Hi Richard, sorry for my late response; I have been away from Medium for a while.

Hmm, a very good question! I have been discussing this for a while with the photographer mentioned in this article, Monika Scherer (I am not a photographer myself!). I do think the answer is not straightforward — I feel like we are still trying to figure out a language that would represent women with more variety, agency, and power than the poses discussed in this article.

That being said, it’s not that you ABSOLUTELY cannot take a picture of a woman who displays some of the poses identified by Goffman: I just believe that both the photographer and the model should be aware of the legacy and implications these gender displays evoke. They might subvert them, they might not, but they should have the knowledge to make a conscious choice.

If you want to see some creative representations of female models in photography, I can recommend Monika Scherer’s new Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/mnjiar/