Male Gaze Culture

Male Gaze

The male gaze is very important in understanding women’s culture. It refers to how the world is seen via these old, rich, white male eyes. In essence, they view women as objects, not fellow human beings. Laura Mulvey, who wrote Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, heavily discusses this male gaze and the role females have been given. In the section titles “Women as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look”, Mulvey states, “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female”(Mulvey, 837). Mulvey expresses how the male role is supreme and women are passengers. Females have no say, but are meant to just be objects viewed for pleasure by the male eyes.

Lea Michele in the November 2010 GQ magazine. Photographed by Terry Richardson.

Left to Right: Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Christina Aguilera, and Britney Spears for Rolling Stone Magazine.

            In the tale of Adam and Eve, both the story and the artwork show Adam as a strong white male. However, the tale is what truly sets the stage for women being looked down upon. The story emphasizes Adam as the first human on Earth and God created Eve from Adam’s rib. Eve is the unintelligent figure that allows herself to be persuaded by the evil snake to eat an apple from the tree. This tale paints women to be nothing, but a pretty face that is meant to sit back and let the men make the decisions. It is crazy to think about how far back the reign of white male figures began.

Artwork has played a key role in the gaze of the male eye. As it has progressed there have been an immense amount of work showing full frontal shots of women, completely exposed. Even in my millennial years art depicts women as an object for pleasure. Below are two magazine, GQ and Rolling Stone, which show a series of celebrities over sexualized. In one shot we have Blake Lively licking ice cream. What do you think they are trying to symbolize in this picture? Do you think she is actually on the cover to be conservative and then talk about the political climate or is she on the cover to be sexy, talk about her show and boys? It is clear that her purpose is to talk about boys and make other women feel bad about themselves, which will push them to spend money on cosmetics (which is talked about in future readings). The GQ magazine shows Lea Michele licking a lollipop and wearing no pants, while at a locker in a High School. This glamorizes the idea of being “slutty”. It plays down her achievements in acting and the success of the show she was on at that time--Glee.

This idea of women in media brings to mind a YouTube video I saw recently. It is titled The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies on the Feministfrequency channel. The woman in the video explains the Bechdel test, which is a test that sees whether or not a movie has two or more women with names, who talk to each one another, and have conversation about something other than men. It is essentially looking to expose how so many movies do not have prominent female roles and the female dialogue is typically in regards to men, rather than important topics that support the plot. It becomes apparent that the majority of films lack these qualities, in which appear rather simplistic.  

In Ways of Seeing by John Berger, the author describes the way in which women are viewed. He says, “This nakedness is not, however, an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings and demands”(Berger, 52). Out of all the readings, this specific quote stands out the most. It fully exposes the dynamic between the male gaze and the feminine role in society. Men have been the ones that created the art, in which shows the naked woman. It has expressed how they view women subconsciously and formed a culture, where women are naturally expected to be sexual symbols. Even in the current society, women are still overly sexualized, even though they have careers and vote like men do. For example, look at any music video because you will notice the woman singing is wearing something showing her body, while a male artist can wear gym clothes. The pictures below show rap queen Nicki Minaj dressing in short shorts with a bra, while Drake wearing lounge clothes at a concert. Why must women over sexualize themselves to sell albums and concert tickets? Why can’t their talent and mind be enough for society, like that of the male figures?

 

                       Drake performing in 2018

                                                                                                                                                 Nicki Minaj performing in 2017