John Berger. The art of seeing (№ 397463)

According to tradition and custom, already discussed but not yet resolved, the nature of the presence of women in society and the different nature of the presence of men. The man's presence rests on the promise of power which he embodies. If this promise is impressive and persuasive, and his presence noticeable. If it's modest or inconclusive, and place the man is appropriate. The promised power may be moral, physical, emotional, economic, social, sexy, but in any case the object napoloen to man. Men's presence suggests what he can do to you or for you. This presence could be a hoax in the sense that a man can only pretend that he is capable of something that in reality he is not capable. But in any case this claim to a power that can be applied to someone else.
On the contrary, the nature of the woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself and defines what it can or cannot be done. Her presence is expressed in her gestures, voice, opinions, statements, clothing, elected by the environment the taste; in fact, literally everything she does, affects the nature of her presence. To be so peculiar to women, that men tend to perceive her presence as a kind of, you might say, a physical emanation, a kind of heat or smell or aura.