The Male Gaze

          What is the male gaze? Men and women most probably define the male gaze differently. In my perspective, the male gaze is a sexual influence of a woman for the pleasure of a man; it is the way a man paints a woman for visual pleasure. It is persuasive in art and popular culture because quite frankly the image of a woman, the painting, the appearance and naked body of a woman is beautiful. It is an attraction for all types of audience despite the way that the “model” or the “object” in the work feels. As discussed in class, women and men both portray women in art very differently; the message portrayed to the audience is distinctively obvious. The seduction that the man paints verses the conservative, uncomfortable woman that the female paints. The purpose is to show women as a person not an object and male artists fail to portray that. In their view, they paint what other men want to see, boobs, naked bodies giving themselves to others, and who is to blame in the picture? The woman. Male artists portray women as objects in their images.

            Bell Hooks defines Patriarchy as “the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation” (Hooks, 17).  In further discussion, she emphasizes the characteristic traits, which reflect patriarchy for example, man’s dominance, psychological terrorism and violence. Bell Hooks highlights factors that provoke deeper thinking. Patriarchy is a factor, which highly influences society. “He was taught that for a boy, enjoying violence was a good thing. He was taught that a boy should not express feelings” (Hooks, 19).   It forces men to be tough and fearless, and to not be allowed to show a sign of weakness and cry. They are trained to shift those emotions into anger. Why? Well because as a man, you are more accepted and probably more “normal” if you react in that manner. And if you don’t? You have failed to represent the male dominance as a whole. “We knew one fact for certain: we could not be and act the way we wanted to, doing what we felt like”(Hooks, 19). Patriarchy was controlling individuals and dictating expected behaviors. 

           The entire story that Bell Hooks shares, how she resulted in anger towards her brother and was punished by her father for not behaving the proper way. What is proper after all? Oh, like a lady, calm and accepting of all circumstances. Even her parents display patriarchy as her father takes the role of being dominant and disciplines her and her brother. The mother takes her role, and says, “I tried to warn you. You need to accept that you are just a little girl and girls can’t do what boys do” (Hooks, 21). In addition how the mother comes and tries to justify the reasoning behind it all and show you the mistakes done on your part and the expected consequences of your actions, how the mother’s role is to come and soothe her child after the father maintains his reputation. Bell Hooks helped me view societal mechanisms that are inevitably instilled in parents and begin to continue generation after generation, how kids are taught how they are “supposed to” behave at an age where the mind of a child is not even fully developed.

            Bell Hooks’ article made me zoom into my own life and how these ideas related to me. My parents have instilled behavioral expectations in us since childhood and being the third daughter I was able to view the restrictions we had, and I always wondered…what if I was born a male? A son? Would my rules be different? And well I have yet to get answers because I have a younger brother, and he’s already strayed away from the norms by not being forced to adapt to our culture. Don’t like the food? Don’t worry. These little differences have so much influence on ones character as you grow older. My brother is fourteen, maybe once he goes to high school I will be able to compare the freedom given by my parents and read Bell Hooks’ article one more time, just to compare.

Let’s take a look at the images below to understand the male gaze:

That's the male gaze, a woman completely surrounded by men to view her beauty. She's wearing the color red which represents sex appeal, a  color that attracts others, especially men. 

A complete nude frontal of a woman's body, that's the epitome of a male gaze. The woman's hand gestures represent acceptance, and the man directly in front of her is viewing her as if she's on display for him. 

This video, Male Gaze in Action identifies the “male gaze” in a visual perspective. It is the portrayal of a woman’s appearance to attract the audience of more men. Great job male artists...

After all, in the reading “Ways of Seeing”, it is said, “A man’s presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodies” and “A woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her”(Berger, 45-46). 

Work Cited:

Berger, J. (1973). Ways of Seeing (pp. 45-64). London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Hooks, B. (2004). Understanding Patriarchy. In The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (pp.17-33). New York: Atria Books.

The Male Gaze

     In order to explain the "Male Gaze," you must first know the attitudes that men and women portray when painted. Also, you must take into consideration the spectator's gender, and understand the owner of the artwork to completely see their perspective on the idea of the Male Gaze. This way you will get an expanded idea of the Male Gaze.

