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| A woman admiring herself in the mirror wearing lingerie and heels. |
The Male Gaze is a process, a social construct if you will, by which heterosexual males view given surveyed objects; specifically, female objects. In “Ways of Seeing” John Berger explains how both genders perpetuate the idea of this gaze: “men act and women appear” (Berger, 47). Bergen goes on to explain how this perception actuates the way women are represented by themselves, of themselves and to others. Berger also believes that society has groomed women for this role; “To be born a woman has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men” (Berger, 46). Moreover, he also suggests that men are groomed as agents of taking. "A man's presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you...By contrast, a woman's presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her." (Berger, 46) A man's presence is one of power and control. However, his counterparts are seen as objects of a natural sexualized nature, there for his taking. Men are there to look. Women are there to be looked at. Women are there to be taken by the likings of a man.
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| Helen Fourment in a Fur Coat 1630 By Rubens |
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| Playboy Playmate 1971 Danielle de Vab |
Given the knowledge of both of these factors, we can ascertain that for far too long, women have, whether knowingly or not, operated under the guises of subordination and for the purpose of sexual provocation. This form of pervasive objectification is ever present in art, music, literature and in visual media. The nude in Art History, Helen of Troy in Mythology and the iconic Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader are all ways in which we see the subjugation of women. They all present the woman as an object to whom? The man. For what? His sexual gratification. Not much has changed today. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader is the same woman with an updated hairstyle, the centerfold in Playboy still has the same aura, just more or less body hair, and the damsel is still assumed to be in distress. The woman is there for the taking. It's still assumed she needs to be taken. Her lived sexuality is for his pleasure and his pleasure alone. Her pleasure is only for the benefit of his; for what is pleasure without him. Bergen asserts that the woman participates in this display of herself and that she is also well aware of it. “A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. Whilst she is walking across a room or whilst she in weeping at the death of her father, she can scarcely avoid envisaging herself walking or weeping. From earliest childhood she has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually” (Berger, 46). Berger explains how the woman must be both the surveyer and the surveyed for the sole purpose of how she presents herself to and for the man. This process, however is not simple. As bell hooks would argue, this is what she has subconsiously been conditioned to do and be as a woman in a patriarchal society. The woman is unaware why she is doing it, but she is aware that in fact she is doing it; it has become natural for her. The man on the other hand, expects it, which also becomes natural for him. Is is nature or nurture? The notion of the male gaze and the premise of patriarchy suggests that it is in fact, both. https://www.youtube.co/watch?v=xkSYxCAtUr4
Centuries later, the dominance of men over women is still grossly prevalent, but in less ambiguous ways. Women are agents of their own thoughts, but patriarchy is so ingrained in their identity that they are not even aware of how it affects their behavior. Gender fluidity and binary identities challenge this notion, but only in relation to how they view themselves. There is still a dominant and submissive identity juxtaposed. There is still an object and there is still a surveyor. There is still a sexual undertone. There is still a desire to want and be wanted. In essence, it is a human need after all.
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| Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders 1978 |
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| Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader 2018 |
Works Cited
Fuller Peter. Seeing Berger: a Revolution of Ways of Seeing. Writers and Readers, 1981.
hooks, bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville Anarchist Federation, 2010.
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