The male gazed is defined as how a man
approaches a woman, in what and which ways. Sometimes male gaze can be seemed in
positive way. For example, when a woman walks down the street a man can stare
at her because is beautiful and appreciates her beauty by saying “you are
beautiful”. However, there are times male gaze can be seemed in negative
ways, like male disrespecting a woman by calling her “sexy, banging, etc.”
These female assaulting names can affect the way a woman look at her; she can
take it positively or negatively. Male stares at women as if they have all the
powers and they were born with this power to stare at women that way, but the
truth is our “society” has had given men this power to gaze at women that way. Women
are exposed in public sexually and they have become the sex sell and sex symbol.
We see images of women just wearing bras and panty in the ads of buses, and
posters. Women are exposed so much to the public that men approach them as “sexism”.
If women were more secure about their body being exposed in the public,
television, and images men would have not approach them the way they do it
nowadays.
In Berger’s article “Ways of Seeing” he states
“Men looking at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (47). So, women
were perceived as an object to men that can be viewed at anyways positively or
negatively. Once an overweight young woman tripped and fall in the ground, I
overheard a man saying “If she was a beautiful woman, I was going to help her
get up, but since she is not attractive I don’t care”, it’s amazing how some
men would make that statement about an overweight woman that way.
Look at this image and think for a second, who is in
control here the male or the female? By looking at this image, it seems like
the male has the control over the female. The male here representing the sexual
power he has over her. While he stares at her with his man power, she looks
down to him bashfully. In Mulvey, Laura article "Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema" she states, “She is isolated, glamorous, on display,
sexualized” (840). The female on this image is just a sexual object that is representing
the male. Laura Mulvey as states that, “..the woman as icon, displayed for
the gaze and enjoyment of men, the active controllers of the look, always
threatens to evoke the anxiety it originally signified”( 840). Women are always
shown to be very well mannered, dress neatly, and always look attractive around
men, and when it comes to men one really judge them of the way you dress, and
present themselves.
When I watch music videos, where girls dance
half undressed it gets me angry and disappointed watching these girls have no
self-respect for themselves. Why is it that women are always known to take off
clothes and seem to be stripers, when men have their clothes on and all they do
is dance around these women? It always makes me think; don’t women have their
respect towards their body? It’s funny how our society has given so many rights
to the women, but women are still seemed to be the object. According to the
article, Ways Of Seeing Berger John states “ …Charm to the man whom she
imagines looking at her”(55). These models possess at the camera as if they are
posing for men that way.
Media has made women and men the way they are
today. Everything that is related to media: movies, shows, music videos and
other entertaining things are all about women being the center attention, while
men are just being men. Women have to have a beautiful dress, makeup and be
gentle for the viewers to compliment them. When it comes to men, it really
doesn’t matter they just have to be attractive and that makes the viewers like
them. In the article “The Oppositional Gaze” Bell Hook argued, “Woman as image,
man as bearer of the look”, women have to present her best looks to be fame and
men are to present these women to the audience being the “passive” male
character.
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin,
1972. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "The Oppositional
Gaze." Black Looks: race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992: 115-31
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure
and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory
Readings. NY: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-844
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ReplyDeleteAs I was reading your piece it made me think about how right you were that legally we do have rights but in fact that it does not always seem that way in the manner that women are portrayed in the media. Such as in music videos. I agree that Berger’s idea of how women are objectified by the male gaze is prominent in the Victoria secret photo because indeed there is a man whom is clearly taking pleasure in viewing her (Berger 57). Therefore it is clear that she is posing for her male audience and partner. When you began talking about how when women walk down the street and males say very in appropriate things, it made me feel that there has to be a method for us women to take back that power. Even Mulvey’s idea that women are being seen for pure pleasure all around the media is prevalent as well (Mulvey 837). Usually women in music videos are also seen for just entertainment purposes. Using Bell Hooks idea of the oppositional gaze, perhaps if more women were involved in the media and spoke out about how women are portrayed with strong support, maybe it could help begin to make a difference (Hooks 131). Males do not have any right to objectify us, but because the media is all over in our lives it seems that they do. Regardless of the media a women should be able to walk down the street feeling confident and not put down by a males comment.
ReplyDeleteThis quote from Berger's reading, “Men looking at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (47), is so powerful. I can't help but refer back to it every time this issue of the male gaze is talked about. At first, it was a hard concept for me to grasp, honestly. But mostly because I didn't really understand the origin of this gaze. Why did women start caring how men viewed them? The Renaissance paintings that evolved into women with mirrors, and exploiting women with sexual poses...why did that even begin?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! I think you pointed out the strongest argument in Berger's article. And, of course, hip hop culture is the PERFECT example to show men looking and women being very aware of themselves as a spectacle.
ReplyDeleteI don't think hip hop would be to blame. Every branch of media objectifies women, the objectification could be so subtle that we may not even catch it, since we are so use to it. Although when we obtain knowledge we are able to understand and see things with "fresh eyes". The same way Bell Hooks encourage us to do, to criticize productively. To question the roles that media has given/forced us. I wouldn't blame the girls in the videos either, since they are just following a structure that is perfectly accepted in our society. Maybe that is the question we have to ask ourselves, why is "this" permitted to be produced?
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