Wednesday, February 11, 2009

What do you think you know?


The image shows a person framed against white horizontal blinds covering two windows directly behind him. The man has cropped dark hair and a light beard. The man has a slight smile on his face. He is disrobed from the waist up. The photograph shows him placing both hands on his abdominal region which is swollen in pregnancy. He wears a plain wedding band on his left hand. The figure has a deep scar approximately 6 inches long on the left side of his chest. He is wearing a necklace.

On first examination this photograph seems to provoke our beliefs about who can become pregnant. But upon further knowledge we learn that the person pictured is not in fact a man pregnant with a child but a woman who appears to be a man. This “deregulartization” of our perceived gender stereotypes causes us to see the person with typically male characteristics such as short hair, facial hair, and a flat chest to assume that the person shown must be a man…even when it is obvious that the person is pregnant (a characteristic exclusive to female humans) which goes against our empirical knowledge and sensibilities.

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