John Berger Chapter 2 & 3
“You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure.” Page 51
I think this quote really goes into depth when you consider how most of these paintings are created by men, and it is all about the woman in the perspective of a man (male gaze), and in reality most of these pictures are really just the exploitation and sexualization of women and these artist throw things like a mirror in the picture to make it seem more in depth and have more meaning then what it actually is, a man sexualizing a woman.
“To be naked is to be oneself.
To be nude is to be seen by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude. (The sight of it as an object stimulates the use of it as an object.) Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display.” Page 54
Reading this made complete sense to me, because without really having the words to explain it, I understood the difference between being naked and being nude. When imagining someone naked (even if they aren’t actually without clothes) I picture them being their true selves, like the phrase “naked truth”. But the term nudity I already associate negative things to it, like possession, exposure, which is really what this quote is addressing.
Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks
“Despite the contemporary visionary feminist thinking that makes clear that a patriarchal thinker need not be male, most folks continue to see men as the problem of patriarchy.” Page 23
I had actually reread this text right after having an important conversation with one of my coworkers, and we were talking about feminism and she mentioned that she isn’t a fan of feminism in this generation because of exactly what this quote states. We talked about how a lot of contemporary feminism is about completely tearing and shitting on men, when in reality they are affected by patriarchy just as much as a woman is. And I had started explaining the technical terms and we talked about this book and she read snippets of what she could find online, and after that we had gone back to the conversation and talked about this quote in particular again, and a lot of what was said was how even when she read and had already had a similar mindset about the quote is was shocking to read just because it's so weird to think about how this misconception effects everyone.
“Clearly we cannot dismantle a system as long as we engage in collective denial about its impacts on our lives.” Page 24
This is another thing my friend and I talked about, when we were thinking about the misconceptions of patriarchy we were discussing how even when you try to explain the severity of the situation most because it will often bounce back with denial or disinterest. This just completely shut down progress for change and makes it so hard for anything to be done.
The Oppositional Gaze by Bell Hooks
“And in opposition they claimed Sapphire as their own, as the symbol of that angry part of themselves white folks and black men could not even begin to understand.” Page 120
A big part of this quote that stood out to me and that we were seeing the big three (white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy) very clearly and seeing how they all affect the black woman in cinema. Here you have found a way to “join” white people and black men by tearing down black women. They made the character so unlikeable that it created unity. But the reality is that it was just sexism. Something that just horribly added to the imagery of what a black woman is, specifically in the male gaze.
“Not only would I not be hurt by the absence of black female presence, or the insertion of violating representation, I interrogated the work, cultivated a way to look past race and gender for aspects of content, form language.” Page 122
I think from what I gathered this is bell hooks addressing oppositional gaze. And using gaze as a means of “looking” in a way that is almost defiance where she is talking about reclaiming the rights of looking at cinema, and looking at the oppressors. It is rebellion and resistance against the repression of the rights a black person has to look.
Female Gaze: Art That Looks at What Women See
“The female artists’ gaze is shaped by their lived experiences, which are different for women and men.”
Ana Mendieta Artist Who Pushed Boundaries
“For the piece, Mendieta upended her apartment, covered herself with blood and tied herself to a table to recreate the aftermath of brutal sexual assault. She invited an audience to the made-up crime scene, where she remained bent over the table with blood dripping down her legs and pooling at her feet as they discussed the incident.”
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