One task, many interpretations

The Doing the Dishes series addresses a specific domestic task from many different perspectives. Some are my own, some are confused with outside expectations. I look at the parts of this series as ways to satirize my own roles in a domestic setting. Although I'd like to consider these roles to be self-determined internally defined, I still question where these definitions originate. 

I approach the task of doing the dishes and somewhere in the act, things get slightly confused, taking on another context.  Becoming the image of a woman allows me to ask, "What would she do?” “How would she approach this differently from me?” Midway through the action, something snaps and it becomes inappropriate in some way.

Chocolate Dishes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byXaM6BwlEc&feature=youtu.be

what femininity isn't

 

The choices a woman makes in life seem to carry a lot of connotations. If we are well behaved, we are, perhaps, too passive. If we refuse to settle, we are bitches, or hard to please. If we decide to have children, we are submissive. If we decide not to raise children, we are selfish. If we strive for career success, we are overzealous, overworked and, married to our jobs. If we forego a career for the sake of raising a family, we are passé, or underachievers. Looking at these stereotypes, it seems that what the gender should strive for is a kind of middle ground, but its own baggage, no doubt, would accompany this ground. Why do  these choices seem to fall under such scrutiny, and where or from who do these implications originate from?

What does it mean to embrace our femininity? Is there really such a thing, or such a mindset? Should we all dress up like Stevie Nicks or Sarah Palin? Or should we just show up to our lunch dates in the nude?