 |
Breanna Stewart (WNBA Basketball Player - Seattle Storm
Body 10 ESPN.
|
The Male Gaze and Patriarchy are defined as two different things but if you look deep into both of their meanings you would see that there is a connection between the two. John Berger describes The Male Gaze as manner in which men view women for their pleasure and only that. Women are objects to them as if created to serve them, "
Men act and
women appear."(Berger 47). Berger described women as being seen as nude and not naked and he explained the difference. He refers to nude as being without ones clothes, but Naked is being as oneself, exposed not just without clothes but in a vulnerable state; in need of attention and affection. Men judge women without knowing them, they assume their characteristics just from looking at their appearance, "Men survey women before treating them. Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated."(Berger 46), This gives more insight to men seeing women as nude and not naked. They see physical characteristics but not the nakedness of the woman's soul and how she feels and they treat her based on that.
 |
The Real Villain in Netflix’s ‘Alias Grace’ Is the Male Gaze
Reni’s “Susanna and the Elders” |
 |
| Chains of Patriarchy |
While in Bell Hooks writing, she focuses on the topic patriarchy and how it affects both men and women, using herself and her brother as the prime examples. Hooks describes patriarchy as the rules governing how a male or female should and shouldn't act, but it mostly focuses on Male superiority and entitlement, she defines it in her writing as "Patriarchy is a political-social system 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). Hooks goes on to explain the lack of understanding that men have about patriarchy, they have no clue what it mean or how it affects them but they embrace it because thats what they were taught. "…patriarchal gender roles are assigned to us as children and we are given continual guidance about the ways we can best fulfill these roles."(Hooks 18). It was a habit passed down from generation to generation and future instilled by the church and religious beliefs, Hooks was told to ignore her aggressive nature and to act more like a "lady" or "girl" because women are not supposed to be aggressive, while her brother was told to be more aggressive and strong. Immediate family and the religion are not the only factors that instill or influence patriarchy but also peer and peer pressure. Hooks used Terrence Real's son Alexander as an example, Alexander loved to cross dress and he was seen one day by his brother's friends who gave him hard gazes and that moment he felt a sense of being wrong and out of place; was ashamed and as a result he stopped doing his favorite thing. This suggests that even if your home in Anti-patriarchy, you or your family members can still be sucked into patriarchy by the interactions outside of your household.
I've never thought of how patriarchy and the male gaze affects me, am I really thought of as an object of pleasure by males, am I seen as someone for them to take advantage of? The media has so many ways of embracing the male gaze with or without their own knowledge; playboy magazines, The ESPN Body10 Issue and so many more. Even though they express the nakedness of individuals it is only see as nudity to viewing eyes. I wonder if my body is thought or seen in this way, I wonder if it affects me without me even knowing, am I influenced by patriarchy that I am unaware of by my peers? These are questions that I have thought of and I don't think I am because I feel like I have that freedom of expression that Bell Hooks longed for but I am pretty sure the male gaze affects me, my body is seen as an attraction to males and that makes me uncomfortable. Would the male gaze stop or is it something that is so common that it is embedded in their nature? I feel like it is because some males get caught gazing without even knowing, as if apart of their everyday routine. I just wish they know how uncomfortable they make that person feel.
Work Cited
Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville Anarchist Federation Federation, 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment