Week 3: John Berger- Ways of Seeing

Key points from this weeks reading:

John Berger's article "Ways of Seeing" analyses how men and women are represented on a cultural level and how these effect peoples perception. Berger claims that representations of men and women attract different 'gazes', suggesting that men are interested in examining women, but women also prefer to examine themselves. He states that the cultural presence of a woman is very different to the cultural presence of a man. 

Berger claims that for a man, their presence is about power and ability to what he can do compared to others. Contrastingly, Berger also claims that a woman's presence is always related to themselves. Berger argues this basing it on the the notion that woman are created to take care of men, he argues that because of this women are forced to become self conscious and aware of their own presence and actions. They are very negative and disciplined towards themselves. Women constantly reflect on themselves and for this reason, Berger notes that her self value is measured in her own eyes rather than in the eyes of the other.

Berger also states that men examine women before they relate to them, but the result of this examination determine their relation to the woman. Because of this, all women;'s actions are hints of the way in which they want to be treated. Berger simplifies this notion by arguing that "men act – women appear". Women look at themselves being looked at. The surveying woman is a man, the surveyed woman is a woman, and by this the woman objectifies herself as a subject of a gaze.