masculinity

This image was created by me when i was 17. Our art class in high school was given a project to create an artwork on masculinity and femininity in modern society.
Our art teacher was a bit of a feminist so i took a very chauvinist view on the whole project. I made out as though women essentially have fucked up the role of man. To do this I called many farmers until one agreed to let me cut the balls of one of his cows. well i got the balls so the project was set. I did a 6 piece triptych
2 panels one on the top left and one on top right being a womans hands clenching a set of severed testicles with a middle panel being a woman who looks like a dyke tearing up a copy of a book called "the image of man".

below it was a second series with the left and right panels being of a mans hands crushing a beer can and blood running down his arm. the label on the beer can was Victoria bitter being symbolic of female bitterness towards men and the central panel was of a feminine man trying to tear a copy of a book called "the Female eunuch"

My teacher didn't quite know what to make of the series. sadly the series is now lost all except this panel.

I should also comment I was suprised how much resistance there is when using a sharp knife to remove testicles i thought they would come off easy. they dont.
Location
my home
Equipment Used
canon Eos and a 80mm lens
Exposure
unknown
Film & Developer
delta 400 in ID-11
Paper & Developer
scan from film
Lens Filter
none
firstly we all masturbate.....

The first people I called were abattoirs. I was intending to get them from a deceased bull. but the livestock is castrated months earlier so they dont have it come in.
the people at the abattoirs thought i was weird...

I then contacted lab suppliers who supply such things as mice, and frogs, pigs hearts etc for bio research. but they would not sell the testicle with the scrotum. and if i did want a special request such as this I would have had to waited a few weeks and i didn't have that amount of time. so i called some butchers....they thought i was prank caller i think. then i called one country butcher and he advised me of some farmers to call and so i called some and then i found the person who was able to supply me with what i needed.
 
Stephen, it's clear that your image still has impact, judging from the discussion. Bravo. I pretty much share David William White's perspective on this; the young bull was going to be castrated anyhow, as most are before being sent to slaughter. Pretty standard procedure. I'm impressed with the, um, guts you showed going about acquiring your subject. Great story.

If anyone objects on the basis of animal cruelty, those objections should be aimed at the entire livestock industry.

It's too bad that you disposed of the "package" so quickly, it could have served for a range of different images. This one here would be a perfect PETA billboard ad with the right slogan. You could always go back to that farmer; I get the impression he'd likely remember you....
 
"It's too bad that you disposed of the "package" so quickly, it could have served for a range of different images."

This image should be hanging on a wall of a divorce attorney or it should be given to brides by a groom instead of wedding rings...

I love this , thank you for making this come to be, Stephen
 

Media information

Album
Member Album by Stephen Frizza
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Stephen Frizza
Date added
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Image metadata

Filename
balls.jpg
File size
71 KB
Date taken
Mon, 04 May 2009 11:28 PM
Dimensions
453px x 567px

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