Reading Response: de Lauretis

The part of the de Lauretis reading that interested me was the discussion of the sexualization of the female body. In Western culture, a connection is made between the woman and sexuality, and the woman’s body becomes something sexual. This is prevalent in many films, where, according to feminist film theorists, the female body becomes an image, an “object of the spectator’s voyeuristic gaze.” This reminded me of a book I have read previously to this, John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, in which he discusses the woman as an image to be looked at by men in paintings and other works of art.  As our culture becomes more technologically advanced, this concept becomes increasingly prevalent.

I also was interested in a part of the passage that stated “Even when it is located in the woman’s body, sexuality is perceived as an attribute or a property of the male.” So the conclusion that I draw from this is that women’s bodies are sexualized, often without their consent, and then they do not even have ownership of this sexuality, because sexuality belongs to men. This also only leaves room for heterosexuality, involving a woman’s body which represent “sexuality,” and a man who owns the “sexuality” that a woman’s body represents.

I think that the solution to this that de Lauretis perhaps doesn’t really touch upon is that I think we need to use technology to improve views on women are emphasize for the world that women are more to be looked and and are not just representations of sexuality but active participants.