|
I don't think that just because it's a cultural issue it isn't an issue. I mean isn't that part of it? That women and men are raised this way is a moot point, it still happens and the result is the same.
Maybe it is culture that causes the surveyor/surveyed part of females and the power part of males but arguing that is not the point anyways.
I disagree that women hold the power in society, they may hold more power today than they used to but they still by no means run society. If you look at the medieval era and the colonial era men were very much in control and Berger's idea fits perfectly there because men held the power. Ultimately men owned the women so a woman's way of gaining power was to act in such a way that made her desirable and I think that is why that developed.
You could even say that it's not about power per se, you could definately say that both genders hold power but the power is different.
If you look at society, especially in earlier hystory, women were objects and they were taught to serve and please men. So if you think about that, it makes sense that we would develop this sense of being watched and learn to display ourselves in one way or another. Then, you think about men, and from what I know about it, a man's status had nothing to do with HIS appearance. It was what a man had that made him great. Berger actually discusses this too in the essay on oil paintings because oil paintings were commissioned so that a man could document his belongings and thus how great he was. When he walked into a room it wasn't about being surveyed, it was about having an effect on the people in the room (you could say this about women too but the effect is inherently different).
That said, maybe this doesn't apply anymore but I think that remnants of these "roles" still exist and are still noticable in society today.
__________________
My life is one of those 'you had to be there' jokes.
|