Portrayal of Women
“Aurat ke sirf teen roop hotay hain – maan, biwi, aur tawaif”
A woman has only three identities –
mother, wife, and prostitute. Having had the privilege of a genderless
upbringing, we were amused when we heard
this dialogue in a Pakistani film of the 70s - until we realized many endorsed this view.
Today, while the strong word prostitute is not used, women are often reduced to
a simplistic dichotomy of haya and be
hayai (modesty and shamelessness). Once
centred around the female body, modesty or shamelessness now expands to
incorporate the female voice – modest silence or shamelessly speaking out.
Human society is commonly divided into men, women and
children, of which the role of women has been subjected to the greatest
vagaries over time. The visual representations of women over the years and in
diverse cultures makes for a complex narrative.
A predominance of female figurines found in ancient
civilizations, assumed to be mother goddesses, suggest a prominent role for
women. They were depicted as symbols of fertility rather than sexuality. The
first anatomically detailed female (and male) forms are seen in Greek Art.
However these reflect the Greek belief
in humans as descendants of gods, whose
physical perfection and ‘arete’,
or perfection of thought, ensured cosmic balance. In medieval European art, the style of
clothing rather than anatomy identified
figures as women. Etruscan and Egyptian statuary depicted women in an abstract
or rigid form.
While anatomical accuracy returned in the European
Renaissance It was not until Titain’s Venus of Urbino, 1538, made for the
Cardinal Ippolito de' Medici, that the female body was presented as an object
of desire. Since then, there has been no
turning back in Western art. As art historian Lynda Nead writes, “Anyone who
examines the history of Western Art must be struck by the prevalence of images
of the female body”. Depiction of women
in the traditional art of China, Japan, Africa, Persia, Mughal India focused on their spiritual, political or
emotional power, or lyricism of lines.
However, as Western culture permeated
into all modernizing nations, the image of women as sensual objects of desire
also crossed into cinema, advertising, glamour photography and fashion,
somewhat modified by the value systems of each nation. This is not to say women
have not been vulnerable throughout history and across cultures to the lust of
men, which seems to be an unfortunate reality.
The Venus of Urbino was also the first well known work in
which the woman looks directly at the viewer, inspiring Edouard Manet's Olympia
(1863), even more shocking, not for her nudity, but because she wore shoes, jewelry and a flower in her
hair, placing her not in mythology but in contemporary society of the
time. Seeing the viewer viewing her,
reflects a confidence and challenge to the male gaze. Conversely the averted
gaze of a woman allows her to be looked at without crossing the boundaries of
‘decency’. Interestingly, in post Khomeini Iranian cinema, women were allowed
to act on the condition they did not look into the camera.
There is so much more to women that their appearance. In
many tribal societies such as the African Ashante and Native American Hopi,
once women occupied a prominent position
in the community. Australian Aboriginal author, Jackie Huggins, writes ‘women
leaders are respected holders of knowledge who truly have the interests of our
community at heart’. We have examples of the fire of Bi Amma, the compassion of
Mother Teresa, the tactical skills of Suhai Talpur, the physical strength of
Samina Baig, and the sharp mind of Arfa Karim.
What women are fighting for the world over, is to be have
their three dimensionality acknowledged.
Durriya Kazi
March 9, 2020
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