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Unladylike Exhibition / East West Gallery
Artists : Marcelle Hanselaar, Sadie Lee and Laurie Lipton
The term 'ladylike' is considered the benchmark of femininity, and often regarded as a constraint paradigm conceived by men to force woman into subjection. It should stand to reason that a woman is a woman without trying, but not every woman can become a lady in the sense of being ladylike. This often involves a performance in some way, determined by actions, gestures and  demeanour.  Artists, Marcelle Hanselaar, Sadie Lee and Laurie Lipton strive to challenge this concept, with the introduction of their Unladylike women who are coarse, outspoken, and 'unsuitably' dressed. Based on feminist teachings of the desire to be free, rather than compliant and conventional, they expose ladylike behaviour for what it is: merely another performance expected by a patriarchal society. 
Mental Aspects
The female characters in Alfred Hitchcock films reflect the stereotypical blonde. They are cool, remote and sensual -- and imprisoned in costumes that subtly combine fashion with fetishism. They are frequently placed in psychologically harrowing situations, where their true identity is put under challenge when they are forcibly moulded into something they are not. By subjecting his leading ladies through a mental ordeal, often indistinguishable from the films' plots, Hitchcock was able to give the viewer an intense combination of feelings, oscillating between desire and horror; fascination and discomfort. Vertigo, Psycho, and Rebecca all had this unrelenting, provocative impact. 
Photographer Cindy Sherman uses photographs to expose the stereotypes of women found in the mass media today. She draws attention to their function and deeper significance, by revealing the suppressed psychological material that is not always evident on the surface: the subject's imagination. Photographs portray the housewife, student, lover or film star in their conditioned and socially prescribed roles, who then through the medium of role reversal and illusion convey a disturbing mental image of humanity, exposing inner fear and anxieties: the female body petrified into a mask, a prosthesis, or a doll. Sherman's photographs, Disaster Pictures, Fairy Tales, and Fashion all use this method, to reveal what lies beneath the cosmetic surface. (Bronfen, p. 16)
Orla is an artist who takes part in self-mutilation in order to dramatize the rules of male dominance, that a woman's body must be controlled and punished. A self- confessed feminist, she objects to the dictates of a dominant ideology that impresses itself more and more on feminine flesh. (Jeffreys, p.