Woman's Headrest

ART OF PRESENTING GENDER

Art can play a role in articulating and enacting gender identities, both openly and more subtly.

This stool and figure display their respectively male and female bodily sexual characteristics quite directly. The stool would have been used by a Lobi man of high status, with its phallic “foot” protruding to convey his virility and authority. The figure, dedicated to the Yoruba cult of Shango, the orisha (god) of thunder, emphasizes female characteristics of breasts and hairdo. In addition, the bowl held by the figure has sexual and reproductive associations.

The two headrests are everyday objects with the same function, though their differing forms are based on the gender of the user. The blocklike form of the man’s headrest contrasts with the more slender form of the woman’s. Even everyday objects such as these can subtly reinforce a strict, binary concept of gender. In addition to cradling the head and protecting often elaborate coiffures during sleep, headrests also serve as emblems of status.