Comments on: Iron Women, Foxy Ladies

Iron Women, Foxy Ladies

headspace — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:19:54 -0800

Iron Women, Foxy Ladies- A collection of propaganda posters depicting the ideal, but contradictory, roles for Chinese women in the nation. Even if you're not interested in the politics, the evolution of style and form in the artwork is fascinating to examine.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 09:55:55 -0800

Mmm, I love me some propaganda posters. Thanks, headspace.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 10:54:59 -0800

Great link, headspace. There's a lot there.

By: of strange foe

of strange foe — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:09:07 -0800

It would have been even better if the captions on the posters were translated. Lines such as 'Raise big and fat pigs for the collective!' and 'Strive to master ways to kill the enemy, be ready for battle!' are too good not to share.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 18:54:47 -0800

These are excellent. Thanks for the link!

By: jb

jb — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:47:49 -0800

I don't know as I agree with all of the commentary. Many of the women are young, polished and attractive, but so are the men - posters featuring attractive people are more upbeat, which fits with the desired effect of the propaganda. It's hard to read much sexism into that. It is true that deep Cultural Revolution era art depicted women as rougher, even quite masculine - but they were not without beautiful strong women. It's not on this page, unfortunately, but a few years ago (when writing a term paper on Cultural Revolution era art) I came across a painting called (I think) "I am Seagull" - it depicted a young female engineer on top of a telephone pole in a storm - very striking. That said, this is an excellent site, and thank you very much for posting it.

By: Utilitaritron

Utilitaritron — Tue, 31 Aug 2004 20:08:54 -0800

I just dug out the link for this great collection of similar posters. I (It's probably been on Mefi several times, but it's so good . . . and there are many portraying women: "Women's Artillery Squad" and "Women Can Hold up Half the Sky; Surely the Face of Nature Can Be Transformed", for example.) I'm particularly fond of this one.