What is Feminism?

"Feminism: The doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." - http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/terms-you-should-know-about-womens-rights

What is "feminist art"?

"May be defined as art by women artists made consciously in the light of
developments in feminist art theory since about 1970" - http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=103

- The term "feminist art" suggests a style of art which gives the connotation of it being able to be in or out of fashion as though art that represents womens fight for equality is just a passing phase.

Why are men and women represented so differently in art? Why is the female nude so common?

-art represents the world around us, until recently men where the only "real" artists, women where seen as crafts people and the work they made was always funtional, even when decorative or it was seen as a hobby, not a job. Women were not seen as artists, hence the lack of traditionaly great women artists, we only have relivtivly modern great women artists. Women where there to be looked at and represented in art. They were not allowed to do the looking as that implyed equal footing with men. Painting women, especialy the female nude was about ownership, to be looked at in such a exposed way implys power over the woman, which represents how women used to be treated as objects.