As described by John Berger in Ways of Seeing, the male gaze is the
power men have over women by the way she appears to others, especially men
themselves yet also the way she views herself based off of the males gaze upon
her. Women are the objects for men and
to be born a woman is to be born into the “confined space into the keeping of
men” (Berger 46). Everything a woman
does is for the male and his ability to survey her. Her own image of
herself is for the man, basically describing when Berger states that a woman is
considered the “surveyed” and the one doing the surveying (the male) is the
“surveyor” (Berger 46). She must always watch the things she does and how others look
her at because that is shown as the success of her life. “Men act and women appear” also comes
from John Berger’s work describing the idea that men are suppose to look at
women and identify them as objects. Women themselves are suppose to appear and allow themselves to be
looked at (Berger 47). In this way she
objectifies herself because the surveyor has the advantage of looking at her,
the subject. Angelina Jolie, a fairly incredible and prosperous woman who is suppose to be this fearless heroine in the movie Tomb Raider is shown in this photo with an unlikely attire for a "hero".
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| Angelina Jolie, Tomb Raider |
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| Bernard Berenson, at the age of 90, looking at sculpture in the Borghese Gallery, Rome, Italy], 1955 |
In pop culture even in today’s
society it is prevalent throughout the media and news showing how women are
constantly exposing themselves to the public in the forms of nude photos,
skimpy movies where they show sex scenes, moments of nudity, and sex tapes.
For example, followers of the famous Kloe Kardashian have seen her recent
Instagram photos of her posing nude with her nipple showing. This shows how
women are still objectified and sadly are allowing themselves to be by being nude in front of everyone. This also goes back to John Berger’s piece
where he explains that later around the Renaissance period the subject, known as
women were aware of being seen by a spectator and this opened the door for even
more criticism. Back then in a painting by Tintoretto, the subject Susannah was
looking at herself in a mirror. This in a sense provided validation for the
“male gaze” because she was looking at herself in the mirror. And because she
looked at herself it gave permission and allowed men to not feel bad for
looking at them. Just like today, women give men permission to look at them in
that way by posting nudes on social media and exposing their nakedness to the
public. “Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display” is something that
Berger states in his writing to show how nudity differs from naked because with
nudity you are being naked in front of others and not seen as yourself (Berger
54). The only difference between the old times and todays society is that women
weren’t able to show their sexuality because that would mean that the women had
the power over men and that was not tolerated. So sexual features such as hair
on a woman’s body was not permitted.
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| Kloe Kardashian, Instagram photo from photo shoot |
Both the "male gaze" and patriarchy go hand in hand. Patriarchy also known as the “man
line” or “father in charge” is described as a political- social system that
basically says that males are the dominant and superior gender over everyone,
especially females. They are expected to rule over the weak and insubordinate
through forms of mental and physical dominance. We learn this idea as children
that men are suppose to be the protector of the household and of the family and
if he cannot protect then he is deemed weak and not a man. As learned from
church, God created man to rule the world and he himself was a man. The women
were suppose to come second to the man and to support them. The author of The Will to Change, Bell
Hooks describes her childhood with her brother and how she is the one who
always challenged patriarchy. Her story tells us about her hands on experience
of patriarchy in her own household and how she wasn’t able to play the “boy’s
game” of marbles (Hooks 20). And when she didn’t listen she was punished for
it through violent rage. It’s hard for everyone to deviate from the idea of
patriarchy because it had been embedded in our minds since we were children. And
though women are still challenging men’s authority in competition with things
such as jobs, the idea of women being subordinate to men will always be present
through art and media such as movies and tv shows. They show men taking charge
in difficult situations as if women cannot handle their own. “We must all
change.” is the last phrase hooks uses in her piece that I believe is the truth
because it isn’t only up to just one gender to change the way we think.
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| Lidia Wylangowska, oil painting of merry and cheerful girl |
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