Male Gaze

       In the Caribbean they didn't teach us about male gaze. But as a young teenage in Jamaica I had experienced old men and teens always persuading me to date them; however, because I had fully mature into my body it was as if I had a target on my back or a prize for them to win. Similarly in Berger book the women were treated in a similar manner; 

     That part of a woman's self which is the surveyor treats to part which 

            is the surveyed so as to demonstrate to others how her whole self would

  like to be treated.... If a woman throws a glass on the floor, this is an 

             example of how she treats her own emotion of anger and so of how she  

          would wish it to be treated by other. If a man does the same, his action  

   only read as an expression of his anger (46,47).

          Ironically Berger statement states that a woman should be underline a barbie, object, and play thing for men not a person/ human being capable of raw emotion. Well on the other hand, the male can blow up like TNT and no one would shun him for his actions but the female would be stone like the woman in the bible stone for her act of adultery in the book of John 8:1-11.   Her job is to look good and be brain dead zombie hashtag Act Like a Lady Think like man.

  Reflecting on animations I'd watched growing up like Naruto a Japanese Manga the women and same of the girls were sexual objects but at the sometime Naruto used sexy justu to transform himself into a hot girl.

     Berger said about The Allegory or Time and Lover,

The complicated symbolism which lies behind this painting

need not concern us now because it does not affect its sexual

appeal-at the first degree. Before it is anything else, this is a

painting of sexual provocation.... it is true that sometimes a

painting includes a male lover.... The painting was sent as a

 present from the Grand Duke of Florence to the King of  

France. The boy kneeling on the cushion and kissing the

woman is cupid. She is Venus. But the way her body is

arranged has nothing to do with their kissing. Her body is 

arranged in the way it is, to display it to the man looking at 

the picture. This picture is made to appeal to his sexuality. 

It has nothing to do with her sexuality(54-56). 

     

      Like in the Renaissance painting Masashi Kishimoto, put Hinata in a compromising position with Naruto and in the background staring at them and Hinata looks ashamed in this scene for Naruto can be compared to the painting by Bronzino ' Venus, Cupid Time and Love' Venus is lusting at cupid her own son will everyone is watching and the young angel is cheering them on. But you look closer at the painting you can see she actually posted for the viewer and the painter to lust at her body as she give into her son sexuality. The painting by Tintoretto 'Susannah and Elders' is similar to the scene in Naruto where Sakura and Hinata was bathing and we the spectators watch, just like the own of the painting watched Susannah bathing. At a young age we're teaching children about male gazing without even know that we're mentally suppressing them to the terminology of sex sells.   In the dancehall music industry the musicians/ artists sings scandalous music about sex and the female musicians and also the dancers dresses provocative on stage. Some of the male dancehall dancers treat the women their dancing with like object, piece of meat and trash.  But on the other hand, the females are partially nude wining and gyrating their bodies on stage with partners or even on random men from the audience. Their performance is like their having sexual activities in public. Artists like Lady Saw, Spice and even the latin artists like Shakira are sex symbols in the pubic eyes and the music industry.      In the will to change be Bell hooks she spoke about the rules the both sex plays and what weak boys faced.  

                               Terrence real tells how his sons were initiated into 

                     patriarchal thinking even as their parents worked to create a

                    loving home in which antipatriacrchal values prevailed. He 

                    tells of how his young son Alexander enjoyed dressing as 

                   Barbie until boys playing with his older brother witnessed his 

                  Barbie persona and let him know by their gaze and their shocked,

                 disapproving silence that his behavior was unacceptable.... To

                indoctrinate boys into the rules of patriarchy, we force them to feel 

                pain and to deny their feelings (22).

       Because boys should not play with dolls or dress like a girl, Alexander bother and his friends shun him cause he was more comfortable as a girl and not a boy and that is a no no in their world. They brainwashed him to believe that something was wrong with him because he share his feeling. In the end patriotism won and change his life. 

     What I have learned from the male gaze and patriarchy reading is to remember to teach children to share their emotions and regardless of their sexuality they should have the freedom to be themselves not living by a system. In the end it's their true personality is the most important thing at the end of the day and also to be mindful of the type of social media outlets they're exposed to social media.