Wilfredo Jimenez

Prof. Cacoilo

Art & Women

2/7/17

Mini Post One:

The Male Gaze

            The male gaze is the way we portray women in our society today, it’s made up by different factors and originates from a long history of what can simply be described as discrimination and appropriation of women. The beginnings of the male gaze can be traced back to early paintings and art which depicted women in the action or reaction of what the male and society of time believed a women’s role should be. The male gaze is the manuscript that tells women what to wear, how to look, what is feminine, what is sexy, and what roles they need to play in our society opposed to the male counter part. According to John Berger the female is always depicted differently then men is because the creator always assumes that the spectator is a male, creating a scene or perspective for the male to enjoy. The images then focus on the ideal image of a female and what our society as a whole and the opinion of men and how they think they should look. Creating what we call the male gaze or the male perspective. This male perspective can also be associated with patriarchy, which is the belief that men are in control and everything else is beneath man, and In some occasions this is true; one of them being our understanding and presentation of the male gaze.

            I was born in the Dominican Republic and spent half of my childhood there, and my other half in Creteil, France a small city very close to Paris; then at 12 years old my family decided that it would be beneficial for us to move to the U.S in pursuit of the American dream and a better education for me. Living in these three environment has given me knowledge to access and discuss the male gaze in these three different societies. In the Dominican Republic life is lived as depicted in the bible and popular culture, females go to school and study a career then graduate and get a good paying job to eventually find love, marry, have kids and give it all up. I personally saw this happen in close family and friends, the women would become stay at home moms and allow for the male to take care of everything and anything. The male gaze comes in from an international point of view, all products, campaigns, companies, and advertisements in D.R come from abroad, and in many instance the country looks up to countries like the U.S. When I was growing up there was no male gaze, in the contrary more women held power positions and took care of business more than men did; and they often banded together for support.

            After some trades and economic blooms, D.R wanted to become more like the U.S and along with this need to be came the male gaze, I started seeing women posing with drinks more often, women wearing less clothing, sexualized fast food commercials, and a need for women to use make up and products to enhance their appearance. Previously our country considered natural beauty as a treasure, the kindness and beauty of our people was our most prominent trait in the world but this was no longer the case. This was a drastic change that I had little understanding off growing up, and I still considered preeminent in our society; last year I went back on vacation and I found that there was no distinction between D.R and the U.S they were exactly the same, and now women were threated and viewed in the same way as in the United States.

            In France it was something completely different. People embraced their differences and what they stood for, and had the opportunity to openly neglect the male gaze dilemma opening their own path. There was no judgment or discrimination and females were portrait as people the people they saw themselves to be. I have noticed the ads, commercial, and products but I never put the two together, only recently have I been exposed to this information enough to truly understand the meaning of the male gaze and patriarchy. “Sex sells” was a phrase I learned in graphic design history and it is true, todays society associates anything and everything with sex because the appeal and the attention sells products, it’s been this way for centuries and it will continue to be unless we abolish the system which it lives in.