     When a male is portrayed in a painting nude, it is to flaunt what he's able to offer to you insinuating that the artist is male. The artist tends to exhibit the dominance of the sexes whether the artist is male or female. And the contrasting view when a female is portrayed in a nude picture, it is to show to the "owner" of the artwork what he cannot have. "A woman's presence expresses her own attitude towards herself and defines what can and cannot be done to her" (Berger 46). You begin to notice that the female's body is always turned to the owners view for pleasurable purposes regardless of her surrounding. assuming that the artist is male, we are able to connect the idea that he is projecting to the viewer; women are merely for pleasure and have no other purpose but to satisfy the spectator of the artwork. This, as well as the term "owner" for the art degrades and objectifies women making them solely for the purpose of the "male gaze." 

Niel Gwynne Liely 1618-1680
  

     The Male Gaze is pervasive in pop culture because it is used as a technique to lure more consumers for the product they are trying to sell. 

Carl's Jr. Super Star with cheese ad
Carl's Jr. is a primary advocate of utilizing sex appeal for almost all of their products.   

For example, this photograph (shown above) exhibits a young woman and a tasty burger. When first taking a look at this picture, you notice the half naked women. It is as if the spectator's owner is trying to send a message that if you eat this burger, you will look like the woman. In addition, the spectator's owner refers to how "size" doesn't matter, giving it an alternate and erotic meaning, stating that the bigger the "product" is, the more feedback you will get. He is successful in doing so, because the use of sex appeal allures more customers making it a successful product. Another example of a Carl's  Jr. ad that successfully uses sex appeal to gain the customer's  interest is their cranberry apple grilled chicken salad commercial featuring Kim Kardashian, a sex icon in the world of publicity. This video explicitly exhibits the carnal desire that Kim Kardashian has for her "clean, crisp, and tasty" salad.  

     Subsequently, this subject also ties to the idea of "patriarchy." According to bell hooks, "patriarchy is a political-social 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" (hooks 18). What hooks is explaining is that patriarchy pressures men in becoming a part of the "imperialist white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy" (hooks 17). Men are taught at a young age that they must be more aggressive and dominant. They are told to act more manly, a coined term for more domineering nature. For example, hooks explains why God is automatically assumed to be male. We live in a patriarchal society, which allows us to see that males are dominating to females which deems women and everything else to seem weak and inferior. Thus, people automatically perceive God as a male figure, since he is respected with the utmost superior nature. Another example of the effects of a male dominant society that hooks explains is that men are supposedly considered to be more competitive. At one point, hooks was excited to play with marbles; however, she was told that it's a boys game. She insisted and for that, she got beaten up while her father claimed that she is merely a "little girl." She states that, "she was banished-forced to stay alone in the dark" (hooks 21). This example exhibits how women became isolated with no one to consolidate to besides their women peers. This shows that not only women were reprimanded for such behavior, but also men. Hooks' brother did not even have interest in the marbles, yet, he was confined to the patriarchal society's "ideal" way of thinking.

     Moreover, I have began to see things more differently. I've noticed that the patriarchal society is present in most cultures. It is learned at such a young age that people do not realize they have conformed to society's way of thinking. I am even a subject of this. For instance, one day I heard a man beat up a woman and I gasped stating that that's horrible that a man specifically would do such a thing. Then, my friend told me that if we wanted gender equality, we must start thinking that maybe the woman provoked the man. We cannot act in such a way because of a subject's gender, but given the fact that it was a violent act instead. It then dawned to me that I'm a victim of the gender inequality, and that I was taught this at such a young age that it has become natural to me. Now, however, people are becoming increasingly aware like bell hooks and myself, might I add. Now women are able to receive a proper education, provide for themselves, and not have to be dependent on men. They acquired a more self-reliant nature. We  [women] cannot be a subject of the "male gaze" and how men perceive women. We must be what Gandhi states, "the change you wish to see in the world." This way we will slowly but surely change people's perceptions of women and gain the independence we deserve.

Works Cited

Berger, J. (1973). Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Hooks, B. (2004). Understanding Patriarchy. In The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria Books.

Analyzing the Male Gaze & Patriarchy

The male gaze is simply both how men view women and how as a result women view women. In both instances, the male’s perspective and pleasure is prevalent. “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only the most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves”(Berger 47). This argument made my Berger has stuck most with me. After analyzing pictures from advertisements, snippets from movies and shows, and paintings of Western history, I can identify and pick up not only how men view women, but also how women view women. How we want to see ourselves depends on how we want a man to look at us. While picking out an outfit or taking a selfie, women have this unconscious effort to keep the male audience in mind. Somehow the male gaze has set a standard not only for what they expect and want to see from women, but also from women. Analyzing Mulvey’s film theory, which also contains psychological explanations (scopophilia which literally means “love of watching) as to why there is a “male gaze” also helps point out why in the 21^st century, the male gaze is no different from the male gaze of the 11^th century. The male creates the image, the objectification. Only 16% of media creators are female. Why? It is because even if they were 50% of the total media creators the image of women in art would not be the same. Artists like Artemisia Gentileschi, who have been fighting to change the objectifying of women since the 15^th century, would produce brilliant and accurate depictions of women. About 500 years later, we have gotten almost nowhere. And the two images below show that. In both images, the women is acknowledging a male audience and is acting in a way to please him.

Giovanni Bellini's "Naked Young Woman in Front of the Mirror" (1515)

An advertisement for the men's brand "SuitSupply" (2014) 

Another thing that Berger argued was that male painters put mirrors in the females in their paintings for vanity, and are “morally condemning the woman whose nakedness” the male depicts for their personal pleasure. The male not only paints the female for his own pleasure, but also remains to be held responsible for looking at her because of her vanity. The male is blaming the female in every single circumstance. If he looks at her, it’s her fault. It is also interesting how the term vanity and femininity are almost interchangeable in society’s terms. If a male was to be illustrated in a way where he were to look in a mirror and pose vulnerably, as many females are painted in Western nude paintings, then he looses his masculinity.  Vanity is strictly for females. It is a quality that exists only in females. The male has associated this characteristic of having excessive pride in oneself to females!

Bell Hook’s definition of Patriarchy can answer the question as to why the male gaze even exists. According to Hook patriarchy is male dominance, weakens females and gives males the right to dominate with terrorism and violence (18). Male domination and the target in keeping women under their control, is the motivation in the male gaze. This is precisely what Hook is arguing as well. She highlights the terrorism and violence in her own personal life, and I think that most women, if not all, can relate and trace back to their own terror and violent filled experiences. The greatest example of this is rape. Why are there 69,000 female rape victims compared to 9,000 male rape victims? It is because males feel that they have the right to dominate and violate a female’s rights. The rape culture in America, and popularly worldwide as well, is that if a female gets raped “she was asking for it”. It goes back to Berger’s idea of how the male blames everything on the female. If he rapes her, it is also somehow the female’s fault.

Lastly, I really like how Hook pointed out that “boys brutalized and victimized by patriarchy more often than not become patriarchal, embodying the abusive patriarchal masculinity that they once clearly recognized as evil” (28). Males who have suffered from patriarchy and have seen the violence and domination that comes with it, STILL COMMIT IT AGAINST OTHER FEMALES. Instead of realizing how damaging and disgusting it is, they continue to act patriarchal. I believe this is why after centuries of sexism small progression has been made. Males enjoy this power of controlling the rest of the weak population (females) and would not advocate in stopping it. I hope that at least the males who have gone through the experience of not being given their basic rights as human beings, realize the patriarchal affects on the larger female population.

References 

Berger, J. (1973). Ways of Seeing (pp. 45-64). London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Hooks, B. (2004). Understanding Patriarchy. In The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love (pp. 17-33). New York: Atria Books.

The Male Gaze

In Laura Mulvey’s essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema which was published in 1975. Laura Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors. In ways of seeing, John Berger says “The surveyor of woman in herself is male; the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object - and most particularly an object of vision:a sight.” (Berger 47)Berger also shows a lot of paintings about naked women. Men watched a woman and painted them to let more people watch them as an object. Then they gave women a mirror to make women watch themselves. (Berger 51) The reason why we say women is an object is that “the nakedness is not, however, an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings or demands” (Berger 52)this shows that men are trying to use this ways to tell the society that this is men’s world. This world is ruled by men. Women is always an object to serve, to obey, to be watched. “the prize is to be owed by a judge-that is to say to be available for him.” (Berger 52)At that time, the painters and the judges are “him” these nude paintings show that women are controlled and ruled by men. Due to this reason, most of nude paintings are women instead of men. 

