Thursday, February 12, 2015

The Male Gaze

The male gaze is the way women are objectified sexually to the male viewer in the form of art. It`s very popular in media and culture. Every magazine, music video, or movie has elements of the male gaze. Woman are displayed to be shown and appear for the viewer, who is most likelly a male. Females are even trained to see themselves from the perspective of a male. We see this when Berger writes “The surveyor of women in herself is male”. So because women are viewing themselves as thing to be looked at, they have become objects.

In “Ways Of Seeing” by Berger he writes “A woman must continually watch herself.She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself.”(46) In this quote Berger is saying that a woman must always be concerned about her appearance. She is there but so is her image. A woman must alway be presentable to man so she can be looked at. A woman spends a lot of time to make sure that she is presentable and is constantly judged on her appearance. Her appearance plays a crucial role in her success and place in life.

Patriarchy is when males dominate females in society. we are taught this structure from an early age. In the “The Will To Change” bell hooks writes “As their daughter I was taught that it was my role to serve, to be weak, to be free from the burden of thinking, to caretake and nurture others.
My brother was taught that it was his role to be served; to provide; to be strong; to think, strategize, and plan; and to refuse to caretake or nurture others.”(18) This quote show personal experience from  bell hook`s life and what she was taught growing up. Although things have progressed, we still are taught the role of males and females. Males are still more dominant in society and are seen as stronger as opposed to woman. Males tend to make more money for the same work on average. Patriarchy also affects men in a negative way because it forces them not to pay attention to their feelings. It expects a certain role from both gender and tells them that they need to follow the patriarchy.







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