After reading this assignment I find two strong themes in these works. The use of nudity to make a statement and the fear/loathing of male attributes. Viewing Orlan's seventh performance-operation makes me wonder if Orlan is undergoing this event as a protest against the pressure exerted on women by a male oriented society to look young and beautiful. I believe that women use their looks in their efforts to gain higher status in the organisations they belong to just as men use their strength. I have observed women investing considerable effort on their looks even when they are in a totally female environment, such as an elementary school or an office staffed only by females. The use of inserts in this event could pose health risks in the future. These inserts can also shift position and it seems to me that the appearance of youth gained from surgery can be to temporary to justify the pain. More of our society are practicing body alterations this makes me fear for our civilisation when people start monkeying around with their DNA.
Stelarc might have been one of the first to be suspended with hooks but now this seems to be becoming popular. They say the suspended person experiences erotic sensations from the pain.
There seems to be a lot of hate directed against men in some of these works. Louise Bourgeois, Heli Rekula, andEgle Rakauskaite seem to have a message of either open hostility to men or a wish to be apart from them. There seems to be a huge reservoir of pent up anger in the feminist art community, I am at a loss to understand what the world has done to them to make them so angry.