ConVoCaTioN

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/