Berger mentioned in his book that:
“Women are depicted in a quite different way from men---not because the feminine is different from the masculine---but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him”(Berger 64).Berger's point can be demonstrated perfectly by the contents of females’ magazines. Almost all of the magazines talk about how to lose weight; how to connect with men; and how to look more attractive in men’s eyes. Isn’t it ironic to focus on talking about what males like in magazines which are made for women? Those magazines which are made especially for women include no article which teaches women how to be happy or the person they want to be. Instead, they all have tons of articles telling women how they should change themselves so that men will like them.
In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, he said:
“Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at (John Berger 47).”The way men look at women also affects the way women look at themselves. It makes females try to look like those “flawless” women in the advertising and movies, even though the perfectness could be faked.
Lots of cosmetic companies are using photoshop to convey misleading promotions. It is like all the women should look like those beautiful models on the TV.
Fortunately, some countries have realized the issue and started to fix it. France is banning companies from photoshopping images of models in adverts. Now if the advertisers photoshop model's picture, they must indicate the image is not original. Otherwise, they will be fined.
I used to think patriarchy is a male agreed upon belief which insists men are stronger than women and suppose to always be in a dominating position. Patriarchal thinking dramatically underestimates females’ roles in the society; it makes women look so insignificant that they are nothing but adjunctions of men.
I thought patriarchy could only harm females until I read about what happened between Bell and her brother, I came to realize that the idea of patriarchy not only hurts females but also hurts males and there are a quite amount of women uphold patriarchy too.
The reason why patriarchal thinking is pervasive and enduring is that it does not need to be intentionally taught. Even if the children grow up in the most antipatriarchal and loving family, they can still be “initiated into patriarchal thinking (Bell 22)”. The challenge of eliminating patriarchal thinking is that the belief is holding by most of the society. As the example Bell provides in her book: no one in the Terrence Real’s family conveyed the idea of patriarchy to her little son Alexander, but when he dresses as Barbie, the society taught Alexander that as a boy he must dress masculinely sorely by “their gaze and their shock (Bell 22)”.
Furthermore, the power of patriarchal culture not only discriminates against women but also keep males from doing things they genuinely enjoy barely because those activities might be not masculine enough. Just like what happened to Terrence Real’s son:
“A ten second of wordless transaction was powerful enough to dissuade my son from that instant forward from what has been a favorite activity (Bell 22)”.What surprised me is that without a shred of malevolence, the disapproving silence successfully makes a little boy feels shame about the things he likes and the way he looks. And at the same time, the idea of patriarchal culture is rooted in his mind.
Several thousand years ago when human still hut for life which males generally have more physical advantages, which I believe it is the origin of patriarchy. However, those physical advantages have been eliminated by the technology of the modern world. Nowadays, women are just as capable as men; unfortunately, the society has not adjusted enough to abandon the idea of patriarchy.
Unlike some feminists who claim that women are better than men; I think men and women should be equal; both genders have their advantages. No one should be in any sense better than the other. I always believe the cooperation between males and females gives the best result. And Tortik-Annushka’s fine art cakes can be the best demonstration.
Tortik Yavorskaya focuses on geometrical and architectural parts while his sister, Madina Yavorskaya, is good at conceptual and aesthetical elements. It is apparent to all of us how amazing their work is when they combined their ideas.
Work Cited
Bell Hooks, Understanding Patriarchy
No comments:
Post a Comment