Patriarchy is defined as a social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family in both domestic and religious function...Patriarchy is characterized by male domination and power” (Hook 17)Basically patriarchy means men rule the world. Bell Hooks was told how to be a girl by her parents. When Hooks played game with her brother she shows that she is aggressive, competitive and strong. Her father did not only forced her to stop the game but also taught her brother to excluded her from the game. By using an excuse which is “girls did not play with marbles” men could exclude women from any area. When they found any possibility that women could do better they will do their best to exclude women. Also Hooks’s father taught his son how to exclude women when women shows their talent in some area. Hooks’s mom is a male world follower. Hooks mom says “ I tried to warn you. You need to accept that you are just a little girl and girls can't do what boys do” (Hook 21) I was shocked when I saw her mom’s words. An older woman is teaching a younger woman how to obey the male world’s rule instead of fighting for female rights. This is sympathetic, ridiculous and ironic. As a business school student I am always asked to wear a black suit. I was wondering why should I wear a black suit. It is not comfortable or pretty. But I have to wear it because this is a rule to wear it. However, who makes the rule? And why should I follow the rule and dress like a guy? Then I feel I find the answer. If women want to get into some area like business or politics they need to show that they could work, act or dress like a man. 

In Big girl don't cry, Stephanie Rosenbloom shows that people will get fired if they cry at work. Crying is a way that most women express their feelings. However, people think crying means weakness. “"Men are allowed to be more direct," said Marianne Lafrance, a psychology professor at Yale University. "They can pound table tops and yell and throw something against walls and do various kinds of physical acting out. Women's mode of expression is supposed to be more passive, more childlike." She continued, "If women could act out like men, there would probably be less tears."" (Rosenbloom)I want to ask why should I act like a men. If I want to express my feelings by crying I will cry just like men pound table tops and yell. Crying and yelling are ways to express emotion. However, they put a label “weakness and childlike” on crying. In my opinion, yelling is also stupid. Because yelling does not help you with anything except expressing your feelings. Why yelling and pounding table could be an appropriate way to express feelings?

a picture from Gone With the Wind
this picture shows that Scarlett just lose her husband.

This is a picture from Gone With The Wind, one of my favorite book. Scarlett just lose her husband. So she is not supposed to attend any party and she has to wear black dress. In this picture, her eyes are full of the willing to dance and to be part of the party. Who makes the rule that widows must dress black and feel sad? If a man lose his wife, will anyone force him to do the same? 

I have to say this is a funny picture which shows the truth. Maybe no one actually cares but girls feel like they are being watched when they are walking through the hallways.

funny picture shows different between men and women

Miss Representation Trailer is an interesting trailer from YouTube. This video shows the media is affecting young people.

References 

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. 1973. Print
Hooks, Bell.  Understanding Patriarchy. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York:Washington Square, 2004. Print.

The Male Gaze

Women's position in society is determined by the "male gaze" for centuries to come. The male gaze was presented by Laura Mulvey in 1975. Mulvey was a theorist and a feminist who stated that women are used for visual pleasure. The male gaze is present from the moment a female is born. The male gaze shows that women are objectified as a person and the inequality of gender relations. Women throughout history had no say anything. They were only given permission to do anything from their father or their husbands. They were suppressed at home where they were kept illiterate and seen as property. Like Mulvey, Berger simplifies this statement by saying, "men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" (Berger, 47). From the beginning, women were confined into the thinking of men.

Women exhibited in artwork, were often painted as submissive. These pieces of artwork were usually painted by a male which made the women in the artwork to be seen as attractive. Women were painted nude because they were usually faced by the viewer, who was male. Not only were women an object to be seen, but their paintings were also bought and sold.

While the male gaze was blatantly featured throughout history, the concept of the male gaze still holds true today. In today’s society, the male gaze is present because women are still affected. They are self-conscious of what they wear and how they present themselves on social media. Today’s generation is known as the selfie generation where women are constantly posting pictures of themselves on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and more social media that will come in the future.

Women, young and old, use devices to present themselves as young and attractive on the Internet. Special filters and edits allow women to make themselves more favorable to the male gaze. Women who portray themselves featuring their height, weight and other appealing facets of their body do this to make the “perfect combination” to appeal to the zombie-like stares from males.

Katy Perry Album Cover

Dolce & Gabbana Advertisement

Male Gaze Theory: Megan Fox

In the video above, the males gaze is towards the female’s waist. There the male gaze is clearly evident.

Bell Hooks, has a strong opinion against patriarchy. She is a feminist and social activist which writes that, “patriarchy is a political-social 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” (Hooks 18). Patriarchy is where a household is male dominated because the male holds all the power. Women are often exploited and put at a disadvantage because they have no choice but to follow the male figure. If women go against the male of the household, they are usually shunned from their family. This is why women are always presented as weak and oppressed.

Male violence is accepted in the patriarchy as a way to keep women and children in check. Fathers and husbands use mental and physical violence to make sure women do not step out of line. In history, it was believed to be acceptable by men and didn’t think that gender roles are being used.

