Male gaze, oppositional gaze, self-reflection.

            From back in the day to today, there has always been a sense of patriarchy. Though we'd like to think we've come far from that, the male gaze remains dominant in the media world. The male gaze is the view of a woman through a man's eyes. The female body is objectified, sexualized, and its ultimate goal is to fulfill men's pleasure. As Berger states, women treat themselves as just "a sight". "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being watched" (Berger, pg47). As she is nude, she is "seen naked by others and yet not recognize oneself" (Berger, pg54), turning her into an object for the spectator or a "surveyor" (Berger, pg46) to find enjoyment in. The portrayal of women in media is simple to fulfill his sexual appetite, not to demonstrate who the woman behind it is. And this too is pointed by Mulvey, where she states that "sexual satisfaction can come from watching, in an active controlling scene, an objectified other" (pg 835).  This idea/view remains constant all through our lives, not only in media but also in most women's mind.

This male gaze is so dominant that even in products design for women are being promoted in the same way they would be promoted if the audience were men. For instance in this picture:

She is nude. She is being mysterious and sensual by covering her breasts, yet intriguing by staring at the audience in response "to the man whom she imagines looking at her--although she doesn't know him" (Berger, pg 55). Yet this is a woman's perfume, insinuating the audience is not male but female. And what does this tell us? This woman is the fulfillment of men's sexual appetite (the ideal). She is what we (women) want to be, therefore if I buy this perfume I will smell like her, look like her. And as we look at her, we reflect on ourselves. And these touches on men being the ones to look at women and we, as women, watch ourselves being watched. We constantly look at ourselves in the mirror to make sure we are visually striking if someone does see us. And this is true, even on a simpler level, where we put makeup on and watch what we wear and where we wear it to, because we know we are being watched.

Bell Hooks, on the other hand, has the understanding on the oppositional gaze. The oppositional gaze is in the simplest terms, identified as rebellious. It is a way to challenge authority, challenge the status quo. For "there is power in looking" (Hooks, pg115). The way this view of hers came about is due to slavery. Slaves were oppressed by their owners, and they weren't allowed to make eye contact otherwise they would be punished. Therefore to gaze became "a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze" (Hooks, pg116). And though this a staring battle between whites and blacks, Hooks brings this oppositional gaze in the context of film and how in film it "denies the 'body' of the black female so as to perpetuate white supremacy and with a phallocentric spectatorship where the woman to be looked at desired is 'white'" (Hooks, pg118). In other words, not only do they deal with the male gaze but racism as well. Where the perfect woman in that time were pale blonde white women, creating this huge "separation between that image and the black female" (Hooks, pg119). In many ways this hurt African American women because, though they enjoyed watching the films, once they walk out they were faced with reality that these films were made to mock and downgrade African American women. Therefore we need to critique and analyze all types of media to prevent for this male and oppositional gaze to be so dominant.

Taking back to the idea of the oppositional gaze, I know it is true when it comes to your parents and looking up at them when you've done something wrong. Or even in staring war, where it would get so intense as to who looks away first. Even in the streets when your eyes are met with someone else, for the most part we are quick to look away but there are times where somehow there is power to keep staring. Confidence even.

I too, can say that I connect to Hooks point that not only do African Americans deal with the male gaze, where the ideal woman is always represented but the fact that they are white female woman represented to be idealistic. Being Argentine, Spanish, I've come to be conflicted with the fact that because I am Spanish I am not as desirable as a Caucasian woman. Though it is not something that I've ever realized before, I do realize that sometimes I've put myself down for this reason. But nowadays, I do believe the oppositional gaze has been decreasing. Yet, patriarchy remains, therefore the male gaze remains and all women are subjects to being criticized indirectly through media. Though we are all aware of photoshop and how unrealistic some women appear due to the amount of plastic surgery and photoshop done on their photos, society depicts this idea about women and how they should be. And women not only criticize themselves but criticize other women as well. It is such vicious cycle that it seems hard to get rid of.

I feel like this is nothing new, but it is amazing to realize how long this has gone for and how we have yet to do something about it. Though I feel like I wear the clothes I wear and put the makeup I want to put for me because that’s who I am, I feel like I’ll always be subjected to the fact that I do it because of others, because society tells me so. And I can’t help but think that this is so encoded in my brain that I can’t tell whether I do these things because it’s me or because I’ve been brainwash to always look appealing for the male gaze and other woman judging me. And when I'm staring at a mirror and am not feeling pretty, I guess I don't realize that part of is to be blamed on the media.

Bell Hooks. In Black Looks: race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992

Berger, John. Chapters 2,3. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1972. 

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. NY: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-844.