Male Gaze and Patriarchy
For many years now, women have been oppressed by men. Based on the readings, Male Gaze is when men view women as sexual objects that tends to make women feel less as a person and more as an “object”. Women have always been treated like this as if it became a social norm in society. Male gaze has been going on for a while and still is. In the past, men would always control everything and women would have fewer rights. For instance, even wealthy, rich, white women were given fewer rights, they were always “trapped” home. They were viewed as “objects” rather than human, they had no rights to do what they wanted. Additionally, the male gaze is pervasive in art and popular culture because they feel that they have this sort of control over women, to do what they feel and suddenly blame it on women as if they are at “fault”. In the reading, it stated “[...] women were suspect as sexual threats to male chastity[...]”(Chadwick 45). In today’s society, women have been blamed for being raped. There have been many cases where the women are at fault for what she wears and that “attracts” men or they “lose control”. However, men were never at fault, they had the power to oppress women even then. Women were automatically blamed when they were being used. Back then and relating to today, women are never heard for their stories. They are “expected” to “dress” and “act” a certain way just for men. If they wore short skirts, “revealing” clothes, in school girls are not allowed to wear tank tops but men can wear shorts. It started to turn into a system where people became used to it. Nobody really fought or pointed these out because people are just immune to what happens. Berger has stated, “the second striking fact is that woman is blamed and is punished by being made subservient to the man”(Berger 48). This is when patriarchy starts to develop. Patriarchy is defined as men feel that they are superior and can gain control over women. Hooks stated, “[...] growing up is the system of patriarchy, even if we never know the word, because patriarchal gender roles are assigned to us as children and we are given continual guidance about the ways we can best fulfill these roles (Hook 18). This is true, men grow up taught to always be “strong” or to never “cry”. Society has already structured gender; they have portrayed it as women to be less powerful and sensitive, while men can be “strong” or “hardworking”. Again, society has automatically already built that. There are countries where men control women and have to obey by their rules. In Hook’s reading, there was a personal experience by a woman stating, “As their daughter, I was taught that it was my role to serve, to be weak, to be free from the burden of thinking, to caretake, and nurture others” (Hook 18). These exact words were given and said to a daughter basically explaining to forget her own feelings and take care of others. Women were treated so unfair, their feelings were neglected. Men overpowered and controlled them to always serve, cook, and take care of the kids. Till this day many countries have this going on, where women still have no rights, cannot work, cannot divorce (because of a reputation for the men), cooking, cleaning, and staying home. In the film industry, it shows in foreign countries, how women are treated and it is very poorly. There was one issue a lady named, Malala Yousafzai, who was shot because she fought for education to teach kids. The country thought she had no given right to do that and that the men could have controlled everything. Instead, they have killed her. In all, male gaze and patriarchy will continue and will never end unless there is a complete stop and we educate people more to be aware of what is going on in the world.
Mickalene Thomas
This painting is by Mickalene Thomas showing three Black women sitting freely and enjoying themselves. There is no men in the painting which shows that the women are enjoying their own time. This showing their identity and characteristics within this picture. Sharing this image was to show that women do not need men, women are not objects. They should not feel oppressed by them.
This painting was drawn by Elisabetta Sirani. This picture explains her drawing her own blood showing how hard it is to live as a women at that time. She is drawing her own blood (same color as her dress) just shows deep meaning that women were treated poorly and unfair. This connects to patriarchy because this painting is showing tat in order for them to get their “attention” that they should already received and get is unnoticed.
https://news.masterworksfineart.com/2018/03/17/the-female-artists-who-greatly-influenced-gender-equality
Works Cited
Berger, John. “Ways of Seeing.” Chapter 3. Eds., Penguin. 2008. 36-64. Print.
Chadwick, Whitney. “Women, Art, and Society”. Middle Ages. Eds., Thames & Hudson Inc. New York: New York, 1990. 7-523. Print.
Hooks, Bell. “Understanding Patriarchy.” The Will to Change Eds., Kino, C. 17–33.
Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment