Post #1 - Male Gaze and Patriarchy

Andrea Oliva Dole
Art and Women
Post #1
February 11, 2020

Male Gaze and Patriarchy 

Society has a long history of being sexist, and misogynist towards women. As a society, we are very aware of the issues surrounding sexism and misogyny but are quick to ignore it or not pay much attention to it. This is not new to society, women have been treated differently than men from an absurd amount of time. Society has a dependency on the masculine point of view, whether it is in politics or art. There is a common link between the Renaissance paintings and today’s art. The common link is the male gaze. The male gaze, as described by John Berger would be the objectification of women in artwork, for the pleasure of looking at her. In the book, Berger states "This nakedness is not, however, an expression of her own feeling; it is a sign of her submission to the owner's feelings or demands"(Berger, 56). We can say that the male gaze is still very much prominent in art and media. In a lot of the paintings, such as the one below it shows that the woman is not paying attention to the men in the painting and as Berger states, "often she looks away from him or she looks out of the picture towards the one who considers himself her true lover - the spectator-owner." (Berger, 56). An example of this is in the painting Bacchus, Ceres, and Cupid by Hans Van Aachen in which the woman is not paying attention to the men in the painting but rather look towards the "owner" We see this "spectator-owner" in popular culture everywhere still such as in Calvin Klein ads, movies, TV shows because the objectification of women is what we were taught, we were taught that sex sells.

Bacchus, Ceres, and Cupid, Hans Von Aachen

We live in a male-dominated society where men seem to think that they have power over women and that is what patriarchy is. Male gaze and patriarchy go hand in hand, it all seems to stem from the objectification and making women feel inferior. According to Bell Hooks, "patriarchy is a political 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 maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence" (Bell Hooks, 18). Patriarchy is the oppression of women everywhere and unfortunately, we have become part of this system as well. We need to become more educated so we can fight the oppression of the patriarchy, especially in today's political climate where the president of the United States is the main example of what patriarchy is. From this presidency, the #metoo movement came to light, and more women are rising up, fighting back and reclaiming their power and we can see this in the media as well.

Calvin Klein Jeans Ad  

Take for example in the new TV show The Morning Show, they tackle the issues of male gaze and patriarchy. The male co-host is the star of the show, gets paid more, has multiple HR complaints from sexually harassing women, gets praised by the CEOs and nothing happens to him until one woman comes forward, thanks to the #metoo movement. This is true in many places, women are seen as less than men, are paid less and sometimes even seen as hysterical for voicing their opinions.

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist writer, novelist, and a feminist. She once wrote in her famous novel The Second Sex, "the triumph of patriarchy was neither an accident nor the result of a violent revolution. From the origins of humanity, their biological privilege enabled men to affirm themselves alone as sovereign subjects; they never abdicated this privilege; they alienated part of their existence..." Men have always taken upon themselves to assign women roles and this is changing every day, women are beginning to understand that we have as much power as men.

Previous to these readings, I was aware of what patriarchy was but I never really paid much attention to the media aspect of it. I knew there was inequality between men and women, but when I thought of inequality I thought of equal pay or the glass ceiling but I never looked at it from the media, or art perspective. I never thought of the naked women that had to sit there and be uncomfortable in front of a man who looked at them as objects for them to enjoy.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a household with two feminist moms and I was encouraged to get angry, to be loud, to give my opinion, to speak up and my brothers were encouraged to cry, and to show emotions. I was never put limits on toys that I could play, and activities because I was born a girl, but the world does put limits on us for being girls.

Citation: 

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972.

Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, 2005. 

http://www.uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1949_simone-de-beauvoir-the-second-sex.pdf

https://www.anothermag.com/design-living/10480/what-is-woman-ten-searing-quotes-from-simone-de-beauvoir