The male gaze is literally what it implies. It is the act of the male patriarch looking at a woman that is displayed in order to please him. The male gaze focuses on the ways women should look and act. With history the male gaze has definitely made changes. In the medieval times, women were portrayed as curvy and pale skinned beauties in a languid fashion. Around the renaissance, they were portrayed as decorations, jewel encrusted and colorful. Around 17th century, women were still portrayed as pale porcelain dolls, focused on the virginal holy look of a woman and while the other side of the dichotomy the shaming of the slutty “fallen” woman, always presented as dark and broken in order to please the male gaze for punishment of a woman digressing from her role. Today, women that are meant to please the male gaze are quite distorted and many times altered either by photoshop or by plastic surgery to fulfill the ridiculous outline of a beautiful woman. Also the male gaze today is more focused on tan skin, unlike in the past when the focus was light skin.
there is no way you can even do this makeup without tons of youtube tutorials and who has time for that!? ^^
Patriarchy according to Bell books is “the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation.” (Bell 17) It is the reason gender roles are the way they are, and why society is formed into this perfect dichotomy of girl and boy stuff that are never supposed to touch. “It is a political system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (Bell 18). Males are taught from a young age to be tough, to not show emotions, and that anger is good. In our society it is good to be rude and condescending, because it gets you what you want and it shows that you will not be a pushover. Your large stature is also important to show dominance. If I am angry because of a serious issue, nobody pays attention because what am I gonna do, beat them up? But, if a large male was angry, things will be done in order to correct the issue. Even in politics in general, I have seriously heard people say Hilary Clinton cannot be president because she will PMS and get emotional. I have been at clubs where my friend would hide in the bathroom because a guy would not stop trying to dance with her and follow her around. I have had times where guys would grab my ass while trying to get through a crowd. Another issue is being a lesbian. Guys do not even take that as a no when they are hitting on you, and they will shrug that statement off and continue to make unwanted advances. This patriarchal system is clear as day in these scenarios. Men feel that they need to be domineering and make advances towards women even if these advances only piss women off.
I have come to understand that this model of patriarchy is so deeply penetrated by society, that I have learned my way around it. Women are taught to not get raped, and that she has to be dressed modestly because then she is just “asking for it”. I know not to walk around at night without mace. I know that if my skirt is extra short or my tank top is tight, I need someone watch over me to ward off creepers. There has been a time where my guy friend pretended to be my boyfriend and almost got into a fight with a guy who refused to stop hitting on me. I know to ignore strangers on the streets whistling at me and trying to get my attention. I know that if I want to be taken seriously, I need to also take on this tough role or else others will manipulate you. Although in media we are slowly moving away from the “prince coming in to save damsel in distress”, such as Frozen and Maleficent, we are still bombarded with images of “flawless” women representing everything a woman should strive for. Women focus too much on beauty and outward appearances, and not enough time on fulfilling soul’s purpose and cultivating knowledge. In music festival photos, 80% of the time it is girls in bras and panties posing on guys shoulders. In music videos all you see is females twerking and showing off their bodies. In patriarchal system, men have also been manipulated into thinking that they aren’t fulfilled unless they own nice things and have large muscles. Again this takes away from males fulfilling their purpose because they have been manipulated by patriarchal capitalist society to believe that they need to make a lot of money and have power over everything.
http://www.shakesville.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html
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