Young women were taught that expressing their feelings in rage was unacceptable because they were showing negativity towards the male body. Girls and women were not the only ones being affected by patriarchy. Boys and men also had a negative impact in which they were affected. Men were taught to be tough and express their anger from the moment they are born. Patriarchy was a damaging system to the lives of both men and women. Hooks believes that, “as long as men are brainwashed to equate violent domination and abuse of women with privilege, they will have no understanding of the damage done to themselves or others, and no motivation to change” (Hooks 27). While women were belittled, men were forced to deny their grief-stricken emotions and hide their pain. Males are constantly told to “be a man”, but what does that do other than brainwash men to be strong. They are told to keep their emotions bottled up which effects their minds mentally.

While it’s true that a patriarchy used to exist, the case of patriarchy is slowly becoming extinct in the developed world. Looking at statistics, we can see that men hold the most leadership positions and make more money than the average women. However, women are emerging out of their shells, to stand up for themselves. Females are working hard for their positions and stepping out of their comfort zone. At the same time women are coming out of their comfort zone, men are learning that it’s actually acceptable to treat women with respect and they don’t always have to “man up.” Patriarchs are slowly becoming a matter of the past, not of the present.

References: 
"The Patriarchal Gaze." "" by Nancy. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

"FAQ: What Is the." Finally A Feminism 101 Blog. N.p., 25 Aug. 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

Pleasure of Looking

Most times, when a woman is advertising a product or featured in a show, she is shown in a very sexual manner in which the spectator, who is assumed to be male, is watching her. This way women are portrayed in the media is exemplary of the male gaze. The male gaze is the way a woman is objectified through the eyes of men where in their eyes, the women are simply there for the men to look at. To the man, in many of the paintings and in the media, the woman is always seen as trying to seduce the man. Again, the male is not shamed for being the spectator, but rather the women is at fault because she was seen as the ultimate temptress. John Berger, who writes the article "Ways of Seeing" about the male gaze, says "men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at... The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object--and most importantly an object of vision: a sight" (Berger 47). Berger even comments on the way that women these days are prone to objectifying themselves by looking at themselves or other women the way a man would. They assume that the image they give off is purely for a man's attention.

The image above portrays an accurate representation of the male gaze in ads, paintings, and in the media.  

The advertisement above is meant to showcase Calvin Klein perfume for woman, but instead we see a nude model posing for the camera - the male gaze is yet again used to sexualize an ad.

The male gaze is pervasive to popular culture because it is so prominent in everything we see today. Everything on TV and billboards and in music is so sexual and it appeals to the spectator and the listener. After all, the porn industry is the fastest growing and richest business in the world, and they do so by attracting viewers who tend to take pleasure in these pictures and videos which often times makes them feel a specific ownership over the woman. The male gaze is more than the way a sex-crazed man looks at a woman. It is the way every single aspect of a woman is thought by men to have been for them. The way they look, the way they dress, the way they act is, to them, a ploy to seduce the spectator, the man looking at these women. Suddenly, they begin to think it is okay for men to objectify women because "the women seem to enjoy it themselves" because they know the effect it has on men. Berger reiterates this theme, saying "Men survey women before treating them. Consequently how a woman appears to a man can determine how she will be treated" (Berger 46). 

               

An important factor of the male gaze is the overarching theme of patriarchy that coincides with the spectator. As Bell Hooks stated in her essay "Understanding Patriarchy," "Patriarchy is a political-social 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" (Hooks 18). Hooks explain that males feel inherently deserving of domination, and being a man should enable them to dominate over women in order to assume their "macho-persona." Hooks even provides an anecdote where her parents attempted to brainwash her and her brother to assuming their gender roles in order to create harmony in the family when, in fact, it did exactly the opposite. Whereas Hooks was more aggressive and enraged at times, her brother was cool, calm, and always collected. Their parents would scold Hooks for her inappropriate, unladylike behavior, and they would encourage her brother to use his emotions of rage (Hooks 20). Their parents enforced these gender rules in their house, and the male gaze was something that was accepted when it was associated with patriarchy and gender roles.

