Since I was a child, I have been raised to be modest, to not show “too much skin.” Skirts should not go passed your fingertips, and shirts must have sleeves or else “You would be a distraction”. A distraction to who? To Boys, To Men. Ironic since our most revered historical Paintings are almost entirely based upon nude women. Berger discusses the idea that nude oil paintings despite their beauty all stem around the male gaze showing the perception of women at that time period.

Women lounging about in her everyday life, posed ready in waiting with a longing seductive gaze toward the viewer who was meant to be presumably a man. Berger makes a distinction between nakedness and Nudity that might clarify this idea further “To Be Nude is to be seen as a work of art, to be Naked is to simply be without clothes.”  To summarize, Nude is intended to be seen as an object by a spectator, left to be judged. These Paintings were a representation of that era’s societal view against women.

Women of today are progressive; we have more rights and a voice. However, we still are battling to gain respect from the male gaze. Society still sexualize women ,some blatantly, some without realizing, making judgments from the clothes she chooses to wear, assuming the amount of clothing she wear equals the level of availability she has.

Women have been trying to fight against these ideals and one way this is being done is through Slut Walk. It is a March where women gather to raise awareness to society against blaming women’s clothing,professions and prior consensual relationships, as an excuse for sexual assault,and to effectively end rape culture. The attire worn is typical of what society deems too revealing such as exposed navels , low cut shirts , shorts , mini skirts , bras or pasties . Their minimal clothing is to combat the stereotype that women’s bodies and what they wear justifies the verbal physical sexual and societal abuse they would receive when wearing revealing clothing . What a person wears should not be a way to excuse the assaulter and blame the victim, and just cause you wear revealing clothes does not mean you should be thought of as less than a person.

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