" In other words, that art springs from within, rather than must be supported from without.
The author places the blame for female artists to be culturally central squarely upon culture itself, specifically Western culture's failure to create systems of educational nurturing for females. "The fault lies not in our stars, our hormones, our menstrual cycles, or our empty internal spaces, but in our institutions and our education -- education understood to include everything that happens to us from the moment we enter this world of meaningful symbols, signs, and signals." She prompts the reader, when asked, 'why have there been no great women artists?' To deal with it, as she states in her introduction to her work, as a "meaningful question" for our time, rather than a merely convenient or self-generated response on the part of feminists, to restate or reverse old cultural shibboleths about femininity, greatness,...
But also, the article frees the individual artist, male or female from the need to embody genius, as the author suggests that such a construction of male genius, unsupported by cultural institutions is itself a stultifying and unfulfilling myth for both male and female artists. Today, postmodern art from all genres, from hip-hop to collages of media and three-dimensional representation challenge the idea of the 'original' or genius artist, and underline the fact that no art is original, rather art is a cultural expression of the moment -- a moment that now includes the full voice of female as well as male artists.
