makesmewannadie posted a chapter from John Berger's Ways of Seeing. It was written in 1972 about a culture that existed before I was born. But reading it, I kept on thinking, yes.

Excerpt:

By contrast, a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. Her presence is manifest in the gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste - indeed there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence. Presence for a woman is so intrinsic to her person that men tend to think of it as an almost physical emanation, a kind of heat or smell or aura.

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