Post 1 - Male Gaze And Patriarchy

       Male gaze is the concept of a man's entitlement towards looking at a woman, and discuss and exploit their bodies without any consequences. Berger describes this as, “men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (Berger, 47), and, “The surveyor of woman 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). Berger explains how in art and in popular culture, a woman becomes an object that is available to an audience, to be surveyed, judged, and objectified. This leads to the woman's power being taken away from her, giving the audience a sense of power over the woman as their possession.
       Nude art is a fine example of how the male gaze dominates how the form of art should be made. Tintoretto's, “Susannah and the Elders”, and Memling's, “Vanity”, show how a mirror was often used as a symbol of the vanity of a woman. However, by making the female artist stare into a mirror, one would not only prevent her gaze meeting the male gaze, but also condemn her into treating herself as a sight, as she would join the other spectators. The fact that the woman's gaze would never meet the viewer's gaze meant that the viewer could stare and imagine whatever they may wish to, without feeling guilty. Berger states, “This nakedness is not, however, an expressions of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner's feelings or demands” (Berger, 47). He discusses how from the seventeenth century onwards, paintings of female nudes reflected submission to the owner of the painting and of the woman. He also notes that almost all post-Renaissance European sexual imagery if frontal, literally or metaphorically, because, “the sexual protagonist is the spectator-owner looking at it” (Berger, 56). This is seen in Von Aachen's, “Bacchus, Ceres, and Cupid”, where the woman's gaze meets that directly of the viewer, or the owner, rather than that of her lover. This method of art, of objectifying women and focussing on a male spectator is largely seen in European art, whereas other cultures show nakedness in a more aesthetic form, rather than one of the woman losing her power. Berger states, “the theme of work is sexual attraction, it is likely to show active sexual love as between two people, the woman as active as the man, the actions of each absorbing the other” (Berger, 53). While other traditions have managed to display both men and women equally, European art focused on pleasing the male gaze. Nude art displaying men objectifies men, however in a way where they don't lose their authority. Trutat's, “Reclining Bacchante”, perfectly portrays the power of male gaze over that of the female gaze. The power of the man staring, as opposed to the woman looking away, although aware that she is being looked at. This tradition of posing for a male spectator while in the nude has been conventionalized from a certain tradition of art, and widely accepted into popular culture. Berger states, “Those who are not judged beautiful, are not beautiful. Those who are, are given the prize” (Berger, 52), where he refers to Rubens' and Cranach's, “The Judgement of Paris”. This form of judgement of beauty has been passed down from art into society, and the very existence of beauty pageants today are a sign of that. Berger insists that women have always been depicted in a different way to men, because the ideal spectator if always assumed to be male, while the sight of a woman is solely configured to flatter him. While in our current time women empowerment has amassed and continues to amass power, it would be foolish to think that the focus has shifted from the male gaze, whether it be advertisements and films, where women are objectified, or cat calling, where men try to convince themselves and the victim they have some form of dominance over women.

The image above of Marilyn Monroe in the white dress standing above a subway grating blowing the dress up has been described as one of the iconic images of the 20th century.

November 2014 "Break the Internet" cover featuring Kim Kardashian, No Filter: An Afternoon with Kim Kardashian

        Male dominance is what patriarchy refers to, as it refers to the system of a society or government where men hold the power, and women are largely excluded. Bell Hooks explains it best as she states, “Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everyone and everything 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” (Hooks, 18). It is important to note that the patriarchy system also enforces harm to a man, as recognized by Bell Hook's childhood. While Hooks was aggressive as a child, her brother was more soft spoken and liberal. Under the patriarchal system, one would expect her brother to be more dominating, and absorb all responsibilities, while one would expect Hooks to be more soft spoken and careful of expressing her views, monitored by what expression is allowed under the patriarchal system. Hooks writes about patriarchal households, and states, “The point of such violence is usually to reinforce a dominator model, in which the authority figure is deemed ruler over those without power and given the right to maintain that rule through practices of subjugation, subordination, and submission”. I personally relate to this structure, as I was born and raised in a family and country dominated by patriarchal beliefs. The position of a father as the bread earner does not justify narcissistic behavior, and does not promote good values.

The above video by Vogue #VogueEmpower, refers to the Patriarchal system that men in India are brought up under.

My country India currently still has a problem where the country and it's people are run by a patriarchal system, whether it may be arranged marriages where women are forced into families who suppress them, or whether it may be the stress of a man achieving success in his life as he must provide for a family in the future. India also faces a huge problem regarding the male gaze, where it is extremely common for men to stare at and tease women, but what stretches into constant harassment and rape cases, where the authorities almost always fail to convict the offenders.

Bibliography

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books. 1972. Print.
2. Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." 2004. The Will to Change. New York: Atria Books, 2004. 17-33. Print. 
3. http://imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf