Male Gaze

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The male gaze is the surveying of women by men, resulting in women becoming objects of vision. It belittles a woman’s essence by reconstructing her presence to only flatter viewers. The male gaze is pervasive in art and in popular culture because of patriarchy. A male dominated social system has made it that the “ideal” spectator is always assumed to be a man. Therefore, depictions of women are often constructed by men for men.

The male gaze has persisted throughout modern times, and is perhaps stronger now than ever. Its reach is most prevalent in advertising. Products are marketed with varying levels of suggestive content. Some are explicit in their intent, while some exercise a bit of subtly.
This iPhone case is an example of the male gaze in action. The model is photographed in a seductive pose while wearing clothing that carefully accentuates her figure. You rarely, if ever, find these types of photographs with males as the visual subject.

Patriarchy, as described by Bell Hooks, “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,” (Hooks 19). An example of patriarchy is the president of the United States, a male, and his male dominated administration making executive decisions on things like abortion and contraceptives; subject matters that affect women the most, yet these decisions are not made by or in conjunction with women. Another example of patriarchy is telling a seven year old boy he can’t have his own kitchen play set because “that’s not what young boys play with.” It is an attempt to reinforce the gender roles established within patriarchy. If a male does anything outside of what is expected of him, he is seen as not upholding the ideals of male dominance and must be reminded of his role.

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I’ve come to understand patriarchy and the male gaze as detrimental structures to the stability of the human psyche. Individuals are engrained with ideals that clearly do not promote healthy outcomes. Equality is clearly nonexistent within these structures. This understanding has certainly made me more critical of the various art and media outlets that people are left to consume. And as an adult man, my understanding of patriarchy now has only made me realize even more why I was never really on board with the whole concept in the first place. As a young child I never understood why it was necessary that men always be required to uphold a sense of dominance in virtually everything they do. I never saw the significance in embracing a male dominated society. Whenever I questioned that ideal, the response I received was often, “that’s just the way things are.” It didn’t take long to see that I would either have to accept these norms or challenge them. It became apparent to me that there was no role for me within the patriarchal system, and that I’d be among those who try to dismantle its rhetoric.

The psychological impact that patriarchy and the male gaze cause is the most alarming to me. There are countless people whose identities are shaped by ideals that are not inherently their own. And while some people may grow to eventually realize the importance of equality, and that a personal change is necessary for them to be the person they truly feel comfortable being, many will continue to adhere to the ideals in place. I think everything starts on an individual level, and until everyone can truly see the harm that these structures are doing to society, the process of changing for the better will be a frustratingly slow one.