Male gaze
is the act of dehumanizing women as a sexual object through the perspective of
a male. This will often lead to portraying women naked or nearly naked just for
the flattery of men, but all the while women would be criticized for this. John
Berger points this act out in his book Ways of Seeing by stating “You
painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in
her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman
whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure” (Berger, 51). This has
been an ongoing issue since the start of humanity, as John Berger refers to
Adam and Eve as the start of this madness. Once Adam and Eve committed the sin to
eat the apple, God punished the woman while the man was praised: “The woman is
blamed and is punished by being made subservient to the man. In relation to the
woman, the man becomes the agent of God” (Berger, 48). Ever since, male gaze
and patriarchy have been intertwined. Male exert their dominance in society while
women are seen judged solely based on their appearance. John takes a deep analysis
of the act of male gaze: “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 as the success of
her life” (Berger, 46). Although male gazing is still ongoing, in earlier
centuries the appearance of a woman would either make them or break them. Thus,
John Berger explains the importance of appearance for women as society and men
will “survey women before treating them’ (Berger, 46).
The male
gaze is still applied in many readings, films, and media. For instance, male
gaze is often applied in comics for female superheroes. Take Marvel’s Avengers poster
illustrated above as an example. On the left side you will see the team of superheroes
posing for the audience, but can you spot the difference in their poses? I have
not given much notice to this poster prior but after obtaining a better understanding
of the female gaze, Black Widow, the only female superhero is posing at an
angle that will “flatter” the audience. The
right side illustrates the poster if all the superheroes pose in the same
hyper-sexualized position as female hero Black Widow while she poses directly
to the audience. Although create for humor, this illustration also serves as a
demonstration that it is unusual for male to be sexualized the same as women
because “ ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the
woman is designed to flatter him” (Berger, 64).
As mentioned earlier, male gaze and
patriarchy are intertwined. As defined by Bell Hooks in the reading Understanding
Patriarchy, “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 through
various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (Hooks, 18). Therefore,
men are seen as the rulers of society often resorting to anger and violence to
demonstrate their dominance while women are seen as weak and emotional. Bell
Hooks views patriarchy as “the most life-threatening social disease assaulting
the male body and spirit in our nation” (Hooks, 17). The reason being is
because of the limitations that patriarchy not only places on women but on men
as well. Women are not given the opportunity to exert their dominance in
society but merely created just for appearance, flattery, and support to the
male dominance. Men are also limited as they must also fit the description that
they are given by patriarchy, meaning they are no allowed to appear weak nor
show emotions otherwise they would be condemned. Bell Hooks shares her personal
experience with patriarchy as she find herself often wanting to do the same
thing as her brother which resulted in a beating: “Mama came into the bedroom
to soothe the pain, telling me in her soft southern voice, ‘I tried to warn
you. You need to accept that you are just a little girl and girls can’t do what
boys do.’ In service to patriarchy her task was to reinforce that Dad done the
right thing by putting me in my place, by restoring the natural social order” (Hooks,
21).
 |
| NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson |
In the film Hidden Figures directed
by Theodore Melfi, the director tries to deconstruct patriarchy by actually
revealing hidden history that has be silenced to many people outside and inside NASA.
The film reveals the history of African American women who worked for NASA
(previously known as NACA) in the 1940s and served as a game changer that
helped the US excel in the space race and eventually land the first “man” on
the moon. By revealing history that has been silenced for decades, society becomes
more aware of the dominance and impact women had and will continue to have
which will helps us push further away the idea of patriarchy.
Work
Cited:
Berger, John, and Michael
Dibb. Ways of Seeing. London: BBC Enterprises, 1972
Hooks, Bell. Teaching
Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. , 2010. Print
Loreck, Janice, and School
of Media. “Explainer: What Does the 'Male Gaze' Mean, and What about a Female
Gaze?” The Conversation, 21 Oct. 2019,
theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486.
Collazo, Julie Schwietert.
“NASA's Hidden Figures: Women You Need to Know.” Biography.com, A&E
Networks Television, 22 June 2019, www.biography.com/news/hidden-figures-movie-real-women.
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