male gaze and patriarchy

Male Gaze and Patriarchy 

In “Ways of Seeing” John Berger explores the male gaze and how women are portrayed in the arts, from media to fine arts. It encompasses depictions of women from a masculine, heterosexual, heteronormative perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure and satisfaction of the male viewer. The male gaze is fueled by the question of what a male’s presence suggests in comparison to that of females. For men, the power they have over women is what is meant to be portrayed whereas for females it is about what they can give to them but merely only through sexual and objective means. It is constantly revolving around what women can do for a male and never about their own enjoyment or fulfillment because her “fulfillment” is defined through that of a man. In the passage, Berger coins this concept, “men act women appear” (Berger, 47). This is indicative of the idea of men as active and women as passive. While men are surveying the women are being surveyed. They are objectified and degraded to just their physical appearance. Women then only see themselves through that lens of how they can physically be approving for the men surveilling them. Berger goes on to say, “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as the success of her life. Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another” (Berger, 46). So women are so conditioned to exist for the man that they have no personality or character outside of that. Her sense of “self” because of this does not really exist because of its constant connection or attribution to a man.


The idea of the male gaze was created by Laura Mulvey, British feminist film theorist, and it is presented in three different dimensions. In regards to film/cinema, there is the male behind the camera, the males within the artistic representation, and the males observing the artistic work. This concept is so pervasive in art and popular culture because it allows patriarchy to persist. Patriarchy perpetuates this idea of the male gaze the same way the male gaze is perpetuated by patriarchy. Men feel the need to be in power and have control over women, art and popular culture becomes a vessel or pathway for that. When you look at Renaissance art it is more clearly and outwardly displaying the male gaze.

Venus with Organist and Cupid - 1549 Titian 

This piece is very indicative of the male gaze like much of Renaissance art. Depicting this nude woman without any blemishes, making her suitable for the viewing from not only the man in the painting but also the other men that would be viewing the painting. In modern culture and society, the male gaze is much more subtle, not because it occurs less, but because people are not able to recognize. Partially because of the way it is contrived, but also because we have become so conditioned as people to believe it is the norm. Popular culture music and music videos exasperate this to the greatest degree yet there is still so little commentary surrounding it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPBVHrQ18yI

This music video is a clear example of how music videos and lyrics are explicitly objectifying and sexualizing the female and her body. The artist is at the center of the video and has these women almost as props to push this over-sexualization of their bodies. They do not amount to anything besides what they can physically do to the male.

However, I think it is important to understand that although this idea of the male gaze is very heteronormative and patriarchal in nature it is still something that women can allow to perpetuate or play roles in creating. For example, just because a woman creates a work of art does that now mean it is not able to be the male gaze? Or just because women direct a movie or allow for the cast/characters to be all-female does it now become this feminist and women empowerment piece

In “Understanding Patriarchy” by bell hooks, she defines patriarchy as “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 the dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (bell hooks, 18). This system permeates through every facet of our everyday lives yet oftentimes we do not recognize its abrasive existence. Since many people still believe patriarchy to be necessary and the only way to govern, that allows for the continued cycle of socialization surrounding this system to continue. Bell hooks make this point when she says, “Most of us learned patriarchal attitudes in our family of origin, and they were usually taught to us by our mothers. These attitudes were reinforced in schools and religious attitudes” (bell hooks, 23). This just brings to light the socialization aspect of patriarchy and how it continues to dominate society, cultures, families, etc.

What is even more shocking is the role that women play in allowing patriarchy to persist. Women who are subservient to men just as strongly as men sometimes to diminish and belittle their female children for having a strong personality while praising and uplifting their males for being the aggressor. That behavior is just as dangerous and sometimes even more dangerous than that of the male. I reflect back on my family dynamic and what it even continues to be. My mom played an enormous role in perpetuating patriarchal ideals. Playing sports for boys which meant that my interest in those things meant I was wanted to be a boy or not following the roles according to my gender. Her rhetoric also consisted of what I should be doing for a man like cooking and cleaning or dressing “presentably” so I am appealing to a man. Patriarchy allows for a heteronormative “predetermined gendered script”. Not only are these women who are subordinate to men complacent, but radical feminists preaching man-hating separatist ideology as well. Bell hooks describe their absurd mentality and how it is detrimental to the destruction of patriarchy. “By placing the blame for the perpetuation of sexism solely on men, these women could maintain their own allegiance to patriarchy, their own lust for power.” (bell hooks, 25). This not only hurts men further but inhibits people from recognizing the negative impact the system has on men. When people think of the opposite of patriarchy feminism comes to mind, however, this sort of radical feminism ends up telling a negative narrative of true feminism, one that is intersectional. Intersectional feminism was coined by a professor Kimberle Crenshaw and is defined as ‘The interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Crenshaw, 1989). This is critical when talking about dismantling patriarchy because it is not just male privilege oppressing women. Looking at patriarchy merely as a manifestation of male privilege is insufficient. Homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, racism, etc all of these systems prop up patriarchy. A lot of feminist artwork displaying the female gaze and depicting an antithesis to patriarchy is not just focused on the issue of patriarchy by the interconnectedness of a plethora of other oppressive systems.

Helen Beard - Study for the Seducer 2019

Works Cited 

“Three Fresh Takes on the Female Gaze.” TheArtGorgeous, 16 Aug. 2019, theartgorgeous.com/three-fresh-takes-female-gaze/.


“Helen Beard at Unit London.” Unit London, theunitldn.com/artists/176-helen-beard/.


Jayakumar, Kirthi. “An Intersectional Understanding of Patriarchy.” Medium, The Red Elephant Foundation, 27 Mar. 2018, medium.com/the-red-elephant-foundation/an-intersectional-understanding-of-patriarchy-d36c35d4e911.


Berger, John, and Michael Dibb. Ways of Seeing. London: BBC Enterprises, 1972





Hooks, Bell. Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. , 2010. Print