The Male Gaze's Shifting Effect

              A force of malicious villainy lurks in the depths of society. It's prevalent across the nation, occasionally revealing itself in blatant display, though often it remains discrete enough to operate globally. It's one of the oldest evils, historically present since the dawn of man. humankind. It's inception was alongside the birth of humans, commandeering since the two recognized genders were identifiable. It's a specter riddled in civilization, manipulating the strings of society and its functions. It defines interactions. It creates hierarchy embedded in nations. This evil is commonly known as patriarchy, and attributing to it, the male gaze.
            There's little exaggeration or drama associated with the aforementioned description of patriarchy. A presence so depraved dictating society's behavior, it sincerely should be one of the issues with the highest priorities. Bell Hooks surely agrees, describing patriarchy as "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, 1) There's beyond sufficient evidence exposing its destructive and menacing nature. Its capability and horrific features are evident, yet it culminates rampantly.
            The male gaze simply stems from the conglomerate of patriarchy. It's a factor and one of the plethora of abilities wielded by patriarchy. Berger best describes it in Ways of Seeing, "men survey women before treating them. Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated"(Berger, 18.) Essentially, it's an automated subconscious practice by most, if not all, men onto a woman. The process is rudimentary. A man enters a public room, immediately noticing a woman reading a book. The gaze captures the woman subject, asserting all of his associating presumptions onto the enfolded victim. Before even providing any basis or rationale asides from reading a book, the man assumes a multitude of perceptions onto this encapsulated woman out of instinct. These perceptions range from a spectrum of possible ideals. One notion Berger's theory doesn't expand into is the possible notions the gaze encapsulates. Typically, they inflict the normative stereotypes. "She is aesthetically beautiful, therefore sexually available and provocatively approachable," the man abruptly thinks. What Berger fails to note, is the man's conditioning and experience with past women interactions. While the aforementioned thought is usually the case, it varies. For example, in the stead of the last perception, the man might think "She is aesthetically beautiful, therefore a pretentious bitch who I should tread with caution." Or, he might think "She is aesthetically beautiful, therefore lacking intellect and captivating interest." Interchangeably, it might even include all of these. While all this is apart of the male gaze theory, it is vital to introduce the man's history being a dictating factor in his gazing perception.

          While the male gaze has historically been consistently defined and prevalent, new expanding factors are introduced. It's uncontested and established of how impacting and riddled into modern society the gaze is. However, an unspoken discussion is necessary on the shifting associations in the gaze. As the gaze and patriarchy progressively becomes more exposed in contemporary

A popular 2018 meme consisting of a man, instinctively enabling
 his
subconscious "male gaze" with no regards to his significant
other besides him.

society, men become more perceptive. While men are becoming more aware, their notion of women shift as well. An Art and Women course, while scarcely available previously, is having more men involved today. I noticed an interesting phenomenon while discussing with few of my more conscious male childhood friends. The conversation described efforts we'd go to to stray away from exuding uncomfortable or general "creepiness" to simply walking behind a woman. A friend even mentioned distorting his path to not emit any discomfort. This may very well be incorrect coping and the intent to not bother the woman may be selfish for the man, but it's an interesting occurrence to note. Nonetheless, this is an observable example of the achievements of feminist movements impacting the status quo, despite a tremendously long journey still ahead. As time progresses alongside society, the male perception and gaze infringed upon women will be paved differently.

                                                                         Work Cited

• Berger, John, and Michael Dibb. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series Directed by Michael Dibb. British Broadcasting Corporation, 2008.
• Hooks, B. (2005). The will to change: Men, masculinity, and love. New York: Washington Square Press.