Thursday, February 7, 2019

Male Gaze and Patriarchy by Cecylia Jablonski

The Male Gaze as described by John Berger, is consequence of patriarchy so prevalent in everyday life, that it has transferred into the way art is created. To understand the male gaze, we must consider the actors at play and how they affect one another. Berger describes the “man” or the “male gaze” as a dominant and ever present figure. “His” presence is dependent on the promise of power. “If the promise is large and credible his presence is striking (…) the promised power may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual - but its object is always exterior to the man” (Berger, 45). On the other hand. the woman’s presence in this exchange described by Berger, is a variety of expression geared toward the man. In this manner, he is the “surveyor”, and the woman is in a sense “putting on a show for him” or being “surveyed”. That is to say that her goal is to assert herself to him for his approval or to signal her interest in him. “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life” (Berger, 46). The Male Gaze is embedded in the norms of a patriarchal society. Therefore, the importance of male approval and the glorification of male opinion will dominate what we consume. As many men receive the majority of recognition in art, business, cinema, and education, their “view” of things will remain the principle for structure. At this time, the “Male Gaze” has become a commodity. It can be manipulated to interest a consumer, by putting a naked woman on a beer commercial or as the host of a television show. Woman who can accumulate millions of followers on social media will be rewarded and recognized, but they must endure hateful criticisms about their appearance. Women who pursue professional careers often receive lower pay than their male counterparts and have less opportunity for promotion. The higher education of a woman is seen as a threat and inadvertently takes away from her attractiveness. She becomes “bossy”, “cold”, or she is viewed as less qualified than a hypothetical man who could have that job, but who is not always there. In October of 2017, Odell Beckham Jr., a quarterback for the Panthers, was at a news conference where he was asked a question by female reported Jourdan Rodrigue. His initial reply was, “It’s funny to hear a female talk about ‘routes’”. This was as if to imply, that Rodrigue was not in the position to be so knowledgable about Sports Newscasting. In his apology, Beckham Jr. said, “My sarcasm trying to give someone a compliment turned in ways I never would even imagine”, which highlights his sense of privilege to express his opinion on a woman’s presence. So even in the 21st century, on national television, a qualified woman in a professional setting can be criticized for her presence in the eyes of a man. 
Link to photo: http://artandwomensp2015.blogspot.com/2015/02/pleasure-of-looking.html
Caption: This image (name and artist unknown) depicts a woman in clothing, presumably professional based on the collared shirt. The man behind her views her, his "male gaze" strips her of her clothing and reveals her breasts. This implies that even if a woman is fully dressed, in a nonsexual pose, paying no attention to the man, he remains focused on her body and imagines her in all these positions that she is not. This image can be used to elaborate on what happened with Odell Beckham Jr. and reporter Jourdan Rodrigue, where Beckham Jr. acknowledges only the fact that she is a woman, and not a capable reporter.

Patriarchy, as described by Bell 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). When discussing patriarchy, Bell Hooks describes her own experience living with a highly patriarchal father. "One evening my brother was given permission by my Dad to bring out the tin of marbles. I announced my desire to play and was told by my brother that "girls did not play with marbles", that it was a boy's game". When Hooks challenged her father's orders, he brutally beat her. Her mother, her matriarchal figure, met her with little comfort. "I tried to warn you. You need to accept that you are just a little girl and girls can't do what boys do". In service to patriarchy her task was to reinforce that Dad had done right by putting me in my place, by restoring the natural social order" (Hooks, 21). In my personal experience, I have come to understand structures of patriarchy as embedded flaws within our society, not ways to live by. My grandmother came to the United States on her own, leaving behind her husband and children, to create a better life and provide for them. This was in the 1960's, where female conformity to patriarchy was even stricter than we experience in 2019. This example of female potential and prosperity is a foundation for the rejection of patriarchy. I can understand how the absence of such a figure, as experienced by Bell Hooks, can make it difficult to reform ones perspective. However, Bell Hooks is a role model for the possibility to question patriarchy while existing in it so deeply. This allows myself and other woman to understand their power, cognitive development, and social mobility is a part of their own human agency. With this ability to shift perspective, I can understand when a woman's body or presence is being genuinely celebrated, or when it is being used as a means for someone else's benefit. In my eyes, any image of a woman maintains her dignity and uniqueness. If such an art work, or media image aims to depict her in a way to diminish these characteristics, I assign the responsibility of this misrepresentation of the artist and or company which remains ignorant to other ways to advertise and convey ideas. 


https://www.simchafisher.com/tag/art-history/ (Woman with the phone, artist unknown)
http://thefrenchexit.blogspot.com/2013/03/vanity-continued.html (Vanity by Memling, 1485)
Caption: These images are meant to convey a "then" and "now" representation of the idea of "vanity" that has persevered throughout history. In the first image, the woman holds a mirror and is labelled "vain" for being consumed with her appearance, yet she is painted nude by a man who wishes to see her this way. In the second image, there is a sculptor of a nude woman made by a man. An iPhone is photoshopped into her hand, to represent the modern day "selfie", a modern day of "vanity" which again meets the hypocrisy of the Male Gaze. 

    Contemporary arguments such as the Female Gaze and Oppositional Gaze have sprung up against the Male Gaze. Female Gaze is a term which originated in the field of cinema. The films are meant to represent the desires of female protagonists and therefore, are to represent the desires of the female viewer. Oppositional Gaze is a term coined by Bell Hooks in her essay, The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators. This movement takes the ideals of the Female Gaze a step further, to include the strife of the "black body". "Hooks posits the power of the gaze from a black body as repressed, denied, and ultimately interrogated. Through critical discussion around black women and cinema, oppositional gaze enters as the counterpart to reinforcing white supremacy" (Wikipedia page: Oppositional Gaze). Some female filmmakers and artist believe that the Female Gaze serves as a superior, more in-depth form of cinema. This is due to the fact that female filmmakers feel they can relate more emotionally to their characters, while they believe male filmmakers are often detached and struggle to convey the intimacy of their subjects. Other filmmakers and creators believe that the Female Gaze, being the rebuttal to the Male Gaze, only bring more attention to the Male Gaze. The argument is that just Male and Female Gaze are inadequate in capturing all the potential views a movie or piece of artwork can take on, instead they hope for a future of nonbinary perspective on work, thus alleviating the pressures of determining a viewer.
An Interview of various Female Filmmakers on What The Female Gaze means to them...
https://www.vulture.com/2018/08/how-do-we-define-the-female-gaze-in-2018.html

Work Cited 
      Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. Retrieved from: https://blackboard.rutgers.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1867402_1&course_id=_110320_1

      Hooks, B. (2010). Understanding Patriarchy. Retrieved from: https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet01-xythos.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/5af494bf200ea/349191?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27bellhooks_Chapter2.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20190207T190022Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIBGJ7RCS23L3LEJQ%2F20190207%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=2e33af7168d166db2bf4feeb4e0b8fa6d79e22d1f2580fe684df495b26a8b85d

    Oppositional Gaze. (n.d). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_gaze



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