He concludes by stating that this tradition of men acting and women appearing still holds true in our culture today. This element of the paintings, combined with the nudity, reflected the painting as a sexual experience for the male viewer, thus, giving him the social power. She was typically shown as being aware that she was being looked at, creating the notion that she is offering herself up to the surveyor. Artists painted nude women for the male owners’ pleasure of surveying these women as objects. Berger addresses this topic to prove his argument.
In European paintings, nude women were a popular subject. Due to women constantly surveying themselves being surveyed, they turn themselves into an object to be viewed and seen. Berger simplifies this idea by stating that men act and women appear. “Every one of her actions-whatever its direct purpose or motivation-is also read as an indication of how she would like to be treated” (pg 47). A man’s presence is based on his exertion of power.Ī woman’s actions inform how others should treat her. In contrast, a man’s presence is all surface “in the sense that he pretends to be capable of what he is not” (pg 46). Women are continuously aware of her own image as well as the image that others see of her, particularly the way men see her. He begins by describing that the social presence of a woman is two-fold, in that she embodies her identity as the surveyor and the surveyed.
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