Study Task 2 | Reading & Understanding a Text

Tone of voice | Although the points raised by Berger have elements of truth, it cannot be ignored that a certain amount of validity is removed as he is a man, commenting on the experiences of women. Additionally, the opinions expressed in the text could be viewed as biased as they are predominantly eurocentric, and they focus only on heterosexual relationships. The language of the text itself is academic, but fairly easy to comprehend.

5 key points | A woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her

Women are taught from an early age to survey themselves and their appearances continually

How a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated

Men look and observe women for their own pleasure, but when a woman observes herself or considers her appearance for her own self, she is vain

A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you. A woman's presence suggests what can be done to her. (The language used here contrasts - aggressive for the man, passive/submissive for the woman)

5 key quotes | "To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men"

"From earliest childhood she has been taught and pursuaded to survey herself continually"

"How she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life"

"This nakedness is not, however, an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner's feelings or demands"

"The ideal was broken. But there was little to replace it except the 'realism' of the prostitue - who became the quintessential woman of early avant-garde 20th century painting"

the man himself..

This extract from ‘Ways of Seeing’ by Berger not only analyses the ways in which women are viewed within society, but how classical art, namely European nude paintings, depict women and mirror these societal views. A running theme within the text is the idea of spectatorship – how men have always been the spectators and women have been the recipients of their gaze. Consequentially, most art, images, and other depictions of women have been engineered (knowingly or otherwise) with the male viewer in mind.

This creates damaging portrayals of women as they are tied to a male’s perspective of themselves instead of being completely autonomous. Berger references a portrait of Charles II’s mistress Nell Gwynne, mentioning that her naked form doesn’t reflect her own feelings, but that it is ‘a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings or demands’. This infers that women have always been viewed as separate from their own sexuality, affirming their roles as passive subjects.

This leads on to Berger’s comment that women have been ‘taught and persuaded to survey [themselves] continually’, becoming the ‘surveyor and the surveyed’. Male approval has been viewed as highly important for women throughout history due to a combination of reasons; men have made up the majority of those in positions of authority, and also due to traditional values and roles for women – courtship, marriage, child bearing and motherhood. These roles arguably involve some level of ‘male approval’ and culturally, have always determined a woman’s success in life.