male and oppositional gaze

Before I learned about the male gaze, I did not seriously think about the sexism problems going on right now. The long time ago, when sexism was tremendous, women did not have rights to do most of the things that men are allowed to do. For example, women are not allowed to vote, have equal pay as males, or even getting a job. Right now, everything has changed, and there are a lot of female leaders in the world. However, when I read and learned about the patriarchy and the male gaze readings, I realized that the world needs a lot more to change than what I thought. The male gaze is the way the media show the world and female from a male point of view, and this presents the female as ‘objects’ of the pleasure of men. Laura Mulvey who is the feminist film theorist created the phrase "male gaze." More about the male gaze can be found here.

women as objectification

People are consuming media for most of their lives, and a male gaze is a pervasive form of vision in popular culture mostly because the media is full of the male gaze. Mulvey states that female characters are used as an erotic object and often used as the passive characters whereas the male characters are always the active characters and mostly the primary role. One example of this would be the Bechdel Test. Bechdel Test is very simple yet very few movies passed this test. The rule is that two female characters with names talk about something other than the male character. This test proves that female characters are usually fringed throughout the storyline, and also shows that they were not representational. Any form of media is highly related to people’s lives because they are located everywhere and we can look at them anytime we want.

The oppositional gaze might sound similar, but it is actually different from the male gaze. The male gaze shows the objectification of women from the men. The oppositional gaze is when black females are opted out of the cinema. Their roles are neither representational nor valued in that field. The film media only focuses on the male and those fringes the black female characters every time.

The phrase “oppositional gaze” was created by the American female author Gloria Jean Watkins, and her pen name was Bell Hooks. In Hook’s reading, she mentioned that the oppositional gaze comes from the slaves from the long time ago and she also brings up childhood perspectives of “looking.” The main reason why the oppositional gaze was developed is the phallocentric spectatorship and that means everything is focused and revolves around with male and their dominance. Next, in Hook’s book, she also describes how the oppositional gaze and patriarchal minds are developing. “Most men have clearly been willing to resist patriarchy when it interferes with individual desire, but they have not been willing to embrace feminism as a movement that would challenge, change, and ultimately end patriarchy” (Hooks). The quote explains that the male supports the patriarchal minds when they need more support for themselves.

woman objectified advertisement

The understanding of male gaze, oppositional gaze, and the patriarchy has changed my view on media very much especially in film area. Before I got to read about these readings, I never really thought about patriarchy or masculinity seriously when I watched any movies or even media. However, starting with the Bechdel Test, I ran the test while I was watching movies, and every current film that I attended did not pass. I was unintentionally accepting masculinity and patriarchy in my media and so like everyone else and I was really shocked by this.

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell, 1952-. The Will to Change : Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York :Atria Books, 2004. Print.

Loreck, Janice, and School of Media. “Explainer: What Does the 'Male Gaze' Mean, and What about a Female Gaze?” The Conversation, The Conversation, 19 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486.