Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Male Gaze - Matthew Acosta

In John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, the male gaze is described as the surveying of women. Men are perceived as dominate figures, while women are seen as objects for men. Berger explains this by describing the roles genders play in presence. A man’s presence in art usually suggests his power and what he is capable of (Berger, 46). On the other hand, a woman’s presence conveys the complete opposite. A woman’s presence in art expresses what can and cannot be done to her (Berger, 46). To summarize his idea, Berger states:
“One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of women in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight” (Berger, 47).
Here Berger is expressing that men are always the intended audience. A man’s presence is not intended for the opposite sex, like a woman’s. A woman’s presence only serves as a form of entertainment for men. Male gaze has had such an influence that even when women look at themselves they consider the gaze. They look at themselves through the eyes of a male viewer. In essence, they tend to objectify themselves because the male gaze holds so much weight. This is pervasive in art and in popular culture because women are used as sexual objects to gain the attention of the male viewer. With the use of social media, it is more evident today more than ever. The male gaze has dictated how women are portrayed. As a male, I see advertisements, posts, pictures, etc. using woman as a tool to grab a male’s attention. It can be an ad for male jeans and there would still be an attractive woman somewhere in the picture. This is because a male would much rather view an attractive woman in the advertisement accompanied by the jeans than just a male model posing with the jeans on. They would also be more likely to buy the jeans because they would associate the jeans with being able to get an attractive woman like the advertisement displayed. Another example, a social media account with sexy, raunchy photographs of a woman will tend to have more followers than an account belonging to a very conservative dressing woman. Why is this? This is because of the male gaze. The sexier photos are more appealing to the male viewer. This also leads to women posting more of these sexy photos in an effort to receive more likes and followers. Each post is meant to appeal to the male gaze.

Guess Jeans Summer 2010

Kim Kardashian West Instagram Selfie


            Patriarchy as described by Bell Hooks in Understanding Patriarchy, is the social disease that suggests males are born with the expectations to be dominant and superior to females. To express the severity of patriarchy, the text states: “the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body spirit in our nation” (Hooks, 17).
In an effort to describe this, Hooks uses the childhood experiences of her and her brother being raised by parents who believe in patriarchy. Due to patriarchy, they were raised with a “predetermined gendered script” (Hooks, 19). This was the idea and belief that boys were to do certain things that only boys were supposed to do, and girls were to do certain things that only girls were supposed to do. Hooks goes on to provide multiple examples of how she wanted to do things like play with marbles, but gets punished by her father because “girls don’t play with marbles” (Hook, 20). Patriarchy predetermines what a child is allowed and not allowed to do because of their gender. The self-interest of the child does not matter when patriarchy is in place. Hooks described the idea of patriarchy in a unique way. One would assume that she would write in about patriarchy and it’s negative effect on women because she is a woman, but she decided to write about the harm it causes to men. After reading about her experiences as a child, Hooks suggests that patriarchy is physiologically harmful to a young boy’s development. This is because the boy is forced to suppress emotions, unlike a girl. The boy is taught to be strong and aggressive, so this forces them to suppress any feelings that do not compliment these traits. By doing so they are forcing pain upon themselves, which leads to traumatization (Hooks, 22). Using herself and her brother as an example, Hooks goes on to prove that the two both desired to do things that patriarchy did not allow them to do because of their genders. Their parents forced the children to do certain activities even though the children wanted to do the opposite. Due to patriarchy, children can be traumatized during their developmental stages, which can lead to identity issues later on in life. I would personally agree with Hooks. From birth I was always taught and suggested the “proper” gender roles. It starts from the day you are born. If you are a boy, everything you are given is blue. If you are a girl, everything you are given is pink. The preference of the child is not considered. What if a young boy prefers the color pink? This boy would immediately be told that is not a color for a boy; pink is girl’s color. Teasing and punishment could even follow this. Patriarchy does not go away either as one matures. As a male I am expected to be the man of the house, the provider for my family, and the protector as well. The woman is expected to be nurturer, chef, and maid of the household. The forced pressure can damage someone physiologically. What if the man wants to take care of the children and do laundry while the woman works doing construction during the day? Patriarchy takes away one’s preference and desires by forcing one to live up to society’s expectations solely based on gender. People should be able to do what they please, no matter what gender.


With my new understanding of male gaze and patriarchy, I see that various art and media are heavily influenced by these structures. It is not obvious until one understands these structures. The idea that “sex sells” is a product of the male gaze. When men are the intended audience, men are powerful figures, and women are placed as weak objects to be dominated by the male imagination. Women simply do not hold the same presence as men in art and media. Why not? This is because of patriarchy, the structure that society has created. Men are superior and women are objects placed there for entertainment. Each gender is assigned certain roles and it is always expected that they are to follow these roles. I feel somewhat guilty because I expect these things too. From birth I was always taught to stay within the confined space of my gender role and to do what “boys do” all the time. When looking at various art and media I look at everything with a male gaze because it is the only gaze I know. This is what “boys do.” I believe these structures should be discussed and taught more to the youth. Maybe with more awareness, these structures will promote a change in popular culture. As a society we objectify women on multiple levels of media, and rarely ever objectify men. This unequal treatment needs to be brought up more often and popular culture needs to shift away from patriarchy and objectify both genders equally if need be.


Article on patriarchy


Work Cited:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972.

Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books. 2004.

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