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| Gigi Hadid Made Her Victoria's Secret Runway Debut |
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| Portrait of a Young Lady and Child as Venus and Cupid |
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| Figure of Ideal Woman |
The drawing to the right is done by Dürer whom believed the “ideal” nude be constructed from parts from multiple women. For example, take one’s breasts and another’s legs to create an image for male pleasure. This articulates the drive for art to be derived for the male spectator- for his visual pleasure and a sense of sexual drive towards the woman in the drawing. By fantasizing the "ideal" woman by combining parts from multiple women shows the intensity of the male gaze.
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| BMW Used Car Advertisement |
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| Aston Martin Used Car Advertisement |
Premier automakers, BMW and Aston Martin, both have used the Male Gaze to allure customers for their preowned selection. By stating "You know you're not the first" insinuates that these girls have had sex before. They allure male customers through female sexuality by insinuating that their cars like these women are beautiful and probably have had sex before. As such it would not matter if you're not the first driver either.
This establishes the masculine
dominance dynamic Bell Hooks depicts as a system of patriarchy. She defines it
as, “a political-social 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 to
maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and
violence” (18). Going back to Berger, as women are not only objectified but
also deemed weaker they cannot do anything to contribute to their presence
whereas men is never objectified and is there only to show his dominance. This
relates to the concept in ancient civilizations where men would hunt and bring
back meats to the camp where women bore children and cooked. The physical
masculinity was necessary at the time however in modern times, there is no need
for such display. Bell Hooks introduces a concept of psychological patriarchy
which, “is the dynamic between those qualities deemed ‘masculine’ and
‘feminine’ in which half of our human traits are exalted while the other half
is devalued” (33). Moreover, this means the ubiquitous embedded system of
patriarchy is actually neither male or female, it is rather the idea of
masculinity, or dominance, and feminism, or submissiveness. Submissiveness is
attributed to women as they are “deemed” weaker, as such the power of dominance
is placed in the hands of men. This system is ubiquitous as it is deeply
embedded in education and religious institutions, perfectly exemplified by the
fact that God is assumed to be male. In fact, because patriarchy is a dynamic
of dominance and submissiveness, both sexes can assume the role of the
dominator. Single moms are a prime example as they play the role of the patriarchal
father by asserting her dominance over their children. Bell Hooks gives us a
flashback into her past where she was beaten to a pulp for being more masculine
than her bother, the beating served as, “a reminder to me of my gendered place,
it was a reminder to everyone watching/remembering, to all my siblings, male
and female, and to our grown-woman mother that our patriarchal father was the
ruler in our household” (21). This psychological display of dominance is what
keeps the dynamic running by scaring off anyone that seeks to oppose the
system. Hooks also speaks about a male who vocalized his anger towards the
patriarchy system and how by doing so he became a social outcast. As he grew
older, inability to gain acceptance overwhelmed him into conforming into the
system where became popular. As such this exemplifies the inability of enough
people standing up to the existing system as they are scarred by all the
wounded grown children raised in patriarchal homes.
Raised in a middle eastern home, I
have grown to acknowledge how embedded this dynamic reveals itself and its
power. Furthermore, it gave me the ability to note it within the educational
institution, where girls are pushed towards the arts and not towards the
sciences like their male counterparts. Even today women do not have the same
rights as men due to this underlying system of patriarchy. By not vocalizing my
stance on the matter, I believe I am regretfully conforming to the system. In
my professional life I do not discriminate between sexes, I try my best to give
the job based on merit but I do realize women are not given the same
opportunities as men in most cases.
Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. Print.
Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. Print.
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