"She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is crucial importance for what is normally thought as the success of her life."
-Quote from Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Reaction: This reminded me of how from a young age I was told to always be aware of the male gaze. A few months ago I was reminded of the fact when I was in a family event and I had cut my hair really short the day before because I wanted to do so. The women all questioned why I did so and took this "mistake" as an opportunity to judge my body, how I should lose weight if I want a man and that once I have a boyfriend I should worry or pay extra attention to my appearance. My appearance was like an insult to the women there because I did not look feminine enough and was not playing my role in attracting the male gaze.
"To be naked is to be oneself.
To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself."
-Quote from Ways of Seeing by John Berger
Reaction: In the book the author says the men are the ones who see. So the nude women in the paintings are objects to be looked at and admired by men. The women in the paintings are aware of the viewers gaze and look back to the viewer offering her femininity to be surveyed because that is what is expected of her. I remember once hearing a straight man say that the first thing they see in a woman is her breasts and then her eyes. There are some men who scan the body to find value and if there is none then its ignored or criticized.
"When thinking about black female spectators, I remember being punished as a child for staring, for those hard intense direct looks children would give grown ups, looks that were seen as confrontational, as gestures of resistance, challenges to authority."
-quote from The Oppositional Gaze Bell Hooks
Reaction: This quote reminded me of how I was told to never stare, only to glance for a brief moment. There was an instance when I was younger where I stared out of the bus window at an angry woman yelling at the bus driver outside and when she saw me looking she directed her rage at me. As if I had only by looking greatly insulted her.
"Most of the women I talked with felt that they consciously resisted identification with films that this tension made moviegoing less pleasurable; at times it cause pain."
-Quote from The Oppositional Gaze Bell Hooks
Reaction: The depiction of races in old movies and some now are mostly stereotypes made up by white people who lack understanding. There have been a handful of movies I watched that represented me or any other race that is not white in American cinema. The oppositional gaze is the type of looking that resists the oppressions of a black person's right to look. So the author writes about how black women especially must critique their representation in film.
"Patriarchy promotes insanity."
-Quote from Understanding Patricarchy by Bell Hooks
Reaction:
"To end patriarchy we must challenge both its psychological and its concrete manifestations in daily life."
-quote from Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks
Reaction: In the book, the author questioned feminists idea of victimizing women and thus placing men in a position of power which just reinforces patriarchy. Instead she says to end patriarchy because of its hold on the male population and how it forces them to keep their position through violence. Patriarchy is passed on by both women and men to the children because it keeps everyone in order. Even the bible is interpreted as men are the ones who lead and the women are submissive. So everything around us pushes the idea of patriarchy.
"By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty and background, I’m working to diversify the representations of black women in art.”
-Quote from The Photographed, Collaged, and Painted Muses of Mickalene Thomas by Carey Dunne
Reaction: Old painting depicting black women are very few and there lacks a sense of representation for black viewers. The artist, Thomas uses bright colors to attract the viewer to look at the figure and the things around them.
“A portrait does not have to be the image of an individuality, conceived as an island no one could access but the portraitist. A portrait can be the way to plunge into the sea of life.”
-Quote from Art That Looks at What Women See by Nina Siegal
Reaction: Most images are meant to be seen, to invite the viewer. a portrait especially one that is looking at the viewer demands attention as if confronting them.
"As an immigrant, Mendieta felt a disconnect in the United States. The trauma of being uprooted from her Cuban homeland as a girl would leave her with questions about her identity and make her more conscious of being a woman of color.
These questions would echo in her work, which explored themes that pushed ethnic, sexual, moral, religious and political boundaries. She urged viewers to disregard their gender, race or other defining societal factors and instead connect with the humanity they share with others."
-Quote from Overlooked No More: Ana Mendieta, a Cuban Artist Who Pushed Boundaries By Monica Castillo
Reaction: The idea of disregarding gender, race and other social factors is impossible because of how everyone is treated differently based on these factors. It cannot be ignored because of the lack of humanity there was and is between all of us due to the color of our skin. The sense of sight showed us that there are superficial differences and so people refuse to believe we are all biologically under the same category of human species.
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