GENDER
		Gender is socially constructed. The formulation and implementation of the male gaze and the female gaze equate to gender politics. The myths and ideologies about sexuality originate with gender. Men and women approach sexuality differently. Therefore there are two distinct archetypes: the male perspective and the female perspective on sexuality. The continuously emerging themes from the male point of view are control and power "In heterosexual pornography, where man is positioned as active subject and woman as responsive object, she becomes not a person, but a hole to be penetrated" (Ussher p.158). The male, as Berger suggests, is concerned with his obtainment of power whether large or small, "If the promise is large and credible his presence is striking. If it is small or incredible, he is found to have little presence. The promised power may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual-but its object is always exterior to the man. A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you. His presence may be fabricated, in the sense that he pretends to be capable of what he is not. But the pretense is always towards a power which he exercises over others" (Berger p. 45-46). In essence, Berger maintains that men validate their existence according to what they can and can't do. The conquering of social, sexual etc. situations stimulates their self-confidence. Males seek to conquer and empower themselves, justifiable by what they consider important or worthy. For instance male sexuality is based on performance erection. In short men act. In order for males to view porn as viable they must think of the female as something other than what she is---human. In transit from the pornographic videotape or magazine to the male psyche the women becomes dehumanized, devalued an object or project that is necessary to control and conquer. Root asserts "for the advertisement to make sense to him he must think of the woman in the advertisement as a thing over which he can control. If female bodies carried none of these connotations the advertisement would have no meaning whatsoever. As it is, however, we are forced to accept the concept of women as pleasurable and ever-available bodies everytime we leaf through a magazine" (Root p. 6). Additionally in hard core or soft core porn women are ready, willing, able and available to comply with the masculine fantasy, "As in pornography women are presented as though they are solely there for male enjoyment. They are open for sexual use by the man looking at the page, ready to comply with his fantasy" (Berger p. 7). Women are procured and surveyed for male perusal; becoming bound physically and mentally by the intimidating yet gorgeous invisible male spectator. In opposition the female construction of sexuality is decisively different. Jane Root author of Who Does This Ad Think You Are argues that pornography and advertising use similar codes (availability-of women aimed at women) these codes become internalized into their relationship with men. She claims that "The majority of women who appear in advertisements are distinguished by their youth and beauty" (Root p. 3) further propelling the notion that beauty and youth are commodities. The female body becomes a fetish as it is displaced from the whole. Her body is scrutinized in segments where focus can be emphasized at her breast, face or anywhere else. As sustained by Root, "Each body part becomes eroticised and sexual to-be-looked-at and marveled in. The whole outer surface of the body is transformed to an exquisite, passive thing. The images of women in advertisements show females as sexualized objects, whose status in the world and position in the advertisement is dependent on how they look rather than what they do. Achievement is primary visual achievement, and perfection is the attainment of physical beauty" (Root p. 9). According to Berger, the female presence is something other than the males. The female presence is expressive of her "...own attitude, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. Her presence is manifested in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste-indeed there is nothing she can do which does not attribute to her presence. Presence for woman is so intrinsic to her person that men tend to think of it as an almost physical emanation, a kind of heat or smell or aura" (Berger p. 46). Berger articulately suggests that a woman's presence is associated with her entire being i.e. her character and personality. She is consistently on show or being watched and evaluated by men but also by other women and herself. Accordingly she must keep up appearances. Berger states "To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of woman has been developed as a result of their ingenuity or living under such tutelage within such a limited space. But this has been at the cost of a woman's self-being split into two. A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. And so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman" (Berger p. 46). Therefore women are always alert and conscious of every move and its consequences. Women are defined by their looks and their deeds. Moreover, women are bound within the confines of their gender becoming a product of male output, societal constraints and female insecurities. As a product of social construction she becomes observant, calculating and critical of other women and herself. She is purveyor of her actions and how they appear specifically to the opposite sex. Instead of obtaining self-validation through power, women obtain appreciation through external sources; she needs to be recognized and needed by another to confirm her self-existence and autonomy. A woman's actions as theorized by Berger, indicate the way in which the woman will be perceived in our society. Accordingly, "...men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in her self is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object- and most particularly an object of vision: a sight" (Berger p. 47). Again Berger conveys the intensely gendered differences between males and females. Males look at women as sensual objects. The lines of gender are very distinct and symbolize different codes depending on its association to males or females. Females recognized that they are being watched and additionally perform their own internal inspection on themselves. In contrast to males women rapidly begin to view themselves as a spectacle. Gender is an imperative concept because it permeates and reflects the manner in which we view pornography as a society as well as individually. Quintessentially gender has affected the construction of our minds and the scope of society. Furthermore, Victoria's Secret exhibits many of these same qualities in a variety of commercials and ads. In exploring the methodology of using Victoria's Secret as a perpetuation of pornography, racial biases and body image distinction it also reflects the ideals of society and our entire political construct.
			Back				Forward