50 artists from several countries and a literature review. The purpose of the research was to identify the prerequisites for the gap between men and women in graffiti and street art, as well as the problems and stereotypes that girls face in their practice. The main reason behind this research was the desire to find out why we see fewer girls than boys in the graffiti and street art communities.
RELEVANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH
Typically, graffiti, street art and muralism (legal wall art) are considered predominantly male activities. Girls, indeed, are much less likely to engage in street art. This can be seen in street art festivals, where more than half of the participants are men, and in exhibitions of street artists (for example, “Parts of the Walls”). One might think that women hardly engaged in street art, but this has not been the case for a long time. More and more women are starting to paint on city walls and “bomb” them, defending their right to self-expression and destroying stereotypes about female fragility.
With their activity, female graffiti artists are able to prove that graffiti is not for guys only. Thus, a traditionally male activity, which is a way of capturing and appropriating space, becomes normal for women who want to defend their place on the street and in the graffiti community. And female images and female nicknames on the streets remind of the presence of women and their voices.
Some women bring something new to street art, such as materials (ceramics, embroidery), themes (feminism, empathy, sexuality), imagery and formats, many of which can be called traditionally “feminine”. Thus, women can adapt to the male-dominated city and make it more comfortable for themselves.
The small number of successful women in the art world can be explained by several reasons, including self-doubt, formed under the influence of a patriarchal society and focus on everyday life and family, or the closed nature of the art world, the most influential representatives of which are men. American art historian Linda Nochlin talked about female self-censorship and female self-doubt in her article “Why were there no great women artists?”
In graffiti culture, the gender gap was also visible from the very beginning. The graffiti subculture formed in the second half of the 1960s. Tagging (writing one’s nickname or the name of a graffiti team) began with Mexican gangs who brought the practice of chalo-writing (similar to tagging) to America back in the 20-30s of the 20th century. Interestingly, graffiti crews operated on principles similar to gangster groups. The principle of competition and fight for territory, hierarchy, and even a unique process of initiation when joining a crew were preserved. Members of both gang and graffiti crews were all male.
In America, where the graffiti culture was born, gender stereotypes were especially strong. Only in the 1960s did the second wave feminist movement become noticeable, which fought for a woman’s right to self-determination (equal rights to enter universities and choose a profession). This could not but influence all aspects of life.
In the 1970s, girls who actively tagged in New York became known. These were Eva 62 and Barbara 62. It was their names that remained in history. The first graffiti artist who managed to change the idea that graffiti was not for girls was Lady Pink, who began making “pieces” on trains, which was considered the most dangerous and difficult thing in graffiti culture. However, in her interviews, Pink shared that they did not want to take her with them because they were afraid that she would not be able to do it, that it would be difficult for her to climb over fences with paint. She shared this in a 2006 interview.
In the 1980s, the first street art artist, Miss Tic from France, became popular. All her works were dedicated to women’s personal experiences. Since the 1990s, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of girls in graffiti and street art around the world (Waks, Miss Van). This was a natural process associated, among other things, with the ongoing emancipation and the growing influence of feminism.
Currently, the number of girls drawing on the street is only growing, as evidenced by festivals and our personal observations. For example, only 2 artists participated in the Urbanmorfoginesis façade painting festival in 2022 in Solnechnogorsk, and in 2023 in Zheleznodorozhny there were already 5 (among 23 participants), not counting volunteers. The 2023 Stenography featured 9 female artists out of 19 participants, but not all of them practice street art full-time. An interesting dynamic emerged during the survey—almost all of the girls surveyed, regardless of their country, responded that they started doing street art/graffiti in the 2010s. Thus, historical factors have indeed influenced the fact that there are fewer women than men in street art and graffiti today.
GENDER STEREOTYPES AND SEXISM
From the historical background, the question logically follows about the influence of gender stereotypes on women. We are talking about the patriarchal idea of a woman as a hearth keeper, an ideal housewife and mother. The mother takes care of family members, sacrificing her own interests, and the housewife keeps the house clean and tidy and waits for her husband to come home from work. This image was implanted in women until the end of the 20th century. There are many known cases where, due to this model of behavior, female artists remained in the shadow of their artist husbands, focusing on helping them succeed in their careers, for example, Lee Krasner, the wife of D. Pollock. We were interested to find out how relevant gender stereotypes about women in graffiti are in society. 50 respondents were surveyed: “Why are girls less likely to engage in graffiti/street art/muralism than guys?” The answers received can be roughly summarized as follows:
— Girls don’t want to do graffiti/street art/painting facades because it’s physically difficult, women are weaker and less resilient than men.
— Girls are less likely to start doing graffiti/street art, as it is dangerous, and women do not like danger.
— Girls are more focused on finding a partner and starting a family than on professional growth.
An interesting factor was that even the girls, in more than half of the cases, answered the same about other women. This indicates the spread of internalized sexism (when people apply gender stereotypes to their own gender.)
Such responses showed that the idea of a woman as the weaker sex and the “hearth keeper” is still strong in society.
By conducting a survey of female artists, we tried to understand to what extent gender stereotypes, environmental safety, and the attitudes of male graffiti artists actually influence their work.
Interviews were conducted with 50 girls painting on the street. Most of them are from Russia, the rest are from other countries (Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Indonesia, Germany, the USA, France, Poland, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic).
Such a survey helped to understand their real motivation, find out what internal and external barriers girls face when drawing on the street, and understand whether the problem of sexism is relevant in the graffiti/street art community and society in general. The girls interviewed were conditionally divided into groups according to areas, since each street practice has its own specifics.
