The Male Gaze & Patriarchy

The male gaze is the objectifying of women, in order to please the eyes of men. It focuses on the woman’s beauty, specifically her physical appearance. When describing the male gaze, John Berger says “Her body confronts us, not as an immediate sight, but as experience -- the painter’s experience” (Berger 61). As Berger describes, artists paint the female body not just to look at it, but so that it can create pleasure for themselves and other males. This further shows how through the male gaze, women are seen as objects to their viewers, whom are usually male. Berger emphasizes on this idea when he writes that “[...] the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (64). The male gaze relates to patriarchy, since men are in charge of the art, they have the ability to sexualize women and create pieces to pleasure males.

The male gaze isn’t just a historic concept, since it is still prevalent in the modern world. Characteristics of the male gaze have become important marketing tools for companies. The objectification of women in advertisements depicts a female who is completely unrealistic, but is still portrayed in order to bring in customers, since they know that males seek attractive women. As the article states, the female models portrayed in advertisements spend hours getting their makeup done, and even after the photos are taken, their bodies are still retouched. The end result, is the ‘ideal’ woman, one that will engage viewers and conversation, even though it creates a false sense of beauty reality.

Personally, I believe that the male gaze has become too prevalent in our society, especially due to the media. The male gaze isn’t just in art, it’s also present in television, social media, ad campaigns and magazines. For example, I remember watching Kim Kardashian’s Super Bowl commercial for Skechers sneakers. The commercial barely focuses on the product it’s selling, the sneakers. Instead, it focuses on Kim’s body, focusing in on her chest, butt and abs. The purpose of this camera work is because the company knows that a majority of the Super Bowl viewers are male, so if they present an attractive female, the viewers’ eyes will be drawn to the commercial. Commercials like these helped me realize how corrupt our society has become, since it’s deemed as okay to present women as sexual objects for marketing purposes. However, it isn’t just marketing companies sexualizing women, but women themselves. All you have to do is go on Instagram’s explore page and you’ll see photos of women who enjoy posting provocative photos, just so they can get likes on the photo.

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According Bell Hooks, “patriarchy is 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” (18). As Hooks describes, patriarchy gives males the right to feel superior to women, as well as think that they have the right to control their actions in order to maintain their dominance. A recent and controversial example of patriarchy was when Donald Trump signed an anti-abortion “gag rule.” Trump signed the executive order surrounded by male colleagues, which is astonishing since the order deals directly with women. This moment shows that patriarchy is still happening in the world, even a powerful political leader believes he has the right to dictate how women live their lives. Gender roles are also apart of patriarchy, people believe that males and females are supposed to act a certain way in accordance with their biological sex. Patriarchy was relevant in my family when my parents were still together, my father believed that he could control everything my mother did. It was not until my parents got divorced that my mother realized the bad lessons she was teaching me, and since then she has made it her mission to prove to me that I don’t need a man to dictate my life and happiness. 

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Prior to the lessons in class, I never realized how the male gaze and patriarchy went hand in hand. Since males believe they are the dominant gender, they think that they have the ability to treat women as trophies. After reading the Berger and Hooks pieces, I have definitely become more aware about how sexualized women are, for the pleasure of the male viewers. It also makes sense why I’ve always heard that “sex sells.” It’s uncomfortable to think that woman’s body is used to arouse men, but the fact that this concept even occurred in the bible proves that it is officially time for change. I hope that as I get older, the objectification of women and superiority of men will begin to change.

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Image #1 source: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC2el98lp34dK8AJCcoZP5Cx9M5bQftUkti64kli89ZfpzaITrpZo87DeX9e1I3LmqBZnvT3A8LFL-dWkf9Aap1Y73ilwFcTKFcrklhkUjBzWx7wTunT0FSz8OgjqY4RiSQR5CxkybR_g/s1600/male_gaze.jpg

Works Cited

Anderson, L.V. "Trump Reinstates the Anti-Abortion “Global Gag Rule” That Has Been a Public Health Disaster." Slate, 23 Jan. 2017, www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/01/23/trump_reinstates_the_anti_abortion_global_gag_rule_that_has_been_a_public.html.

Suggest, Paul. "The Objectification of Women in Advertising." The Balance, 21 Dec. 2016, www.thebalance.com/advertising-women-and-objectification-38754.