“Mother, Daughter, Holy Slut.”
For my first collage, I wanted to illustrate the Virgin vs. Whore Complex itself. The complex represents a categorization of women into two binary categories: Virgins and Whores. Virgins are sweet, reserved, and nurturing; while whores represent almost anyone outside of that description. It is important to note that “Virgins” don’t need to be virginal; they just need to “express their sexualities within culturally sanctioned bounds”(Gottschall et al. 2006, 2). “Whores” don’t need to be sexually active, though they are often categorized as manipulative, promiscuous, and sexually obsessed.
This classification of women prevents them from accepting all parts of themselves, and I wanted to illustrate this through the lack of integration in my piece. The top half remains dark and rigid with the statue of Mother Mary, while the bottom half has human legs and a chaotic background emphasizing nudity and indulgence. The harsh line that cuts the piece across the horizontal represents the rigid division between these contrasting identities. Still, creating a completed body with the stone Mary and the fishnet legs shows that both The Virgin and The Whore exist within each of us.
“Consumed”
My second collage reflects some of the side effects of the Virgin vs. Whore separation as well as the patriarchal structures it upholds. The girl resting on the fork is a pale version of what she once was. A static-filled version of herself, she curls herself up small so she can be swallowed whole by any man she is lucky enough to attract. Beneath her are the consequences of past rebellions and the tools used against her. Using both archived art pieces and more modern remnants of patriarchal oppression, I represented violence against women, the cultural ideals of submissive and pretty women, the use of shaming as a method of subjugation, the separation of body from self, dieting/restriction, and the stereotype of women as vain and emotional.
I hope to depict the consequences of this complex on women and how we fail to protect ourselves and our fellow women.
“Girlhood; Redeemed”
For my final collage, I wanted to answer the question that I’ve been asking all along; “How do we heal from the Virgin vs. Whore Complex?” In all of my research, I never found one perfect answer. I believe that the path to healing involves structural changes as well as individual decisions to deprogram from the patriarchal messaging we have been given. To represent this, I included a young girl who is looking at herself without judgment. She has been told that she is more than any one aspect of herself and does not live in fear of being objectified or sexualized. The scenic background is adorned with jewelry that used to represent the need for women to constantly be presentable, but now is just a method of authentic expression.
Our path to healing is long, but we are already on the way. I am beyond proud of the women who are starting to question their internalized misogyny, and I believe that we will heal from these wounds. I am determined to not continue these toxic ideas, and that starts with addressing the patriarchy within me. We are more than Virgins and Whores, and we deserve to live in our light without being diminished.
Bibliography
Autor: Ashley Mears. 2020. Very Important People : Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Dinse, Ling, Morgan Adams, Carissa Vietta, Andrea Smith, Lauren Wilson, and Sarah Harris. 2023. “From Shame to Restoration: A Transformative Approach to Authentic Sexuality.” Social Work & Christianity 50 (2): 149–63. https://doi.org/10.34043/swc.v50i2.361.
Gottschall, Jonathan, Elizabeth Allison, Jay De Rosa, and Kaia Klockeman. 2006. “Can Literary Study Be Scientific?: Results of an Empirical Search for the Virgin/Whore Dichotomy.” Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 7 (2): 1–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41209939.
Gray, Kurt, Jennifer K. MacCormack, Teague Henry, Emmie Banks, Chelsea Schein, Emma Armstrong-Carter, Samantha Abrams, and Keely A. Muscatell. 2022. “The Affective Harm Account (AHA) of Moral Judgment: Reconciling Cognition and Affect, Dyadic Morality and Disgust, Harm and Purity.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, March. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000310.
“How Do We as Men Heal the Madonna-Whore Complex?” 2023. Reddit. October 9, 2023. https://www.reddit.com/r/Jung/comments/173pq9x/how_do_we_as_men_heal_the_madonnawhore_complex/.
Klement, Kathryn R., and Brad J. Sagarin. 2016. “Nobody Wants to Date a Whore: Rape-Supportive Messages in Women-Directed Christian Dating Books.” Sexuality & Culture 21 (1): 205–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-016-9390-x.
“Landing | Feed.” n.d. Landing. Accessed December 13, 2023. https://app.landing.space/.
Loehnen, Elise. 2023. On Our Best Behavior. New York: Dial Press.
Mochizuki, Hitomi . 2020. “Healing My Relationship to My Sexuality | Masturbation, Kinks and Healing.” Www.youtube.com. Hitomi Mochizuki. November 17, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wWbMfB6Zw&list=PL0Qd2C1Q1zp_qLoN5o7vTgZH2tb5yiuBh&index=7.
This is a great project! I love how you delved into the psychological aspect of this cultural phenomenon. Also, these collages look sick! I especially like the first one, “Mother, Daughter, Holy Slut” both because of its striking name and the really cool and beautiful visual impact of it!
I enjoyed your project! I loved the collage you made to represent virgins and whores. I think you make a great point that The Whore and The Virgin part of us are in all of us. I like how you talk about the issues that arise when it comes to men and how they disconnect their feelings when it comes to sex. Thank you for sharing!
I really like how you chose to include the collage on healing and how to move forward. I think it can be really easy to get depressed by heavier topics and to focus only on the negative, so it’s great to see more focus on healing.
I love the form and different elements you include in the arts- they are really insightful and nice. Also, I can see how you are incorporating different art style into it, making those collages powerful and expressive
ADELYNE!!! Your project is breath-taking and I hope you don’t mind that I shared it with my roommates as I truly believe that your project is great conversation starter. “Mother, Daughter, Holy Slut” really does make you stop for a second. “She curls herself up small so she can be swallowed whole by any man she is lucky enough to attract.” You have such a way with words that really makes you understand the piece and I sympathize with her. When you’re put in a category that brings you shame, it’s hard to come back from that but it’s not impossible. You demonstrate that with your last piece. I see my little sister in this image and hope that she never feeds into these toxic ideas because I know she’s more than that and I pray that I never make her feel shame.