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Linda Stein The making of an artist-activist, feminist Jew by AMY STONE inda Stein comes across as one sistants are running, holding hands as even in the absence of heads or arms. fearless artist-activist, but says, they flee her Lower Manhattan studio, Five years later, the minimalist “All my work in the last 30 years in sight of the towering inferno of the torsos evolved into something more Lis about protection.” Quite simply, her World Trade Center. clearly political. The message was gen- mission is to defy bullying in all its It took a year before she felt psy- der bending — muscular black leather forms and stand up to a compendium of chologically able to return to sculpture. torsos that cross sexual boundaries and evils: sexism, homophobia, racism, clas- Before 9/11, her work, which involved wearable armor using acrylicized pa- sism, ableism. using machete blades and other found per. Protection was now bound up with With her spiky red hair and ath- objects, had been abstract. Now, female what Stein calls “the fluidity of gender.” letic build, she doesn’t look like some- forms were emerging — giant vertical She says, “We don’t have to stick one who grew up scared. But through- shapes with waists, hips and breasts. In to the binaries of what makes a man out her childhood, she had a recurring 2002, they became her Knights of Pro- and what makes a woman.” Indeed, her dream of “running, always running, But tection — elegant mounted torsos of work celebrates the fluidity of gender the bad guys never got me.” wood, metal, stone and leather. Modern and tears down all types of gender ste- Quick cut to 9/11. Stein and her as- Aphrodites, they are powerful figures, reotypes that people accept unquestion- Photos courtesy of Linda Stein except where indicated. Stein joins protective female figures (right to left) Kannon, Buddhist goddess of mercy; pop icon Princess Mononoke; Wonder Woman; and Stein’s Knight of Protection sculpture. 18 NA’AMAT WOMAN SPRING 2015 ingly as natural. She speaks of “gender constructions and gender constric- tions,” and that her work is “WOULD YOU WEAR A about finding the courage to break these molds and inspire BATHING SUIT TO FIGHT that bravery in others. The androgynous black THE BAD GUYS?” torsos are highly erotic, made of skin-tight leather. With their breasts, flaring hips and mighty build, they defy male/female stereotypes. They could be elegant Renaissance figures or headless mo- torcycle gangs. Adding identity to the black leather torsos are scav- enged materials: elabo- rate metal latches, a brass NYPD pin, heavy chains, buckles, zip- pers and the visual pun of CO2 cartridges for making not war but seltzer. Art Wonder Woman is a primary protector on Stein’s historian Christina M. Penn-Goetsch “bully-proof” vests. has suggested that the zippers are like scars. With titles like “Tough Love 683,” “Defender 696” and “In Charge 694,” their sex is in the eye of the beholder. Linda Stein lays hands on her body-swapping armor “Heroic Compassion 665,” with its Stein’s other more lighthearted Flu- Monoxnoke, Japanese warrior girl and Wonder Woman images. (2010) idity of Gender sculptures, the acryli- fearless protector of the environment; cized paper forms, are made, in part, and Kannon, the sometimes androgy- from Wonder Woman comics updated nous Buddhist goddess of mercy and to include her own feminist messages. compassion. Wonder Woman is the pri- post-Marston “bullet-breasted sex ob- It’s easier to ask questions like “What mary protector on Stein’s “bully-proof” ject in swimsuit.” As one of Stein’s up- defines bravery? What makes a hero?” vests displayed in her Tribeca studio. dated Wonder Woman cartoon bubbles from inside a cartoon message balloon. Explaining the appeal of Wonder Wom- reads, “Would you wear a bathing suit Wonder Woman, wearing knee-high an, Stein says, “I love her because she’s to fight the bad guys?” red boots and American flag swimsuit, strong, she’s mobile, she avenges wrongs The heavy metal chains on Stein’s asks: “What are masculine/feminine ex- without killing.” black leather torsos may riff on Mar- pectations and limitations?” Stein says she works intuitively. ston’s proclivity for placing Wonder Wonder Woman is joined on Stein’s Then once a creative direction mate- Woman in chains. Certainly Wonder armor by anime pop icon Princess rializes, she digs deep. She’s embraced Woman’s muscular thighs and skimpy the original Wonder Woman superhero garb provide perfect material for Stein’s created by William Moulton Marston, mission to use art to break down soci- the eccentric Harvard-educated psy- ety’s masculine/feminine divisions. “WHAT ARE chologist and inventor