Opinion on "Ways of Seeing" Expert by John Berger

My immediate reaction to this article, was frustration, and wow, this guy is a dunce, and he's blatantly calling women objects. But then I realized not only that this was written in 1977, but were also unfortunate but true observations of the way women have been depicted and seen over time, much of which has sadly not changed since the 1970's either. For example, the expressions of the two women on page 55 are remarkably similar and apathetic, gazing directly at the viewer, without any self confidence or independence of their own, despite the drastically different time periods of the images. Despite my fury at the author in the beginning with his bold statement about women, I realized that he was just stating the truth about the objectification of women and not necessarily stating his opinion, which made me less angry. Even so, the truth hurts, reading that success for men is all about how they assert their power over other, and success for women in life is how she conveys her attitude and appears to others. This unfortunately, is true still today, and appearance is on the forefront of dare I say, most women's minds, in the work world.

From contemporary women judging their own every move and look, in anticipation of what how men will judge and perceive them, to the historical and artistic paintings of women in the 15th century, similarly with the theme of mirrors, with the woman looking out at a viewer with the knowledge of being watched, and commonly a mirror within the painting watching herself just as the viewer does. It is assumed of women in these paintings, and modern times, that women are concerned about their appearance, and thereby are constantly trying to live up to this impossible achievement to look and be perfect. This expectation of women to do 10 things at once, and to do them perfectly, being this female superhero, is modeled throughout forms of media, and specifically stated in a Loreal Paris revitalift commercial, with Julianna Margulies. She is a gorgeous female extraordinaire, Emmy award-winning actress on the "Good Wife", playing a woman who does it all. This female expectation of herself in the commercial to to do it all, while at the same time looking ageless and beautiful, is exemplified in too many areas of pop culture, and a goal that permeates to the core of why real-life women are so insecure, never satisfied with themselves, and always trying to fix themselves.