The Male Gaze can be characterized
as the tendency for the media and various forms of art to automatically assume
the perspective of a heterosexual male, only portraying women in a sexualized
manner. In "Ways of Seeing" John Berger goes in depth to describe the
effects the Male Gaze has had on society. The portrayal of women in this manner
promotes an aggressive and dominant attitude in men towards women and teaches
them that women are for sex and nothing more. They begin to look at every woman
with eyes that survey them and define their worth through their appearance. After
that, they become nothing more. Berger states that "[M]en act and women
appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" (47) to
describe this exact notion. In one form of older European art, the painter, who
was a male, would paint women who was posed naked. Below you can see an example
of one.
Berger is able to expose the flawed nature of content
like this and is able to explore how the content is a key contributor into the
formation of the male gaze. He states
that "In the average European oil painting of the nude the principal
protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and
he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must
appear to be the result of his being there" (Berger 54). Clearly, signifying that
females are objects of sex to men and that they must assume an attractive and
sexually appealing position for them, essentially seeking their approval. This idea
reflected in the art translates itself into society by implementing itself into
the mind of men and women who are observing it and effecting their psychology.
Men start to think of themselves as the surveyors and women begin to see themselves
as the object. It is important to note that men are also the creators of this
form of content and therefore are enforcing an agenda in which they can oppress
women and maintain dominance by making women believe that they must constantly
seek approval from men. Nude oil paintings are just one blatant form of art
that promote the male gaze. Here is a link that provides further information
about the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of women in art: https://www.entitymag.com/women-art/.
The Male Gaze continues to dominate itself in its presence of many modern-day
forms of media. One present-day example are most Women's health magazines, in
which the cover art includes a woman posing in a bikini showing off her body,
which is essentially sex appeal. The text on the cover is fixated on improving the
appearance of the female and losing weight rather than focusing on overall
health and nutrition for women of a broader age spectrum.
Patriarchy
is the idea that men are inherently dominant over all others (females) and that
they possess the ability to practice this dominance in society over all others
due to their superiority. This also goes hand in hand with the Male Gaze, it is
due to this idea of patriarchy that the male gaze has emanated and thrived. This
idea is prominently held by men and they use this idea to further impose their
agenda of oppressing women and maintaining dominance due to their incessant
desire for power. This idea, deeply rooted into the mind of most men, has had
long lasting effects on society and our psychology. In "Understanding
Patriarchy" Bell Hooks is able to delve into these effects and explain its
importance from her own personal experience. She describes how due to the
dominant role the man played, the women had to play a submissive role in order
to be compatible. Which in turn, normalized the belief that boys should be
aggressive and can be violent while girls should be graceful,
"feminine" and gentle. Bell Hooks remembers how when she reacted with
"rage" she was told that it was not ladylike. However, she notes that
whenever her brother responded with rage "that his ability to express rage
was good but that he had to learn the best setting to unleash his
hostility...he was taught that rage was permitted and that allowing rage to
provoke him to violence would help him protect home and nation"( Bell Hooks 19). Bell
Hooks notes this double standard as one of the many effects of
"Patriarchy". This double standard can also go the opposite way and
effect timid and flamboyant men. There are many double standards that can be
formed using the ideas of patriarchy, here you can discover more of the double
standards present in society and its effects on women: https://goodmenproject.com/social-justice-2/hes-assertive-shes-bossy-the-double-standard-language-of-gender-wcz/.
Bell Hook also goes into speaking about the negative effects of patriarchy on men.
She states that it has "denied males access to full emotional
well-being" (31) due to the fact that men have to remain tough and strong.
To end patriarchy, it is the responsibility of the male and female to recognize
these notions that may subliminally sit rooted into their minds and actively
work upon eliminating them throughout their everyday lives.
As a response to the male gaze,
women have created the female gaze in order to establish their presence and
perspective in a world where they are treated as insignificant or non-existent.
The female gaze serves the purpose to give a visual representation and voice to
women who have only been viewing arts through the perspective of the male. This
perspective is more emotional and takes feelings into consideration and treats
people as people, not objects. The female gaze does not attack males or
objectify them, rather it refutes the male gaze of treating them as sexual
objects. It represents women as real people with real feelings. Being a male in
today's society, we must recognize our active role in the oppression of our
female counterparts. Many men can agree that popular conversation topics
amongst men include objectifying and sexualizing women and have experienced,
whether doing it themselves or seeing fellow men do it, male gazing. It is okay
to recognize the faults in our past and admit to our mistakes, but after being
enlightened about patriarchy and male gaze we must work consistently to
eliminate it from our everyday lives. It is difficult for many men to
"care" about this, due to the fact that it does not affect them and
they believe that it is "made up" in an effort to defend their
insecurities and own personal guilt of patriarchy.
Works Cited
Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing., 1973. Print.
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, 2005.
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