Are women kinder than men?
Do we have a close affinity with nature?
Are we less virtuous than men?
More vain?
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What are our cultural expectations for women?
Western philosophers have offered answers to all these questions and so will the students of the Winter 2013 Philosophy of Woman class at Hanover College. They will be sharing their thoughts on topics such as the male gaze, the beauty myth, compulsory heterosexuality and queer theory, among others. Stop by and hear what we have to say!
When I looked at the fourth picture on this blog displaying the woman with the mirror, a memory hit me. Earlier we read an article by John Berger titled "Ways of Seeing" and he also contained a painting of woman holding a mirror. I remeber the description below the painting read "You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put the mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure."
ReplyDeleteThis comment really bothered me, and it shows all kinds of conflicting and degrading ways of portraying women. The artist wants to see the woman, but then shows she is vain by placing the mirror in her hand. How can anyone live up to this idea? And why would someone want to?
It's almost as if the artist wants women to walk a fine line when being sexually appealing to men, but not too much. There is an underlayer of control and warning to all women who stray too far from this path. But in an equal sense, while women are warned to not stray, men can still look at this painting.
It's almost as if the artist feels slight guilt for looking at the naked woman, and by making her appear vain the blame is then placed on her. So since she is considered vain he can feel free to paint more portraits of women because they are "sinful" and not himself.
This image is not only degrading, but also depressing as it represents the viewpoints held by several men of what women should be.