I designed this jewelry to represent outstanding feminist themes from the reading for our sixth session.
Sultana’s Dream by Rokeya Hossain, Roushan Jahan, and Hanna Papanek.
At first, I wanted to design a bracelet that could truly represent feminist themes, but I thought of something that would capture them even more strikingly.
These handcuffs represent themes with which I personally identify. Most prominently, they illuminate binding oppression imposed by men and patriarchal societies creates oppressive views of women, including stereotypes, that plague nearly every human society. I chose beads like teardrops to represent the ubiquitous pain and sorrow of women.
Contrary to the negative themes that I have attempted to symbolize, I also wanted to represent the companionship between women that will be necessary for the destruction of oppression. These handcuffs can also be thought of as a “double bracelet” that joins the hands of women. Without this togetherness, women will not be able to break free of societal restraints.
The futuristic utopia represented in Sultana’s Dream that altered the roles of men and women inspired my choice of beads. I used “futuristic” looking beads to represent change from traditional beliefs that could possibly bring improvements to the lives of women. Changing from a “traditional” culture to the embrace of more “modern” beliefs does not imply that the society is post- systematic oppression. What most people consider “modern” society is not free from prejudice and resulting oppression. In “modern” societies, men are the people who have decided what is “traditional” and what is “modern.” Therefore, society as a whole can still embrace the oppressive views and call them “modern.” I chose the beads to represent the duality that this word has — from one standpoint, the word modern could mean that situations have “improved,” but if you look deeper into a society, modern may actually mean “improved for men.”
These handcuffs embody expectations of women to be beautiful and dainty. Women are seen as objects that must be decorated. Also present are different aspects of “womanhood” that prejudiced people expect — individual beads can be seen as elements that compose a “woman” in some people’s eyes, such as a certain voice tonality, the ability to cook well, or even weakness.
The three types of beads represent expectations of women in three major categories:
Presentation: The clear “drop” beads represent the treatment of women as objects and the expectations of women to have certain traits, such as beauty and daintiness.
Actions: The black beads represent the disgusting expectations of women to do certain things, such as cook, clean, and raise children.
Role: Even though women are half the human population, they are categorized into a “gray area” within society. The gray beads represent the role that women are seen to have in society — subservient to men and unfit to govern and determine their own rights.
In a different light, one might see these beads as a representation of the multifariousness of women — no woman is the same as any other, and no single feature unites all women, not even a single physical trait, including what some people see as the “female anatomy” (strange, I know).
Finally, the three types of beads I used represent three attitudes that people have in regards to feminism:
First attitude — active attempts to change stereotypes and expectations
Second attitude — state of “limbo” and no active attempt to change society (such as Sultana’s passiveness in her dream)
Third attitude — acceptance of the stereotypes and expectations or not believing that they are “oppressive”
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