The girls surveyed quite willingly answered all questions about their work, except those related to sexism. We noticed that some are afraid to raise this topic openly, fearing that the graffiti/street art community will not treat their “complaints” adequately, and thus their reputation will be damaged. It is in the answers to the last question that it is discovered that women are often prejudiced towards other women and themselves. Quite often they expressed the opinion that street art is unnatural for girls, that they do not like dirty work, carrying heavy cans of paint, going to abandoned places and taking risks. We call this internalized sexism.
Several artists with children noted that street painting takes up a lot of their time and they cannot afford to paint as much as they would like and risk their safety since they are responsible for the children. Several girls expressed the opinion that the biggest influence is from upbringing, during which girls are forced to behave sacrificially and have high expectations for their appearance and skills in everyday life, which prevents them from achieving success in the professional sphere. There was also an opinion that graffiti culture is very “phallocentric”, that is, it is focused on competition and aggression, which repels many girls.
Some graffiti artists from Germany, the USA and the Czech Republic said that they had encountered cases of blatant sexism, which not every girl would want to endure. Several respondents stated that people believed that they “wanted to sleep with graffiti artists”, and that that was the reason they wanted to paint with them. Some faced verbal abuse.
In answers to the question about the sexism in society and the community, the most frequent answers were that the girls did not encounter sexism in the graffiti community in Russia, rather, on the contrary, they received support. However, we learned about some manifestations of sexism on the part of citizens and graffiti artists. First, many girls, who have experienced sexism towards them, are hesitant to call it sexism because this word seems too strong. Condescension takes many forms—from an offer to help carry paint/ladders to a reluctance to take on a crew due to less experience or too “feminine” style. Some girls said that they were not taken to the police while their crew mates were taken away, or the police simply flirted with them. Sexism on the part of city residents is most clearly manifested in disbelief that street art, especially large facade murals, was created by a woman. Almost all the muralists responded that they had encountered such disbelief at least once. Another part of the girls talked about feeling vulnerable when being in the city alone. Some said that their realistic style of drawing is called rather “masculine”; they also talked about the wildstyle graffiti drawing style.
URBAN ENVIRONMENT SAFETY
Until the 18th century, in Russia it was considered indecent for a woman to go out unaccompanied. For example, only in 1718, thanks to the reform of Peter I, women were able to participate in assemblies, the prototype of the balls at that time. Until erly 19th century, in many European cities, women were also not allowed to walk without a man. It turns out that women rarely went out into the city, limiting themselves to their personal space (home), where most of their lives took place. Accordingly, the city was not considered from the point of view of women’s safety. Hence there are many potentially dangerous places in the city for women, poorly visible or simply dead-end. Based on the results of studies of the crime situation, it was revealed that poorly lit places become the most dangerous places for women.
Could a risk factor be more significant for women than for men? Statistics show that women are more likely to experience violence in the city, as well as violence in general. Especially in poorly lit areas. When it comes to graffiti and bombing, they often involve working outside in the dark. This is not a problem if a woman is accompanied by men, but the need to find such significantly complicates the process of drawing on the street at night and reduces the likelihood that the girl will start doing it alone.
According to the survey results, 41 out of 50 girls noted the danger factor of the street environment as particularly significant. It turns out that a woman feels vulnerable on the street, which, unfortunately, corresponds to the real state of affairs, and for this reason she may go out painting less often, or may never start doing it.
ATTITUDE OF THE GRAFFITI COMMUNITY
Another interesting aspect is barrier to entry the graffiti subculture. Several times concerns have been expressed from girls who would like to start doing street art or graffiti that they have already encountered rejection from the graffiti community, or were afraid that they would. At the same time, almost all the interviewed girls from Russia said that they did not experience aggression towards them when they began to draw in a group of graffiti artists. Moreover, the graffiti community is considered especially friendly, contrary to the idea that it is closed and aggressive.
However, according to my observations, in Russia most girls who paint on the street prefer to do street art rather than graffiti, remaining aloof from the graffiti community. Girls more often come to street art during their studies or after obtaining a degree in visual arts, unlike boys, many of whom try to do graffiti as teenagers, and only then some of them come to street art.
Street art can hardly be called a single culture, since most of its representatives work alone, not to mention festivals. There are no common signs of the work of different street art artists, just as there is no organized activity, with the exception of examples of individual exhibitions and festivals. Girls involved in street art most often began to draw on their own initiative—either with a helping friend or began to engage in street art after several years of graffiti practice. In graffiti, it is quite common for a girl to start doing graffiti after her graffiti boyfriend, and then continue her journey independently. Also, some girls encounter sexual innuendos and sometimes harassment from townspeople and graffiti artists. I heard about such situations from girls from Russia and other countries, and sometimes I observed such situations as well.
GENDER FACTOR
If we consider the factor of physical differences between men and women, then it is worth noting that indeed the average woman has as much physical strength as men, while aggression, which is often a stimulating factor for graffiti artists, is taboo for women in society. It is customary to suppress and condemn it, instilling the values of a “good girl.” Almost every woman in Russia feels this on an intuitive level, feeling ashamed when violating generally accepted norms of behavior in public.
With their activity, female graffiti artists are able to prove that graffiti is not for guys only. Thus, a traditionally male activity, which is a way of capturing and appropriating space, becomes normal for women who want to defend their place on the street and in the graffiti community. And female images and female nicknames on the streets remind of the presence of women and their voices.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can say that women’s experience on the street is somewhat more complicated, including because it is necessary to look for a reliable male assistant to ensure greater safety in the city. The research also showed that one of the important barriers is women’s self-image as a weaker, more vulnerable and insecure person. Stereotypes imposed by patriarchal society prevent women from expressing themselves and fulfilling their potential professionally, but the FEMSTREET project demonstrates many bright and inspiring examples of women who were able to become themselves and achieve great results.
