A typical family portrait is usually set with the man or father standing behind the rest of the subjects while the others sit or are short enough to stand. The way that women are made to sit in these types of photos makes surrenders them to the role of "passive/female" as described by Shields, while the men take on the "active/male" role. It may seem like a lot to draw from a simple family portrait but images can convey so many meanings and this is just one image of hundreds of thousands circulating around the globe that portray the power struggle even more vividly than this photo. Hard- and soft-core porn also portray this dichotomy in a more graphic and pressing way. These portrayals of the male/female relationship such as the way a man stares and the way women play into that by worrying about there appearance; all of this turns women into objects and the woman is the one who does it the most because no matter how much they may deny it most enjoy the attention from men as they walk down the street. This brings me to my next point--There have been many scandals of famous actors and professional athletes (all male) that have been charged with sending pornographic text messages to women. Some men think it is okay to send pictures of their genitals to women they speak to but the reality is that they do not enjoy it--nobody really wants to see that, honestly. On the other hand many women send pictures of themselves to men all the time but the fact is no one ever really finds out about it because they are not repulsed or put off by this action. The media seems to make such a big deal about men exposing themselves to women but you rarely, if ever, here the opposite. It is a bit of a double standard that favors women but it doesn't seem to be going away but something to keep in mind when looking at ads, pictures, books, etc.
Your use of the difference between male and female sex scandals was really interesting. It says a lot about our current culture's attitude toward females. Our culture has been trained to view women as objects, which is unfortunate. This has resulted in a narrow-minded view of what beauty is, which causes problems in both the female and male population. It causes women to view themselves as objects that should look pretty, and reinforces a primordial sexist view
ReplyDeleteI agree about the double standard. Just to spur debae, think about Paris Hilton and former Disney Starlet Vanessa Hudgens. How differently have their career paths been affected than say Huge Grant and Elliot Spitzer? Both males are still on TV and in movies as are their female offenders.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with your one point, men don't have issues with women sending photos of themselves naked to them- most of the time. On the other hand, I disagree when you say women don't want to see it. I have never sent an explicit photograph of myself to anyone, but I do know that if you are in a great relationship with a woman, they will find the occasional flirting of genital texting fun and playful. It is when men that are pigs randomly send a photo to a woman that they are not having an active long-term relationship with that it gets them into trouble. There is no preset understanding between the couple that warrents such behavior. As long as both are consenting, there should be no issue and no questions. Great post.
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