The Theory of "The Gaze"

I'm not sure I buy into this hypothesis. I think so much of what we do and how we pose is affected by our instinctive postures and our understanding that we are always being watched by technology today. We are constantly aware that cameras are or could be photographing us, and therefore we have learned to pose in ways that make us look and feel good. Look at pictures of people from the past. They were not nearly as camera saavy and would not pose in appealing ways. As we have learned to see ourselves we learn to pose in ways that we feel make us look good. To a young male gangster kid, that looks like a macho stance with a sign thrown up. To a middle-aged woman, that is a pose that shows less of her wrinkles and focuses more on her percieved assets, such as her smile, eyes, or hair.

I think it is very difficult to say that there is one reason that we pose in certain ways. There are so many factors to take into consideration.