The Other Side

"That image, of the self, does not belong equally to everyone. As a woman, I must keep myself under constant surveillance: how do I look as I rise from the bed, and while I walk through the store buying groceries, and while I run with the dog in the park? From childhood, I was taught to survey and police and maintain my image continually, and in this role--as both surveyor and the image that is surveyed--I learned to see myself as others see me: as an object to be viewed and evaluated, a sight."

The Other Side
Lacy M. Johnson