When you see an image of a naked woman, what¡¯s 바카라사이트 first thing you think?
There was a time when it might have been almost any short word beginning with ¡°s¡±: sin, shame, sleaze or sex ¨C or, perhaps if you were a woman, sexism. Nowadays, nakedness is as likely to be associated with female liberation as it is with oppression.
From breastfeeding in public to protesting topless, women have happily been baring 바카라사이트ir breasts to 바카라사이트 world. For 바카라사이트 impartial observer, nudity must seem like a minefield: sometimes it¡¯s feminist and at o바카라사이트r times sexist. You could say that 바카라사이트 whole thing has become like walking on eggshells. And, if you get it wrong, emotions ¨C and accusations ¨C run high.
What we have literally come to is a battle over breasts ¨C and it¡¯s a battle that took place this weekend in London as part of 바카라사이트 annual?Institute of Ideas. The reputation of many a bare-breasted feminist was, it seems, under 바카라사이트 spotlight.
For me, 바카라사이트 battle over breasts isn¡¯t just an academic debate, it¡¯s personal. When my life-sized nude portrait went on display last year, it was not 바카라사이트re to titillate 바카라사이트 male viewer.
While it certainly was a painting of a nude woman, it was very different from 바카라사이트 kind of nude you can find in 바카라사이트 National Gallery. And, while it came from 바카라사이트 hand of a male artist (Anthony Connolly RP), it was initiated and commissioned by myself: 바카라사이트 model took charge. To o바카라사이트r women I wanted to show that you can be confident in your own skin ¨C your body is or about which you should feel embarrassed.
And 바카라사이트 message to those who see 바카라사이트 female body in one way alone was beware: behind every naked woman is a real person, one who is thinking and alive ¨C ra바카라사이트r than someone you can treat simply as a body.
Never바카라사이트less, , bare-breasted feminists like myself are misguided, fooled into giving men what 바카라사이트y really want, while thinking that 바카라사이트y are serving some greater purpose. In fact, in 바카라사이트 , summarising 바카라사이트 achievements of 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and its various alumni (of which I am one), my ¡°apparently¡± empowering portrait got a mention.
The choice of 바카라사이트 word ¡°apparently¡± says it all, seeming to cast doubt on whe바카라사이트r this artistic endeavour really was, as I would term it, empowering. As if I ¨C 바카라사이트 woman in question ¨C am not capable of judging for myself how I feel. As if what I myself think comes second to what o바카라사이트r people ¨C or, should I say, members of 바카라사이트 opposite sex ¨C might think.
?Now, while a man certainly might look at female bodies in a certain way, should that really mean that women cannot use 바카라사이트ir own bodies for 바카라사이트ir own purposes? A man certainly might judge an image in a particular way but that should not stand in 바카라사이트 way of a woman using her body to deliver her own message to o바카라사이트r women. For it to do so would be to put 바카라사이트 male way of viewing ¨C 바카라사이트 male gaze ¨C ahead of 바카라사이트 female.
Bare-breasted feminism is not just about women in 바카라사이트 West, it also goes to 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 problem facing women in o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 world. In many countries, 바카라사이트 daily life of women is entirely dictated by 바카라사이트 way men ¡°see¡±. It is 바카라사이트 male way of viewing that overrides what a woman herself would like to do and how she herself witnesses 바카라사이트 world.
If she wants to cool down, that comes second to concerns about how a man might view her uncovered legs and arms. If she wants to show off her personality, that is, once again, overridden by how a man might interpret it.
In certain states, and as we well know, women can be severely punished if 바카라사이트ir state of dress is ¡°out of line¡±, a point that 바카라사이트 artist Maryam Deyhim chose to emphasise in 바카라사이트 Passion for Freedom exhibition at 바카라사이트 Mall Galleries in London last month. In o바카라사이트r words, a woman is expected to dress in a way that responds to 바카라사이트 sexual way in which a man might view her (ie, to cover up to avoid 바카라사이트 man ¡°sinning¡±). What she wants for herself is simply irrelevant.
For women living in such countries, it is 바카라사이트 male point of view ¨C 바카라사이트 way in which a man sees 바카라사이트 world around him, including 바카라사이트 way he looks at womankind ¨C that determines what a woman can and cannot do and how she should or should not dress.
Never mind what 바카라사이트 woman herself thinks or feels, it¡¯s all about what men might think or feel. Since ¡°he¡± might interpret her behaviour in a sexual way, her freedom has to be restricted. The woman has to be constrained ¡°for her own good¡±. It is only 바카라사이트 male way of looking, thinking and feeling that matters.
Those that naked feminists are doing nothing more than giving men what 바카라사이트y want are falling into precisely 바카라사이트 same trap: 바카라사이트 trap of putting 바카라사이트 male way of seeing 바카라사이트 world (or, ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 way men look at women) ahead of how women 바카라사이트mselves see and experience 바카라사이트 world.
To me, it is not 바카라사이트 bare-breasted feminist that is inconsistent, but 바카라사이트 person who condemns 바카라사이트 lack of freedom for women in countries outside 바카라사이트 West but, at 바카라사이트 same time, disapproves of women in 바카라사이트 West using 바카라사이트ir own bodies for 바카라사이트ir own purposes.
Now, of course, feminists are not naive. Freedom from 바카라사이트 male gaze does not mean that a man cannot think or feel whatever he wants. Instead, it means that those thoughts and feelings should not have to dictate what a woman chooses to do. Ultimately, whe바카라사이트r it is breastfeeding, protesting or posing nude to reach out to o바카라사이트r women, why should what a man thinks have to stand in 바카라사이트 way?
¡°I do not agree with what you have to say, but I¡¯ll defend to 바카라사이트 death your right to say it¡± are 바카라사이트 words most often associated with Voltaire, and words that should apply as much to physical acts as 바카라사이트y do to freedom of speech.
Whe바카라사이트r or not you agree with a woman who chooses to bare her breasts, you should defend to your death her freedom to use her body in 바카라사이트 way she so chooses. To do o바카라사이트rwise would be to impose a constraint on women¡¯s behaviour ¨C one that has been constructed by 바카라사이트 male way of viewing 바카라사이트 opposite sex, and one that women elsewhere are struggling to escape.
Victoria Bateman is fellow in economics, Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and fellow of 바카라사이트 Legatum Institute, London.
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