Gender and Jewelry a Feminist Analysis
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Gender and Jewelry A Feminist Analysis An honors thesis for the Department of Women's Studies Rebecca Ross Russell Tufts University, 2010 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Tufts Summer Scholars Program, the Undergraduate Research Fund, and the Schwartz Paddock Family Foundation for their generous aid. None of this would have been possible without the endless support of my family and professors, especially Ronna Johnson and the incomparable and indomitable Peggy Hutaff Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Gender and Jewelry ............................................................1 1.1 Introduction ...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Theories of Adornment..........................................................................................2 1.3 Argument...............................................................................................................6 1.4 Scope and Format..................................................................................................8 1.5 Frames Overview ................................................................................................10 Chapter 2: Jewelry as Means and Symbol of Ownership, Incapacitation...................................................................................................................14 2.1 Ownership and Incapacitation Introduction ........................................................14 2.2 Incapacitation Case Study: Niger Anklets...........................................................15 2.3 Ownership and Incapacitation Survey.................................................................20 2.3.1 Physical Incapacitation ............................................................................ 20 2.3.2 Ownership of Sexuality ........................................................................... 25 2.4 Ownership Case Study: Indian Wife/Widow Jewelry .........................................34 2.5 Ownership and Incapacitation Conclusions ........................................................38 Chapter 3: Jewelry as Gendered Honor or Status Symbol ..........................................42 3. 1 Gendered Honor and Status Introduction...........................................................42 3.2 Gendered Honor Case Study: Headhunter Jewelry.............................................43 3.3 Gendered Honor and Status Survey ....................................................................47 3.3.1 Jewelry Worn by Men.............................................................................. 47 3.3.2 Jewelry Worn by Women......................................................................... 52 3.4 Gendered Status Case Study: Diamond Engagement Rings ...............................59 3.5 Gendered Honor and Status Conclusions............................................................65 Chapter 4: Jewelry as Means and Symbol of Physical and Conceptual Empowerment ..................................................................................................................67 4.1 Physical and Conceptual Empowerment Introduction........................................67 4.2 Physical Empowerment Case Study: Holocaust Jewelry....................................68 4.3 Physical and Conceptual Empowerment Survey ................................................72 4.3.1 Physical Empowerment ........................................................................... 72 4.3.2 Conceptual Empowerment....................................................................... 83 4.4 Conceptual Empowerment Case Study: Madeleine Albright..............................90 4.5 Physical and Conceptual Empowerment Conclusions........................................94 Chapter 5: Intersectional Case Studies..........................................................................97 5.1 Introduction to Intersectional Case Studies.........................................................97 5.2 Intersectional Case Study: Turkoman Jewelry ....................................................97 5.3 Intersectional Case Study: Palestinian Inheritance ...........................................101 5.4 Intersectional Case Study: Western Body Piercing ...........................................104 iii Chapter 6: Feminist Jewelry.........................................................................................108 6.1 Feminist Jewelry Introduction...........................................................................108 6.2 Explicit Discussion of Gender...........................................................................110 6.3 Problematizing of Specific Practices.................................................................114 6.4 As Source of Alternative Narrative ...................................................................117 6.5 Jewelry for the Wearer/Subversion of the Gaze................................................123 6.6 Conclusions .......................................................................................................127 Appendix 1: Referenced Images of Feminist Jewelry ................................................128 Appendix 2: Eve and Lilith: A Collection of Feminist Jewelry .................................137 iv Gender and Jewelry: A Feminist Analysis – Rebecca Ross Russell Chapter 1 Introduction to Gender and Jewelry Body decoration is a ubiquitous phenomenon that transcends time and space. There is not one civilization, however limited its available materials may be, that does not practice self-ornamentation. As long as our species has existed, the human body has been a focal point of adornment and a versatile medium for our every longing and fantasy.1 1.1 Introduction Jewelry responds to our most primitive urges, for control, honor, and sex. It is at once the most ancient and most immediate of art forms, one that is defined by its connection and interaction with the body. In this sense it is inescapably political, its meaning bound to the possibilities of the body it lies on. Indeed, the fate of the body is often bound to the jewelry. This paper aims to look at gender and jewelry in order to gain some understanding into how jewelry is constructed by and constructs not just a single society, but human societies. It will explore how societal traditions that have sprung up around jewelry and ornamentation have affected the possibilities available to women, determining which have served women well and which are constrictive and destructive. Scholarly writing has traditionally discussed the topic of jewelry in relation to marriage, engagement, or inheritance, in terms of its technical, artistic, and aesthetic aspects, without adequate critique of its impact on the women who wear it. However, jewelry is far from an 1 Borel, Frances, and Colette Ghysels. Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry: From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001: 16 1 Gender and Jewelry: A Feminist Analysis – Rebecca Ross Russell arbitrary aesthetic expression. “There is nothing accidental or gratuitous about a people's passionate desire for self-ornamentation. For them, symbolism is not just intertwined with body adornment; symbolism is its very essence.”2 By teasing out the commonalities between superficially varied jewelry traditions that have emerged in divergent contexts, it may be possible to draw some conclusions about the ways that we as humans adorn ourselves and others for meaning. Specifically, jewelry can be used to understand more fully the construction of gender and power dynamics from a feminist perspective. 1.2 Theories of Adornment In my survey of the literature, research to this point has mostly addressed the sociological implications of a single culture. On occasion, an author has attempted to compare two or three cultures, but few seem to have developed a more general approach. The sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel is an early exception, proposing the beginning of a general theory of jewelry in his work, in a section entitled, roughly, “An Excursion on the Sociology of Adornment.”3 In it, he postulates man's first property as weapons, and women's first property as jewelry. For him, “all sexual difference flows from the original division of property... Men first use weapons to impose their will by force on others, above all on women; women use their first form of property, ornamental jewelry, to seduce, to charm, and to please others with their beauty, chiefly men but also other women.”4 He therefore sees jewelry as a tool and a means to power, but of a limited and bestowed type. Women can only extend their power over the world through 2 Borel, Frances, and Colette Ghysels. Splendor of Ethnic Jewelry From the Colette and Jean Pierre Ghysels Collection. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001: 3 3 Simmel, George, translated by Kurt H. Wolff. The Sociology of Georg Simmel. New York: Free, 1964 4 Klein, Richard. Jewelry Talks: A Novel Thesis. Vintage, 2002: 33 2 Gender and Jewelry: A Feminist Analysis – Rebecca Ross Russell their power over men, and are not, in and of themselves, inherently powerful except through their beauty. “Whereas men achieve rank as a result of explicit achievement, differences among women are generally seen as the product of idiosyncratic characteristics, such as temperament, personality and appearance.”5 This limits women in several serious ways. Firstly, since concepts of female beauty are closely linked with age and fertility, it is generally