Objectification Theory: the implicit and explicit sexual objectification of the female body in Western culture produces a multitude of negative consequences for women.

The primary psychological consequence of sexual objectification is the development of an unnatural perspective of the self known as self-objectification
- Women who “self-objectify” have internalized observer (surveyor) are anxious about how others will judge them and treat them.
- Increased body shame, appearance anxiety, disordered eating, diminished mental performance and capacity to achieve peak motiovational states
- Trying on a swimsuit for example shows signs of being on display when no actual observers were present

Calogero M, Rachel. A Test of Objectification Theory: The Effect of the Male Gaze on Apperance Concerns in College Women. London: William Clowes Ltd, 1972.

Perhaps we could use the idea of challenging the notion of being watched as the center of my research. The entire exercise of reading and researching is extremely useful in pinpointing the goal of this project. To begin I understand that I do want to make art that speaks about women, and the body image, but the challenge is to discover what I dislike particularly about it, what are its’ precursors and where I stand in the entire process. For example do I want to diminish the effects of the male gaze towards female physical insecurities, or do those events even correlate? Certainly the media has a lot to contribute to this subject as well, and I need and want to discover those things. What I am certain about are my concerns towards female insecurities, how it negatively impacts a woman’s way of life and her conditioned beliefs. By shifting the focus away from the vulnerable woman who looks away from the viewer we move into gestures and images of woman who are defiant of the gaze, she begins to question the idea of being looked at- submissive and passive. It becomes a two-way conversation rather than the viewer who is receiving what he wishes from the image of the woman. I am talking about women, self-esteem and how it has completely gotten out of hand. I do not ignore the fact that the reality is that women are seen as objects, commodity. I accept that as a fact because it is already too late to change what is woven so deep into our shameful, vain society. I want to be able to communicate something to the viewer that would show women empowerment, for them to be able to really think about how important these beliefs and standards of perfection are, and about conformity and to measure it instead of just accepting. By studying traditional methods of early Western European Paintings and applying them in a reverse matter by placing the woman in a pose that would render the viewer to react and question why and how are women standing up for themselves against these beliefs? Having said that it would be a bit more complicated to achieve those goals – because of the uses of very traditional art, and to be able to communicate that would be a little bit difficult. I choose painting as a medium because the viewer needs to make that connection between these images and the ideas behind the women portrayed in traditional paintings.