of the proto- In navigating the great divide, type polygraph (lie detector). His 1941 Stein herself has evolved. Growing up MASCULINE/FEMININE World War II superhero is the lone in a working class family in the Bronx, female in the superhero pantheon. The she tried to fit into traditional female Amazonian warrior come to Earth to expectations, stuffing nylons into the EXPECTATIONS AND right wrongs, she is protected by her bra of her hand-me-down swimsuit to indestructible Bracelets of Submission, emulate her pin-up girl older sister. At LIMITATIONS?” Lasso of Truth (a spinoff of Marston’s the same time, she describes herself as polygraph) and weaponized tiara. Never having been “very, very athletic,” exhila- killing, she fights for peace, love, justice rated playing hard against the most ath- and sexual equality. Stein rejects the letic boys, those who she knew could SPRING 2015 NA’AMAT WOMAN 19 beat her. The price she paid was bully- HAWT was incorporated as a non- adult, Stein managed to find her victim ing in the form of ostracism by other profit six years later. Board members and apologize to her. Apology accepted. girls. But, she recalls, “If a boy was a include Gloria Steinem and Elizabeth She says, “If only I had been like one of weaker athlete than me, it was my job A. Sackler, whose foundation gave the my gender-fluid sculptural Knights of to see that he won anyway. … I grew Brooklyn Museum its Center for Femi- Protection for Carole.” up at a time when boys were supposed nist Art, home of Judy Chicago’s “The Participants in HAWT events are to be (or at least appear to be) better, Dinner Party.” invited to put on what Stein calls “body- stronger, smarter than girls. If a girl Not mere self-promotion, Stein says swapping armor” and try a new avatar wanted to be popular, she learned very Amy Stone quickly that it was her responsibility to play out this masculinist scenario.” Stein accepted that “the male ego took precedence” over hers — and she was proud at the time to have learned her gender lesson well. Stein went on to become the first member of her family to go to college. She got her B.A. degree from Queens College, City University of New York, and her M.A. degree in art and educa- tion from Pratt Institute. Explaining how she has managed to escape the heterosexual binary, she says, “I was straight for much of my growing up days until I was 40.” But, “I couldn’t fulfill my potential as much with a man as with a woman.” In 2007, the same year that The Fluidity of Gender co- alesced, she married Helen Hardacre, Reischauer Institute Professor of Japa- nese Religions and Society at Harvard. Stein says it took courage to come out Stein, in bully-proof vest, poses with her tapestry of Holocaust hero Vitka Kempner, a leader of to her mother, who, as it turned out, the partisan fighters in the Vilna ghetto. The work combines Kempner images and memorabilia with fabric, zippers and Wonder Woman images. needed less protection from the truth than Stein had anticipated. Professionally, everything Stein that HAWT’s purpose is to inspire to get in touch with their inner courage, does is part of her outreach project people to live fearlessly. She sees anti- to swap bodies and shift genders. With Have Art Will Travel! Inc. For Gen- bullying as the lens for viewing the evils Velcro straps and “armordillo” articulat- der Justice (HAWT). Started in 1972, we live with to then confront them. ed legs, The Fluidity of Gender armor Bringing the message to museums and is meant to be worn. Interactive events, colleges, The Fluidity of Gender torsos an extensive catalog, panels, discussions and armor have been on the road with and videos are part of the traveling ex- Have Art Will Travel since 2010 and will hibit, all for the purpose of inspiring continue into 2017. change. Stein wants to move participants While the written messages can through what she calls the 4 Bs: from sound a bit clichéd, visitors to the ex- Bully, Bullied, Bystander to Brave Up- hibit are responding at schools and stander, ready to stand up against bullies museums across the country, espe- and to develop the courage to risk failure cially once they find themselves inside and unpopularity. Her experience has knight’s armor. In Joplin, Missouri, a shown, she says, that “using art to inspire woman farmer thanked Stein, saying, participants to explore their own roles “You’re the first feminist I’ve ever heard and behavior can help them become Up- speak here.” standers in their everyday lives.” In Johnstown, New York, a male She’s come clean on her own bul- theater major tried on the androgynous Stein adds feminist concerns to the cartoon lying.

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