| dc.coverage.spatial | Performance location: Womanhouse, Hollywood (Los Angeles, California, USA) | en_US |
| dc.coverage.temporal | Creation date: 1970-1972 | en_US |
| dc.creator | Chicago, Judy | en_US |
| dc.creator | Wilding, Faith | en_US |
| dc.creator | Lester, Janice Marie | en_US |
| dc.date | 1970-1972 | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2006-09-13T23:06:04Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2006-09-13T23:06:04Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1970-1972 | en_US |
| dc.identifier | 004028 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.3/2857 | en_US |
| dc.description | "To arrive at the visual and verbal forms of the Cock and Cunt play, Judy Chicago followed the format of simple exercises developed during the previous year in her female art class at Fresno State College. The play was performed in the Womanhouse living room by two women wearing black leotards. The SHE character wore a gigantic pink vagina; HE wore a satiny outsized penis. At first this exageration of genitals seems comic. But as the dialogue between the two actors progresses, the truly grisly tone of the piece emerges. SHE is doing the dishes and asks for help. HE is shocked: 'Help you do the dishes?' 'Well,' SHE replies, 'They're your dishes as much as mine!' His retort emphasizes the traditional biology/culture dynamic: 'But you don't have a cock! A cock means you don't wash dishes. You have a cunt. A cunt means you wash dishes.' SHE questions him: 'I don't see where it says that on my cunt.' The scene then shifts from kitchen to bedroom, where sexual intercourse leads to a wistful statement by SHE - 'You know, sometimes I wish I could come too' - and ultimately to the murder of SHE by HE.
In this schematic dialogue between husband (played by Faith Wilding) and wife (Janice Lester), the deadly portrayal of the battle between the sexes demonstrates the culturally assumed connection between biological differences and sex roles. The Cock and Cunt play addresses the traditional relationship between white, middle-class men and women in their physical particulars and also in broad social terms - as an aspect of the balance of power within the political patriarchal institution. The play leaves no doubt in the minds of its audience that the personal and cultural uses to which biological differences have been put have had dire, indeed mortal consequences for women."
(Broude, Norma and Mary D. Garrard. The Power of Feminist Art: the American Movement of the 1970s, History and Impact. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994. Page 58.) | en_US |
| dc.description | full view, performance at Womanhouse | en_US |
| dc.format.medium | mixed media | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartof | 110181 | en_US |
| dc.subject | Performance art | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sexism | en_US |
| dc.subject | Feminism in art | en_US |
| dc.subject | Violence | en_US |
| dc.subject | Generative organs, Male | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sexuality & cultur | en_US |
| dc.subject | Generative organs, Female | en_US |
| dc.subject | Gender identity | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sex | en_US |
| dc.title | Cock and Cunt Play | en_US |
| dc.type | Image | en_US |
| dc.rights.access | All rights reserved | en_US |
| vra.technique | performing | en_US |
| vra.worktype | Performance art | en_US |
| dc.contributor.display | artist: Judy Chicago (American, 1939-), actor: Faith Wilding (American), actor: Janice Marie Lester (American, 1947-) | en_US |
