Sta.sh
Deviants
| Hello and welcome to this safe-space within DA! I created this group out of concern for a lot of the art that was being lauded as "top viewed within xx-amount-of-time." When you go to look at the main page of DA, there seems to be a running trend in the depiction of women from artists on DevArt. It's unfortunate that for a vast majority of the art on the site, the depiction women fall into three major categories: (a) Women as objects without any outstanding personality or sentient traits outside of her being something 'pretty' (b) women as hyper-sexual beings vying for the male gaze (includes full-frontal nudity outside of any believable context, IE kitsch). (c) women as objects of fetish and/or in a non-consensual sexual nature. The message that is being sent with the popularity of this is that the only way a woman is to be portrayed is as an inanimate object, as something to be quietly dominated and disregarded. And frankly? That sucks. Women should not have to be depicted as some kind of shameless centerfold in order to be beautiful or paid attention to. While it is possible to be both a woman and be erotically depicted without it being a bid for page-views and pRon, i'll be damned if I see much of it online. Especially not on DevArt where the subject is handled with about as much grace as a Klan rally.  Who can join?Anyone can join this group. This group space is for people who agree with the above mentioned, and are looking for an inspiring, empowering look at women's bodies through all forms of art that don't cut them down to prepackaged meat. How do I join?If you click up on the blue banner across the top part of the page, there should be a 'join this group!' button available. After you have joined the group, you can submit art to be featured on the website. What can I submit?This group is for both women artists and those who depict women in all manner of art - visual, musical, theatrical, literary - and do not so in a way that denigrates them or burns them down to little more than eye-candy. Nudity is certainly allowed as favorites or featured material, albeit it must be done in a respectful, tasteful manner and composition. (Nudity for nudity's sake is sort of what we're trying to avoid in the group, though there will be things that push that gray area, i'm sure.) Art that is not objectifying or denegrating women through brash and/or kitschy depictions of nudity will be allowed as submitted work. Also make note that this group is largely based on a healthy depiction of women. If you are submitting art that does not have a female or a feminine principle as its subject (even if the submitter is female), it likely won't be accepted. How much can I submit?We will take in in 4 submissions per person a day and up to 10 deviations a week: the limit is to avoid bulk gallery KO / DevSpam. Please note if you submit more than 4 items in a 24 hour period, I will pick the 4 I like the best and ignore the others until you resubmit them at a later date. This is to avoid people getting 60 of the same flavor of deviation in their inbox -- it is more common for people to ignore or quit groups that have 10+ deviations every day because most people don't have time to look at & comment on that much material in a sitting (on top of their other Devwatches). FAQs  I submitted art and it was rejected. What gives?!Unfortunately, not everything that gets submitted makes it to the website. If you have a submission rejected, it is not a commentary on the quality of your artwork, but more of how it is perceived. There are a few reasons artwork will not pass submission: (1) nudity with low and/or no believable working context behind it (E.G. pin-up art, nude glamor shots), or (2) Artwork that seems to be directed towards sexualizing women more than telling a story about them. (3) Art that does not seem to be related to positively displaying women and/or art whose content does not actually have women in it. If my art was rejected, can you tell me why?certainly! I would love to have a respectful, open dialogue with anyone who wants to engage in one. If you send the group a note with your question and a link to the deviation(s) that did not pass submission, I would gladly re-evaluate why they did not pass. There has been a submission that passed that I don't agree with. Can I talk with someone about why it got accepted?certainly! we all have different tastes, and some things that go into the gray areas for some people may be way over the line for others. If you would like to contest a submission, please send the group a note. Please note that opening a 'contestable submission' inquiry does not necessarily mean that i will be immediately yanking it off the page. Please also know that if I get a lot of people who are unhappy about a specific image, it may not stay in the group gallery either. Will you be affiliates with my group?Currently, we are only affiliates with groups that revolve around social justice and the progress of women's rights. If your group is a general art group or not specifically geared towards issues of social justice, WR will not affiliate. |
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And secondly, I am so glad this group is here. I knew I couldn't be the only person who was shocked by the prevailing portrayal of women in art on DA. As a group moderator of several groups, I have been refraining on voting on such images for years, because while they were not against group rules, I couldn't bring myself to endorse such objectification by accepting it. And I find it particularly sad how often aspiring young and often female artists will submit sexually provocative drawings of women just to bring their viewer numbers up. 
