From the
beginning of time, women have been repeatedly subjugated to the desires of men.
As depicted in the Bible, God says, “…thy desire shall be to thy husband, and
he shall rule over thee” (King James Version, Genesis 3:16). For someone who lives their life in a religious
aspect, this idea that the existence of women being at the mercy of men would then
be true? Right? According to John Berger in his book “Ways of Seeing”, he discusses his idea of male gaze and how it has
made its way through art and society.
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This is an image of Belle who on the right is depicted as the original
inspiration
of a sweet
adventurous girl just trying to take care of her father, while on the
left someone
chose to warp
her image and depict a very provocative girl who to them is a better sight.
|
Male gaze is the act of
heterosexual men viewing women as objects for the sole purpose of their
pleasure. This idea is widely seen today as society’s culture has become more
casual and bolder as well as images being easily accessible. Pictures of woman
in different settings are everywhere and can be easily manipulated in order to
fit how the viewer wants to perceive the “object”. This notion can be seen in
person as well by men surveying women in order to evaluate how they should be
treated. This idea is brought to light by Berger when he states that, “Men
survey women before treating them . . . how a woman appears to a man can
determine how she will be treated. A woman’s worth is depicted by a man. If a
man feels a woman is worthy of respect, then he will treat her with respect. If
he feels she is not worthy of respect, then he will treat her otherwise. For instance,
in today’s society if a woman is known to have many sexual partners or wear risqué
clothing, she is viewed as a hoe or slut and thought to not be deserving of
respect by some men.
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| This picture depicts the different labels women receive depending on the length of their clothing and how much skin they show. |
Berger discusses
how “. . . men act and women appear” (Berger 47). In other words, time and time
again men have continuously imposed their presence, whether fabricated or not,
on women. For example, when a man is trying to get a woman’s attention in a
flirtatious way he constantly sprouts out all the things he could supposedly do
for her. He implies that all she has to do to increase her purpose and quality
of life is to give him her number. Berger goes on to say that “[a woman’s] own
sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as
herself by another” (Berger 46). This implies that without a man, you are not a
woman. A woman cannot feel that within herself she is a woman unless appreciated
as a woman by a man or others.
I believe
the idea of the male gaze stems, to some degree, from patriarchy. In her book “Understanding Patriarchy”, Bell Hooks
describes what patriarchy is and the effect it has on men, women, and families
as a whole.
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| This picture represents the idea of gender roles. The balance scale tilts slightly higher towards the man and lower toward the woman implying that the man holds more weight and is more valued than the woman. |
Patriarchy
as described by Hooks is “. . . a political-social system that insists that
males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed
weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over
the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological
terrorism and violence” (Hooks 18). I think Bell Hooks is right to some degree
about patriarchy. Patriarchy is not only about male dominance, but gender roles
as well. It encourages males to strive to dominate in every aspect of life over
anyone deemed weak in their eyes and for females to stay behind the scenes and
be submissive.
Hooks
stresses how harmful patriarchy is to men. She states, “To indoctrinate boys
into the rules of patriarchy, we force them to feel pain and to deny their
feelings” (Hooks 22). Men are constantly taught that they should be strong,
confident, and to hide their emotions in order not to appear weak. Especially
in today’s society as a more expressive than normal men is not highly accepted.
This behavior in turn hurts men because they don’t feel comfortable in being
their true selves and expressing who they really are. Society teaches men from
a young age that they have to put on a facade in order to be accepted. Now
today we all sit back and wonder why it’s so hard for a man to share his
thoughts, express himself, and communicate. But men are not the only ones to be
blamed for this phenomenon, women play a part as well too according to Hooks.
Hooks states that, “. . . many female-headed households endorse and promote
patriarchal thinking with far greater passion than two-parent households”
(Hooks 24). I find this notion to be true because of my own experience. I grew
up in a household with all women where the patriarchal way of thinking was
enforced. As a female I was taught to be nurturing, proficient in duties of the
house, and caring whereas my brother as a male was taught to be strong, good
with his hands, and confident just to name a few. Now my brother and I didn’t exactly
fall into these predetermined roles which did cause some hostility as we
challenged the expectations of our roles. We made it out okay, but other
families could respond differently.
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| This picture represents the female gaze. Kim Kardashian is implying that her photo is for her as well as you, the spectator. She is assuming her role as the "surveyor" and surveyed". |
Because
of male gaze and patriarchy, the female gaze found its start. The female gaze
is different from the male gaze in that the female has to be able to view
herself in the way a man would view her as well as how she views herself. When
expressing how a woman has to view herself in regard to male gaze, Berger
writes, “. . . so she comes to consider the surveyor
and the surveyed within her as the
two constituents yet always distinct elements of her identity as a woman”
(Berger 46). To assume and solidify her identity as a woman, females have to be
the unknown man who was taught that she was solely for his pleasure as well as
the woman inside herself that knows who she is and the expected role she is supposed
to play.
Works Cited
Berger, John, Sven
Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing.
, 1973. Print.
Bell Hooks (2004) Understanding Patriarchy. Published as
Chapter 2 of Hooks (2004) The Will to change. Washington Square Press,
2004.
The Bible. King James Version, Holman Bible Publishers, 2000.
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