To formally define the male gaze, we can turn to the book Ways of Seeing by John Berger. This book
by Berger takes a feminist standpoint and describes how men view women and how
this can ultimately lead to the oppression and objectification of a woman.
Regarding the male gaze, he says, “And so she comes to consider the surveyor
and the surveyed within her as the two constituent yet always distinct elements
of her identity as a woman. 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. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being
appreciated as herself by another” (Berger 46). The way straight men view women
as sexual objects that are present for their own pleasure, then affects how a
woman views herself.
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| Figure 1: Olympia 1863 by Edoardo Manet |
This painting for example is of a woman who is suspected to be a prostitute. There are many factors in this painting which give the woman power, the way her gaze is serious and unwavering, the cat that symbolizes femininity, the flowers sent by a past lover which she is ignoring. At the same time, this picture also takes away the power of the woman and gives it to the viewer who is asserting the male gaze. The woman is posing a certain way and she is naked for the pleasure of the male viewer, she tries to hide her nakedness while consequently drawing attention to it at the same time, she has a lack of body hair. These factors all contribute to the male gaze as the woman is focused on how she is being viewed by the man. Of course, many examples of artwork following this same concept are in existence because art has been such a male dominated field for so long and set a certain precedent from its beginnings.
A parallel to this would be the female gaze which focuses on
women but doesn’t necessarily sexualize them. Works done by females give more
power to the subject and the female viewer. These types of woks are beneficial
to women, but to a certain extent because they are often non-inclusive towards
those of color and of certain sexuality. To combat this is the oppositional
gaze which is focused on those of color. To revert to the painting Olympia by
Manet, the second gaze in this painting can also be directed at the maid in the
background who is a woman of color and almost seems as if she is disappearing into
the background like she is irrelevant. The oppositional gaze works against
artwork like this and appears empowering to those groups who are marginalized such
as women, people of color, and is just appealing to many groups overall who can
appreciate artwork outside of popular culture, not just those who are
marginalized. Another example to refer to would be the recent movie Get Out by Jordan Peele. This movie
features characters who are white and non-white peoples and depicts a
metaphorical and literal story about the fight against white supremacy and white
privilege.
The idea of the male gaze goes hand in hand with patriarchy.
As described in her article Understanding
Patriarchy by Bell Hooks, she defines 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). Patriarchy is
systemic in the way that it is passed down through generations. Parents follow
this sort of system because it is what has become normal and deemed as socially
acceptable after so many years. Men are not the only ones who enforce
patriarchy either, females carry the torch to patriarchy as well because its what
makes sense to them as they were probably raised through a patriarchal home as
well. Patriarchy also not only creates a problem for women, who must be
undermined and oppressed by it, but for men as well. Men must act a certain way
and if they don’t, they are seen as too feminine or as “gay” (which is termed
as an insult by patriarchy when it shouldn’t be). Patriarchy is a system that
is poisonous to those of all genders and sexualities, but it is hard to just
abolish because it is a backbone of popular culture.
Take The Little Mermaid
for example, a movie that is supposed to be an innocent Disney movie has a deep
patriarchal message behind it. Ariel the main character has a beautiful voice,
but her voice gets taken away and can only be bestowed back onto her if she can
make a man fall in love with her by using her beauty and charm (while being a
mute). What could signify patriarchy more than that? This movie simply put is showing
exactly how patriarchy affects women as the male in this movie has all the
power over the female, and whatever his ultimate decision is regarding her, is
the outcome.
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| Figure 2: The Little Mermaid (1989) by Ron Clements |
Links:
https://blackboard.rutgers.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_1867402_1&course_id=_110320_1
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