Class 9 aesthetics

Anne Eaton
- Position: Professor of Philosophy at University of Illinois Chicago
- Research Focus:
  - Epistemological and ontological status of aesthetic value
  - Relationship between ethical and artistic value
  - Feminist critiques of pornography
  - Representations of rape in European artistic tradition (Italian Renaissance)
- Publications:
  - ‘A Sensible Antiporn Feminism’ (Ethics 2007)
  - ‘Hable con Ella’ in Film and Philosophy series

Background Discussion:
- Quote by Larry Flynt: “We will no longer hang women up like pieces of meat.”
- Central Question: Is there a true moral difference between pornography and art?

Question: How is the aesthetics of the female nude connected to the feminist cause?
Claim: The female nude sustains sex inequality.
Key Concepts Needed for Explanation:
- Gender inequality as a complex whole of oppressive practices
- Sexualization of traditional gender hierarchy
- Eroticization of sex inequality (subordination-dominance)

Further Elaborations:
- The female nude objectifies women
- Aestheticization of sexual objectification of women
- The male gaze concept

Definition: The male gaze controls how women are perceived and represented visually.

Eaton's View:
- Normative concept of the male gaze rather than empirical.
- Implies an imagined audience solicited by the artwork.
- Target audience of the female nude includes both sexes.
John Berger's Perspective:
- Women historically viewed and judged as bodies meant for observation.
- Impact on self-perception for women: “Women are being objectified and objectify themselves.”

Example: Representation of women in advertising (referencing contemporary examples).

Optimization of visual representation focusing on erogenous zones of female figures in art.

Year: 1610
Question: Can unclothed female figures be represented without sexual objectification?
Comparison with Tintoretto's work.

Discussion on representations:
- Challenge in explaining generalization of sexual objectification from specific images.
- Discussion of female nude as generic and idealized.

Question raised: Should heterosexual men feel bad about enjoying representations of unclothed women if heterosexual women don't feel bad about representations of unclothed men?
Argument: The female nude upholds sex inequality.

Objections:
- What about the male nude?
- Manner of male nude representations analyzed.
- Artistic canon’s exclusion of women: referenced by The Guerilla Girls 1989.
- Notable asymmetries in representation of passive and active nudes.

Zoey Lavallee
- Role: Postdoc at McGill University, Canada
- Research Focus: Philosophy of mind and feminism
Dissertation: Desire, Culture, and the Body
- Theory developed on desires as enculturated states influencing intention formation and actions.

Lavallee’s Critique:
- Call for intersectionality in feminist discourse.
- Gender should not be the sole frame of reference; White privilege's role in gendered oppression recognized.

Critique of the standard male gaze as a singular phenomenon, neglecting race dynamics.
Historical context neglected in Eaton’s analysis of nonwhite women's representation.

Emphasizes that race roles are fundamental in understanding gender dynamics within aesthetics.

Discussion on contributions of Kerry James Marshall and the philosophy of black aesthetics.

References:
- Fatima Mernissi's contributions on gender and power dynamics in cultural contexts.
- Mention of significant works and figures in Arab feminist thought.