ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the apparent backwardness of the art world with respect to all social issues including that of feminism is no accident, and that the relative timidity of the feminist art movement reflects the reality of this art world. Advertisements forWoman as Sex Object began to appear in the fall of 1972. The twelve essays in Woman as Sex Object can be grouped into three categories. First, a number of studies of a quite traditional sort, with virtually no usefulness for developing a feminist approach to the topics they cover. Second, a group of essays which, while not explicitly feminist, provide a number of insights and a good deal of useful material that should form part of the necessary foundation for the making of a feminist art history and criticism. And finally, the article by Linda Nochlin, the one piece in the entire book that might fall into the small but growing category of feminist art writing.
