The Male Gaze

The male gaze is the outlook of women from the perspective of men, particularly in the media/art world. John Barger emphasizes the idea that the woman is thought to reside in her physical appearance, and as a result, they are forced to survey themselves and be conscious that the male will judge them. Barger states, "men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. The surveyor of woman in herself is the male. The surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object and most particularly an object of vision: a sight." (Barger, 47) This carries out into society as men having ownership over the female, and the way a female dresses, behaves, and base their opinions to satisfy the male. This construct has lead to problems of inequality, sexism, and patriarchy.

Barger uses the concepts of nude oil paintings to explain further how, as a society, we have been inscribed to believe that "men act and women appear." In Vanity by Memling 1435-1494, Barger brings to attention to how women are portrayed to satisfy the male pleasure while condemning the female. The difference between nude and naked, being naked, is being aware of one's nakedness, but to be nude is to become an object and be seen naked by someone else. In traditional oil paintings, the female nude is either staring at the spectator, who, in most cases, are the male owners who bought the artwork, or they are staring at themselves. In Vanity, the female is holding a mirror as she gazes at herself, here she is joining the spectator. Mirrors are known to be symbols for Vanity, the artist has depicted her as someone who cherishes her appearance, although he is the one who has painted her as-is for his pleasure. The mirror also reinforces the idea that she should treat herself as a sight.

Vanity, Memling, 1435-143

Male gaze translates out its art form, to pop culture and media where the woman's sex appeal is used to gain male consumers. In the Wonder Woman's comic cover, wonder woman is seductively staring to the viewer, although she's chained by the neck. Barger claims, "Women's sexual passion needs to be minimized so that the spectator may feel that he has the monopoly of sich passion" and "women are there to feed an appetite [ the male's sexual desires ] not to have any of their own." (Barger, 55) Wonder Woman's cover justifies Barger since she is drawn with idealistic beauty standards, and her outfit highlights her breasts. The male gaze is pervasive not only in comics but movies, advertisements, music because sex sells.

Wonder Woman Comic Cover, Earth One.

Bell Hooks' patriarchy is defined as a "political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females." (Hooks, 18) Patriarchy is from where the male gaze steams from, proclaiming that only men are to be seen as reliable and head of the household. They hold power over women, who, from this perspective, are viewed as lesser than. Hooks uses herself as a primary example, where little boys are taught to be aggressors and protectors while the women are taught to serve and obey the dominant male in her life, either husband or father. As a society, we fall under this constructed social system without realizing, for example, baby's clothing; from the minute they are born, they are labeled as either pink or blue. For my generation, little girls were taught to be submissive through Disney princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, who wait patiently for their Prince to save them. Her step-mother mistreats Cinderella; she is forced to do housework like cleaning and cooking, all while having a positive outlook and being obedient. She gets Prince Charming's attention when she transforms into a better version of herself; this reinforces the male gaze and patriarchy since she has to be able to cook/clean, obedient, and beautiful to be saved.

I understood patriarchy from a very young age without understanding the word, except I called it machismo. Growing up in a traditional Hispanic household, I was taught from a very young age that girls are responsible for serving the man. However, my father has never enforced these laws upon me; my mother made sure I knew what was expected. I was also quick to notice how husbands treated their wives, I realized it something I didn't want for myself, but I didn't know that their behavior steams from the male gaze. At a young age, they are taught that women in their lives, mothers, sisters, and wives/girlfriends are weaker than them; therefore, they have ownership over them. Some of these teachings are from the Bible, but most are what they perceive in his own family. Through the conversations in class, I've come to realize that what I saw as patriarchy is much more elaborate than I thought.

Work Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation, 1972.
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, 2005. 
https://femfilm15.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/cinderella-a-story-the-needs-revision/