- Voyeurism (Freud)
- Sexual Desire
- Visual Culture (Art and Media)
- Looking is not neutral
- 'Men act, women appear' - J. Berger (Men have purpose and power whereas women are seen as objects)
We then looked at a few images from the lecture and discussed them in more detail, like this painting by Hans Memling in 1485, named 'Vanity':
In this image, it is made to seem as though it is ok to look at her because she is in fact looking at herself. This is where the name 'vanity' came from, and by naming it this it shows a clear attempt on the artists behalf to shift the blame onto the woman herself. Being a painting from 1485, it is a very clear representation of the patriarchal society that they then lived in. Most artists were men, and most of the consumers of art were men, yet most of these paintings featured naked women. This allowed men to hang these images on their wall and get a constant reassurance and sense of security within his own masculinity and power. It enabled the men to physically own a woman without being challenged, fulfilling their voyeuristic desires. The use of the mirror within the painting allows the woman to check that you're still looking at her; this being a common device used within many paintings from this era.
In the lecture, we also looked at these two images and compared them. We went through everything we discussed within the lecture and discussed the main differences between the two images:
Titian's Venus of Urbino, 1538
Olympia, 1863
The differences between the two images are:
- The gaze
- Hand placement
- Both images of Goddesses - The first image is a sexually available woman and the second image is of a prostitute.
- The first image is unchallenging and a fantasy, whereas the second image is a challenge to their stable view. She seems to be more in control and much less sexually available in comparison to how they would imagine it. (The cat in the image represents independence whereas the dog symbolises loyalty)
The second image refuses the tradition of objectifying women which had come about due to the fact that men were in charge of art and they way in which people were therefore depicted within it.
We were then shown an extract of John Berger's Ways Of Seeing, Episode 2:
Consumer culture is like an instructing machine that shows women the male fantasy, the males ideal woman. As a result of this women's subjectivity, their idea of self, is beginning to get closer to mens objectification of women.
To be naked is to be oneself, nude is seen as an object. To be seen nude, you will be seen as naked but not actually viewed as an person, as yourself. There is reciprocity evolving, in which we see people as objects, just as they do us.
We then began looking at the work of Rosalind Coward, a postfeminist writer. She talks about various aspects of the male gaze, including anxiety and socially prescribed ideals. The fantasy of consumer culture perpetuates this idea of 'the look', based around the fear of rejection, forcing men to look; subordination and domination are the main elements of this. It isn't even to do with women being beautiful, but instead to do with this repeated idea, repeated myth, of women being controllable and subordinate. In order to satisfy your needs you consume, and these images perpetuate the ideal way to act and dress and talk, trapping women. Instead of realising how sexist and morally wrong this is, they resort to conforming to what is seen as the social norm.
She also talks about the idea of 'sex at a distance', which refers to the unattainable ideal of a woman. For both men and women this results in reality becoming a constant disappointment, constantly unsatisfied whilst chasing this unattainable idea life. Due to the distance and the refusal to see these women as people, the 'Peeping Tom' is able to stay in control. This works in a similar way to that of the patriarchal society that keeps telling itself that it is in control. Reality is so disappointing in comparison to this fantasy, sexual images are actually needed.
When thinking about these sexual images, a frequently occurring character is the school girl. Immature and easier to control; pornography is more about male power and patriarchal domination than eroticism. Beauty is an empty term, filled by society at any given moment. The understanding of beauty comes from a prescribed idea of 'beauty'. Radical feminists would never be described as being beautiful.
Marriage ensures the mans control over the woman, it is an invention of the patriarchal society.
We also spoke briefly about Freud and his theories in conjunction with the views of Coward:
Narcissism - Mirror stage and unified sense of self and identity. The rest of our lives is an attempt to chase this idea. Freud says that women are naturally more narcissistic, more concerned with their self image, then men. However, it is in fact narcissistic damage from the coercive cultural idea.
'Unless we measure up, we will not be loved'
There is an increased anxiety to be perfect. This then creates a market that produces adverts to perpetuate this, thus creating a cycle of profit. Now, there is a tendency to objectify men in the same way; this not being a victory for anyone. It will simply result in everyone being a part of a society that is constantly chasing this unreal ideal.
TASK: Analyse an advert that shows the male gaze, using 5 quotes from R. Coward (500 Words). For this task, I have chosen to look at an advertisement for Wonderbra:
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