The Sex of Graffiti Urban art, women and “gender perception”

testing biases in the eye of the observer

Abstract

In this paper I explore the intersection between urban creativity and gender studies, through a composite methodology and with a double purpose: to examine the role and the recognition of women in the graffiti and street art milieu; and to test the existence, the extent, and the quality of gender biases in the eye of the observer. In order to accomplish these two tasks, I examined existing literature treating the subject and created a visual survey. Observations and results from each step of the present work reveal a general lack of recognition of women’s role in street art and graffiti, as well as a remarkable amount of gender preconceptions during mere aesthetic appreciation of urban works of art.