Reading Response #4

I really enjoyed reading this chapter and there were so many interesting points so I’ll just pick out a few that caught my eye. At the beginning of the chapter, the author discusses 19^th century scientific uses of photography to categorize people and to understand their inner character through external clues recorded through the camera. Looking at photographs in magazines today, while these images are not in a scientific setting, similar ideas have stuck and I think we still associate external features captured in a photograph as containing the power to reveal a persons inner character. Photography and classification have continued through biometric security further connecting these 19^th century scientific yet usually racist images. I was shocked to learn that these technologies are set up to configure to the dominant or ‘normal’ white male and subsequently there is an inability for the system to register marginalized groups. I think this is a major issue that needs to be addressed and it suggests we have grown little from those initial scientific images.

I also found the feminist arguments addressed in this section extremely interesting. One point discussed by the author was that as capitalism has developed, there has been a rise in the fetishistic depictions of women. Life becomes more about commodities and photographs allow the viewer to more easily transform the woman into an object to be possessed. Moreover, I think it is interesting to consider the ways women adopt the male gaze. The recognition that we are being looked at as merely an object can cause the woman to view herself and other woman as an object. She surveys herself and other woman in a way that disempowers the woman whilst reinforcing the dominance of the male gaze. Magazines aimed at woman show other woman caught in unattractive poses and therefore encourage the viewer to objectify and mock the figure. A vitally important point made by the author was that while this seemingly comforts the viewer, in reality it encourages the woman to be more aware of their physical flaws. In my opinion, objectifying and criticizing another woman results in women remaining in a marginalized position. We rarely see photographs of men caught at a bad angle or having put on a few extra pounds. On the other end of the spectrum, women are depicted in magazines as perfection though extensive photoshop editing. Neither depiction is ‘true,’ yet the viewer adopts the male gaze, objectifies both types of depictions and recognizes the photographs closeness to reality causing her to question her own physical appearance.

Q. Is all porn objectifying to women? Or does it allow for a woman to own her sexuality?