Rosemary Meza-DesPlas : The Dangerous Seduction of Women with Guns
By Berette Macaulay
“
I was never sold on the idea that I needed a gun . And I never saw an example of anyone using a gun in self-defense . — Rosemary Meza-DesPlas
From Farrah Fawcett , the sex symbol of Charlie ’ s Angels , to Demi Moore ’ s comeback as a fallen angel in the movie remake sequel , to Uma Thurman in the revenge fantasy Kill Bill , to Angelina Jolie as the consummate torch bearer of sex and beauty in several films , Hollywood has provided us with the femme fatale archetype .
The genetic make-up of this woman is almost always thin , white , and dressed in scantily clad wear . She is portrayed either as a criminal , psychologically unstable , or as an infantilized crime-fighting prodigy of a male master guru . She is anomalous , solitary , or ostracized , and thus ultimately vulnerable . She is emotionally unavailable and difficult to love , but irresistibly mysterious . An aberration of the ‘ natural ’ female , love is her downfall and is therefore avoided , or at least elusive . She is unbreakable by everyone except the hyper-alpha-male who invariably swoops in to disarm her with his aggressive , dominating charm and good looks . Cathartically through her , we accept violence from him . She is the killer we condone , and one we want to see bedded .
This is a quantifiably popular genre of entertainment , but why ? Does this image purport the true potential of women to be their own heroes if only they ’ d pack more heat ?
One common thread with them all is the connection of
sex and gun violence . Another is dysfunction . Rarely do we see the archetypal femme in healthy relationships , caring for families in safe communities where , after all the heroics , all ends well . Usually , someone dies . Often , it is the woman — whether she is the hero or the dispensable accessory to one .
These tropes permeate our
films , television shows , comic books , magazines , photography , and videos games . With all of this to bear , Texas-based mixed-media and social activist artist
Rosemary Meza-DesPlas is asking us to consider the potential harm that may be caused by such a widely disseminated visual paradox .
The artist ’ s interest in the relationship between women , sex , and guns emerged in 2011 when she read The New York Times articles , “
Gosh Sweetie , That ’ s A Big Gun ” and “
Mexico ’ s Drug War Feminized .” The former triggered a memory of how acceptable the images of guns had once seemed to her as a child . The latter article bridged this image to a frightening reality , and one that has created a rapidly growing number of incarcerated young women in Mexico . “ This article was talking about 14-16 year old girls who were getting involved with the drug cartels in Mexico . They were being used as ‘ la gancha ’, which means ‘ the hook ’,” luring people into the drug gangs . Meza-DesPlas explains , the girls functioned as “… a distraction to kidnap [ people ], or to attract more women into the cartel . They were naïve about how they were [ still ] being used ” that even while in prison , they maintained “ an internet presence … which made the idea of the violence , sexy .”
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