Welcome to Original RaH, postings and reflections about real life from a real human being. Granted, what's "real" is entirely subjective, but what better chance to understand the separate realities of individuals than to share them? That's a tangent for another time. Welcome noted, moving on.
This was my last day of Fall term's Thursday classes, so I went to all of them. And in my Women and Gender Studies lecture, the pinnacle of our whole term was captured in still life. Before the class started our professor informed us that the university photographer would be taking pictures, which would probably end up in brochures or on the website. When we moved into lecture mode I noticed the click of his shutter, snapping stills of our classroom environment. Immediately, I wondered if any of these bright, capable, informed women were posing for their pictures.
This might seem an odd thing to wonder, but one of the main themes of the class was the way women are portrayed. Their portrayal is a direct indication of how they are observed. The way others closely observe them teaches them to observe themselves. This brings up the notion of "woman as a watched being", or "the male Gaze". (http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/gaze.htm)I found this idea to be very compelling, and disturbing.
So when I heard that shutter snatching up our images I wondered if anyone had really chosen to identify with the material we had been presented with in class. Or might they have abandoned their enlightenment to create an attractive snapshot. I could just imagine girls with their chins rested in their hands, a look of awe lighting their face. Or the opposite, a disgruntled looking hoodie wearer, with arms folded, possessing an expression of critical discontent. Either way, both of them would be posing for the camera, and feeding me a daily dose of irony.
Additional Disturbing Material: http://about-face.org/goo/
2 comments:
Interestingly, I had a convrsation on th topic, just this morning - about how most comments on women or most of the things that are said about them, mostly center around their looks! I will find it hard to believe that there's a woman out there that is not affected by the "expectation of beauty"! I rarely find a comment being made about the intellectual and managerial abilities of women!
Then again, to be very honest, I dont think that life makes anything easier for anyone. So if women really want, they can break these norms. Although, it's gonna be difficult! Most women tend to give in!
Just a thought!
Hi, Original Rah! Maitri here. Great start on your blog! I guess I was especially drawn to this piece because it had to do with photography. I have felt quite frustrated over the past several years, as I have travelled to Mexico City and Paris and England, wanting to take photographs of people, but not wanting to do it without their permission. I found your comments about your prof saying that you would be photographed for some magazine or pamphlet or something really disturbing. Nowhere was there any mention that you or your classmates were ASKED if it was okay to take your photograph. It should be your right to refuse, but to be able to refuse you should have been given that as an option. Shame on the prof.
I feel really strongly that, even though people are walking around in public, that it is not my right as a photographer to take their picture (unless they are far enough away that their face could not be recognized). Guess that's why I was so frustrated on my travels.
Anyway, females in our society (and probably societies that are patriarchal) have been raised to believe they are objects to be looked at, and either admired or shunned because of their looks, or because of the way they are willing to act around men. We've come a ways down the road, but we have a really long way to go. I look at recent photos of myself, and wonder, "Is that me? With all that gray hair?" At first I think, "Ugh!" But then I correct myself and say, "Ah--beautiful!" Because it's the real me. We are all too busy preening . . . (it's a tough habit to break).
Post a Comment