Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
ISTANBUL JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGICAL STUDIES-SOSYOLOJI KONFERANSLARI, sa.55, ss.413-444, 2017 (ESCI)
The debate on whether it is social institutions or nature determines that human behavior is yet to be resolved. All those years of ongoing debates in this context, accompanied by contradictory pieces of evidence, have reached the final point, in which addressing this issue in a unilateral way could be considered incomplete and can thus lead to delusions. In this context, engaging in gender debates would be much more efficient. When feminist art history is examined, it cab be seen that the debates on gender and art have also occurred during this intellectual journey. While feminist art history has followed its own course under the fundamental feminist arguments, the question "Why have there been no great women artists?" exemplifies the belief of the renowned art historian Nochline who, in his analysis, inevitably placed women in a powerless and passive position by overlooking the sociological, psychological, and anthropological perspectives. In overcoming this situation-something that Nochline has been unable to do-the formulation has become increasingly radicalized, further reinforcing the "weakness" of women or the perception of women having a weak and passive position. However, as we all know women play an active role in the construction of social reality. The most current proof of their role is their attempt to reconstruct themselves according to the changing social conditions. Within this perspective, our study is founded upon the research question "Why have there been few women who prefer to create in the plastic arts?" Based on plastic arts, our study is an open call for feminists to discuss their contradictions and dilemmas using an interdisciplinary perspective.