The male gaze has existed long before there was a term
for it. Male artists from the earliest known artistic periods in the Western
world continuously used sexualized and idealized depictions of women in their
work. It is said that art mimics the culture of a period, which surely can
begin to explain why the female was objectified in so many popular paintings by
the most well-known artists during their careers. As far as we know about the
medieval period and onward, the woman represented a spectacle for the male.
Some men were even lucky enough to
own the
women which they painted to exhibit their prized possessions and gloat to other
men who were simply spectators. John Berger illustrates this example through
his analysis of Rubens’s painting
The
Judgment of Paris: “Paris awards the apple to the woman he finds most
beautiful…The prize is to be owned by a judge – that is to say to be available
to him” (62). Because of this, some women feel the need to objectify themselves
under the male gaze in order to be won. It is understandable why women would
subject themselves to this type of oppression when we remember that at that
time women had no way to sustain themselves without marriage. Obviously though,
even with a gradual increase in opportunities that allow women to be
independent, the male gaze still plays a huge role in our media even though the
nude has fallen out of favor in art. Now, women do not even necessarily need to
be nude in order to be subject to the same male gaze that resulted from
historical paintings. Berger notes, “…the essential use to which their
[women’s] images are put, has not changed…because the ‘ideal’ spectator is
always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter
him” (64). Just looking at
magazines and advertisements directed at both males
and females, we understand the sexual undertones and whose attention is to be
caught by these images.
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| Ciara, Vibe Magazine, 2008 |
 |
| Kim Kardashian, British GQ Magazine, 2014 |
But where did the male gaze begin and why does it have
such a stronghold in our society? Bell Hooks explains that only in a society
where patriarchy reigns could this form of oppression against women occur. She
defines patriarchy as, “a political-social system that insists that males are
inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak,
especially females…” (Hooks, 18). We are all familiar with this structure even
if we don’t consciously recognize it as patriarchy. It shapes our beliefs,
behaviors, outlooks and the like. Even I, as someone who is completely against
oppressing groups based on senseless social conventions, can behave according
to what patriarchy considers acceptable for a young adult male. Hooks
interestingly explains how this structure negatively affects men as well: “Patriarchy
as a system has denied males full access to emotional well-being, which is not
the same as feeling rewarded, successful, or powerful because of one’s capacity
to assert control over others” (31). I have been conditioned by my
well-intentioned parents and caretakers to remain in the lines of what society
has considered acceptable for males, which includes the repression of emotions
that Hooks highlights in her book. Of course, however, women are particularly
disadvantaged by this system because they are not the ones in power to change what
determines how they should behave and how they are perceived. This explains why
art and media have historically been so important in perpetuating patriarchy,
because it is the men in power that have control over the creation of the image
of the ideal woman. Women then become captivated by a fantasy image of a woman
of which they are meant to emulate. This then leads back to Berger’s idea of
the male gaze because women then become preoccupied with how closely they live
up to that image and if men see them as such. He explains it this way: “Men
look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (47).
The only way that the objectification/self-objectification of women can be stopped is if our patriarchal structure
is recognized as the main issue. It is simply not enough to denounce the
structure, as Hooks explains, but we must all work to act against it (33). Some
of us may realize how patriarchy oppresses both men and women but may still act
to perpetuate it because of the ways in which we are taught to
understand the
status quo social structure. Also, it is the fault of both men and
women that
patriarchy continues to thrive so it should not be seen as a men versus women issue,
but a human issue.
Works Cited
Berger,
John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972. 45-65.
Hooks,
Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." The Will to Change: Men,
Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004. 17-33.
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