1.According to John Berger’s “Ways of seeing,” nakedness and nude female form seem to have many similarities, but they have opposite concepts. Both words mean not to have clothes on, but nude is about a posed painting, it is intentional, and nude female form has the purpose to be in presence of a male viewer. However, to be naked is to be oneself, the subject is focused on her own life and is looking away from the viewer. When we access Instagram and other social media, we can see nude female images, and those are continuously changing viewer’s perception about how women’s ideal beauty.
2.Western works of art represent male nudity as dominance, ideal body form, male power, and women nudity as sexuality, an object of the pleasure. Berger by saying “Men act, and women appear,” highlights the social hierarchy and gender inequality. Nowadays, these work arts, and the way how the male and female are portrayed, and their role in the society centuries ago influenced women to fight for their rights and equality of sexes, and it influenced men to give them those rights.
3.Mirror behind the women is another factor that determines that the painting is of nudity. It symbolizes self-admiration and self-love. Woman has pride in her own appearance, looking into the mirror she is her own object of the pleasure and admiration as she is for the male viewer. The woman’s gaze shows the viewer that she is aware of being viewed, inviting him in. Nowadays, selfie pictures are an example of woman’s vanity, inspired from older European art.
I was touched by your convincing point of view. However, I would like to express my opinion about selfies and European painting. In the case of a selfie, a woman takes a picture of herself and decides how she wants to look in the image since this is a self-portrait. In the case of Western painting, a nude woman was depicted by a male artist. Directly the artist influences the viewer’s attitude to the model.