Blog Post 5

I. Summary

Berger starts off by explaining how women perceive themselves and how they are always self conscious about their self image. Berger also explains how women are used in paintings, pictures, and advertising as a way to get any audiences attention. He adds that often time women are seen not as people but as objects. He then describes the gender placement of men in women in different time periods through oil painting.




II. Conversation

This article is much like Green's in the way the Berger using framing throughout the entire article. He only really focuses on women more so then men. If you look at the bigger picture women and men would both be talked about equally instead of only focusing on the women.

III. Assigned exercises

1.)   Do you think artists of these paintings knew what they were doing when they created? Why? Would Berger agree with you?

A: The artists knew exactly what they were doing when creating their paintings. The paintings are far to detailed to just have been painting without a pre conceived notion as to what it was that the artist was working on. Burger would have agreed with me. Painting those pictures takes a lot of time and planning in order to be true works of art, and not just drawing a naked picture of a person. I, like Berger agree that women are some times seen as objects instead of people.  I find that wrong and I think that should definetly changed in our culture today 

2.)    Where have you seen images of posed women in advertising or other pop culture? How have these images compared to the nudes discussed by Berger? How have our portrayals of women in visual media changed or stayed the same?

A: I have seen women in advertisements from everything to women's underwear commercials, music covers, and even at football games. This is simply because attractive women and sex sell. As bad as this may sound it is true and is something that is evolving and changing every year in our culture. Women posing naked or barley clothed is something that attracts an audience of people just like in the paintings Berger described. Our portrayal of women in visual media have changed and have become much more risqué. But the same technique of gaining an audience or getting peoples attention from naked women is still the same in many respects.

3.)    Berger mentions that a woman’s presence is defined by her mannerisms, her attire, her surroundings, and how she expresses herself. This presence is in contrast to a man’s presence, which “is dependent upon the promise of power he embodies” (208). Are these assumptions about culture any different now than they were when the article was published in the 1970s?  

A: In the 70's, men were the ones who ran businesses, worked in blue collar hard working jobs, or worked in a place of power above others. Times have since changed. Women now have power just like men do. In some ways however the culture of women and the way we look at women and defining a them have stayed the same. It is very interesting to see how in only 40 years a culture can change drastically.

4.) Who is the audience and what details from the essay help you to decide that?

A:  The audience really could be anyone. But it might be directed specifically at women. This is because he talks about and gives examples of how women are seen differently then men. 




5.)   In the reading, Berger asks the question “What does this sight of the other mean to us, how                  does it, at that instant of total disclosure, affect our desire?” (213). Explain what the “other” is and how the presence of another perspective can change the attitude of the spectator.


IV. Personal Reflection


      This reading really made me think a lot of how the culture of women and the way they are perceived has indeed changed a lot in the past 40 years. At the same time however some things are still the same. Many times women are seen as objects. I find that wrong and I hope that sooner rather than later, this trend of seeing women as objects stops. We are all equal not matter what race, or gender you are.