Matt Johnson
Eng 110
Steven Rand
9/23/2012
Bordo’s question #3
In the spring of 1995 was when Bordo got her first taste of male modeling in The New York Times Magazine. She states, “It caused me to knock over my coffee cup, ruining the more cerebral pleasures of the Book Review,” (p. 189). Many women and men were this surprised the first time they witnessed this event. “Subject position,” of people is something Bordo uses in this essay. She uses it as the “gaze,” of another pointed towards us. Bordo alleges, “We’ve all, male and female alike, felt the shame another pair of eyes can bring,” (p. 192). Another person’s impression they have towards you affects the way we do different things. For example, if your girlfriend doesn’t like you swearing in front of her, but you do all the time with your friends, you are subject to change in both scenarios. Later on in the paragraph she affirms, “It isn’t until those eyes are upon you that you truly feel not just the “wrongness” of what you are doing, but the very fact you are doing it. Until the eyes of another are upon us, “catching us” on the act, we can deceive ourselves, pretend.” How Bordo defines these differences of the “subject position” can be exemplified by her example as an adolescent when she was walked in on with a can of nuts on her head. Most of her readers can easily relate to situations like this.
Bordo is most convincing her in first section, “Men on Display.” She has many examples of stereotypes the