Male Gaze

Romanda Abedair 

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The male gaze is a concept where women become the object in a picture while men stare at the body that is presented to them for their sexual satisfactory. The idea of male gazing is not a new concept, in fact it have been presented since the biblical story "Adam and Eve". In the book "Ways of Seeing" written by John Berger, he explains that "men act and women appear". In other words women become the sight for men. Berger's mentioned the concept of nudity in "Adam and Eve" and realized that Eve had full responsibility for betraying God, which today affects the way women are treated (49). In the story Eve was blamed for being tempted by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then manipulating Adam. The confusing aspect is that Adam was not as harshly punished to the same extent as Eve. People view the story as if the female was blamed for almost everything and now should become the object before they make another "mistake".

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From the movie "Spring Breakers" the main characters are dressed in

bikinis and posing in a sexual stance to impress and encourage the male 

gaze and objectify women in order to attract more viewers to watch the movie 

Nonetheless, the male gaze appears not only in paintings, but in movies, advertisement and photographs. Any art that appears where men are staring at a female is gazing. Marketing uses the idea of male gazes to sell their products because the idea is implanted in the minds of many from the older generation. However, Justine Musk, a writer in the Huffington post, states her opinion as a female should wear whatever attire she choses, which does not mean she does this in the purpose of impressing the male gaze.Unfortunately, due to the male gaze people are not able to have an understanding of Musks opinion. 

Owned by Dolce & Gabbana
This picture is an example of male gaze in media and advertisement because since people have male gaze implanted is their minds, companies use this factor to have the audience gaze at both the female and product until they purchase the product.

The male gaze is mostly blamed for the competition women have with each other, which consists of how beautiful females appear in their eyes. According to Berger, the male gazing painting "The Judgement of Paris" by Rubens in 1640 explains that a man is giving an apple (as a reward) to a women who he most attracted to (53). This creates a sense of jealously, judgement, and competition between women, if a women is called beautiful then she is and other women wait for the same compliment.

Rubens, The Judgement of Paris, 1577-1960

       https://i1.wp.com/www.avoiceformen.com

Patriarchy is a known structure where males are dominate and over rule women, which characterizes male and their dominance (23). People are taught gender roles once they are born and are expected to follow these given rules. In Bell Hooks essay "The Will to Change" she describes that the patriarchy is an oppressor to men because society demands men to act a certain way. For example, as a child Hooks would be punished for playing roughly while her brother would get in trouble when not "manning up"(20). She was physically abused by her father when she "played like a boy". Her father's mind set was by abusing Hooks it would prove that he was head of household (20). Meanwhile her brother enjoyed playing with dolls and was often "brutalized and victimized by patriarchy more often then not becoming patriarchal"(28). In other words, females are not  the only ones that are victimized in the gender structure, in fact when males do not express their "masculist" it is shown as a sign of weakness from society's perspective. Hooks writes, “I often use the phrase ‘imperialist white-supremacist capi­talist patriarchy’ to describe the interlocking political sys­tems that are the foundation of our nation’s politics” (17). The phrase she describes is based on the worlds values. In the essay she does not target a specific group or person, instead a system as a whole, it is not dependent on a race, class or gender. For example, she wants the audience to know that one cannot talk about race without mentioning gender or vise-versa. People cannot ignore the issues without simply talking about the core problem. If the issues are ignored and denied then it will never be resolved and as long can people engage in it then it will only grow larger. 

At first I did not know what the male gaze was, however, after reading John Berger and Bell Hooks I came to a realization that this is a complicated yet resolvable issue. I was brain washed by the media because I did not notice or understand the male gaze. I thought that this was natural and how I was raised. Agreeing with Hooks, now that being aware of this the issues I can now alert people and together people can destroy the patriarchy structure.  

Work Citied

Berger, John, Sven Blomberg, Chris Fox, Michael Dibb, and Richard Hollis. Ways of Seeing. London, England: British Broadcasting Corportion, 1973. Print.

 

Espinoza, Guadalupe, Audrey Hokoda, Emilio C. Ulloa, Monica D. Ulibarri, and Donna Castaneda. "Gender Differences in the Relations among Patriarchal Beliefs, Parenting and Teen Relationship Violence in Mexican Adolescents." Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.
Quora. "The Real Reason Women Like to Look Sexy." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.

Hooks, Bell. "The Will to Change." Goodreads. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2017.