After reading about Berger's and Hooks' articles on the male gaze, I feel that a veil has been lifted from this taboo. The sexualization of all women in the media is something I saw often, but I was so used to seeing it and I was desensitized to it, that it did not strike a cord anymore. At this point, I learned to look at the nude woman on the advertisement, avert my eyes away, and not even think about what I just saw. It's maddening to think that as a female, there are men who may look at me with this type of mindset in which I am not a person, but rather I am defined by my body parts, and consequently, that it the way I am treated. In an interesting study, it was proven that when thinking of images of women, most participants thought of "men as wholes, and women in body parts." With many of the paintings with the nude woman, I never realized how the intent of the painting was to make the male spectator feel tempted by this woman. Additionally, the blame was placed further on the woman when the painter added a mirror to the woman's hand, which was supposed to represent her vanity.

Work Cited:
Berger, J. (1973). Ways of Seeing (pp. 45-64). London: British Broadcasting Corporation.
Hooks, B. (2004). Understanding Patriarchy. In The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and      Love (pp.17-33). New York: Atria Books.

The Male Gaze

          The "Male Gaze" is the objectification  of women made by the heterosexual male. This representation of women has proven to be quite common and popular among our culture and in the arts. Throughout, history women are put on display for the spectators to visualize and objectify; nonetheless not allowing the women to have any control. It has been displayed that men are allowed to display their promiscuous behavior while the women must suppress any desire she may have.  Women are taught to be aware of their appearance at all times. John Berger makes a statement in his article agreeing by stating " A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself" (Berger 46). Berger's statement allows us to agree on the complexities on the image of a women.

              This behavior is also due to the manifestation of "Patriarchy". Patriarchy is defined by bell hooks as "a political-social 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 dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence" ( hooks 18). bell hooks is describing "patriarchy" as a system that is dominated by males and this is done through conditioning and forced upon from a young age. This is implicated on children when they are beginning to learn gender roles. These gender roles determine how we "should act" and how we "should be". bell hooks stated in her article that she learned about "patriarchy" at a very young age. Her father had noticed the sensitivity of her brother and the toughness of his daughter. When bell hooks was a child she was playing with a set of marbles with her brother, yet hooks displayed aggressiveness her gentle brother did not. To her dismay her father was not happy. One day her father only allowed her brother to play with the marbles and hooks was told "that it was a boys game". At the mere age of 4 or 5 one has yet to distinguish the difference between what is socially acceptable. hooks insisted on her right to play, her father disapproved and began to beat her with the board. This act is disgusting and was done towards children. This is a system that is not spoken freely among the public. As bell hook states " This rule of silence is upheld when the culture refuses everyone easy access even to the word "patriarchy". Most children do not learn what to call this system of institutionalized gender roles, so rarely do we name it in everyday speech. This silence promotes denial. And how can we organize to challenge and change a system that cannot be named?" (hooks 25) hooks develops the main issue to be that the only way to stop this is if we actually realize that it is an issue. 

      These structures have been taught to me throughout my entire life growing up. But, I will never reach comfort with them and will never abide by these rules that have been created for me to "follow".  Art and media has significantly changed for me since understanding and coming to terms with "patriarchy" and these structures that have been suggested for us to follow. Before, reading these articles I was aware of these structures that occur in our society but it never occurred to me how dominant they still remain today. What I have learned so far is to not abide by these gender roles that society wants to inflict on us. It's not who we are anymore. It's about time we get a chance to show who we can actually be.   My role in these structures is one of nonconforming and of a free spirit who chooses to pursue and exceed the boundaries and limits society has created for me. 

The picture on the left is that from"Rear Window" a film by Alfred Hitchcock. In the image we have an actress and an actor but we are also looking at is the typical male gaze. Although, actor James Steward is on a wheelchair he still seems to overpower actress Grace Kelly and exceed dominance in this image. She is put on display for the audience to see her as he gazes towards her. He is in her possession, she is put on display for everyone. 

The American Apparel ad display above is the definition of sex-crazed society. The man is holding the women's legs spread apart. This by definition is a symbol of sex itself. American Apparel does not display the face of the women. This sexualizes and objectifies her body even more.

The ad to the left is discussing a lo-carb bar, yet all we see are a women's boobs. It has no reflection on what the bar does or even says much about the ad. The women's face is not even displayed on the ad. She is cropped perfectly to only show her chest area. This is by far a disgrace. How do we keep Australia beautiful with a lo-carb bar? By satisfying the needs of man with women they deem to be perfect. This ad is as absurd as Romney's binders full of women.

 The link below is extra information on the male gaze:
https://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/faq-what-is-the-%E2%80%9Cmale-gaze%E2%80%9D/

Bibliography:
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. Print.
Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Washington Square, 2004. 17-33. Print.