In your ~500-word discussion post, indicate your chosen work by title, author and provide a URL. Then, answer the following questions:
The Art.
How does the artist or creator depict each sex or gender? You will be applying this consideration to the next questions.
Who do you think has the power in each image: the subject, or the viewer?
Does the subject appear empowered, or spied on?
What social, historical or cultural ideologies are evident in this work?
The Artist. (2 points)
What was the author’s gender and/or sex? Does that information change your reading of the image? Does it contribute to the image’s meaning? Why or why not?
Do you think the artist’s intentionality matters to your critique of the image?
You, the Viewer. (2 points)
Do your pre-judgements about gender affect your own perceptions of this image, or of visual culture more broadly?
Berger is writing at a time when most societies considered gender to be a binary (male or female, based on sex) rather than a spectrum. Do you think that our contemporary notions of gender and sexuality impact how you interpret your images?
