Images of the female body are found everywhere. Women, often scantily dressed can be found on the cover of popular magazines or advertising the newest muscle car. The representational relationships between men and women in art are stasis throughout history. Women and their bodies are depicted as objects of sexual desire; men are depicted by the power he is capable of. In William Stang’s portrait titled, “Adoration” the nude female symbolizes ideal beauty. Each of the men are mere spectators; quietly judging her figure and offering her gifts. John Berger, author of “Ways of Seeing” describes the emerging theme of judging women in the painting, Judgment of Paris.1 Women become objects of beauty and the exquisite win the prize.
These judgments continue today. The media reinforces the importance of a woman’s beauty and figure as a gauge of a woman’s worth. Women are bombarded with the stereotype of what is considered beautiful. They compare themselves to these “standards” to compete for a man’s affection. This is evident in Berger’s description of women in relation to their selves. “The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object-and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.”1
1. Berger, John, Ways of Seeing (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), 47-52.
1. Berger, John, Ways of Seeing (London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1973), 47-52.
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