The blame was squarely placed upon the woman who now became subservient to man, as punishment, while man became God’s agent. The result was the creation of nakedness in the mind of the beholder. Some of the first nude depictions of Adam and Eve, as told in Genesis, happened after they ate the forbidden fruit and saw each other differently. As a people, we end up entrenching the opinion that it is the man’s role to look at women as society supposes this to be a norm, as far gender roles are concerned.īerger also sees the ‘Fall’ of Adam and Eve as an implicit representation in European paintings, creating problems for women. The media identifies our behavior and is very surgical at reinforcing this way of thinking. The song describes how men see women and women not caring much about who or what they are, but instead taking pleasure in observing the outward appearance of their bodies. Take for example the hit pop-song ‘ Beep’ by Pussycat Dolls (PCD) and Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, where PCD symbolize women who are being “checked out” by a men (portrayed here by Wll.I.Am. Many movies, commercials and television shows today clearly provide proof of this notion. The male gaze has been reinforced, especially in the media, creating a male spectator who always views a woman. I agree with the notion that women constantly survey themselves because women play a passive role at “watching themselves”. Men thus act and women appear, determining male-female relations and sometimes how women view themselves (turning herself into an object). She now has to survey all she does, especially pertaining her appearance to men, supplanting her sense of being due to the desire to be appreciated. Two distinct elements of her identity become apparent that of the surveyor and the surveyed. A woman ultimately has to watch herself as she constantly has her image in her thoughts, suggesting that she has been persuaded to always survey herself continually. Additionally, being born a woman confines one to a space that is under the tutelage of the man, a result of which is the social presence of the woman.
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A woman’s presence is evident in her clothes, voice, opinions, chosen surrounding and taste. Read also Safety and First Aid – Reflective EssayĬonversely, the presence of a woman is said to express her particular attitude to herself, which ends up defining what action can and cannot be performed on her. The main purpose of practicing this act of pretence is towards his intention of exercising power over others.
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A man’s presence may be fabricated as he might pretend to be capable even when he is not. The promised power, be it physical, moral, temperamental, sexual or even social always appears to be exterior to the man. A striking presence of a man is the result of the large and credible promise that he holds and if it happens to be small, he is seen as having little presence. The social presence of a man is said to largely depend on the promise of the purported power that he embodies. According to the author, the aforementioned generalization is as a result of long-held conventions that the social presence of a woman is differs in kind when compared to that of a man. In the third chapter of John Berger’s book, Ways of Seeing, one might generalize that “men act and women appear”.