The Male Gaze and Its Opposition

The male gaze is a term for the way in which men tend to objectify their perceptions of women.  This is especially prevalent in the media, whether in paintings, magazines, film or music.  These falsified images of women get stuck in the minds of both men and women themselves, creating completely unrealistic expectations and standards of beauty.  A woman’s worth is based on her appearance, while a man’s worth is based on his capabilities.  “Women watch themselves being looked at.  This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves.  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).  This constant tension is only perpetuated by the portrayals of women in the media.  The earliest form of objectification can be seen in nude portraits during the Renaissance. These women were not being painted for themselves; it was often a man wanting an illustration of his mistress to “appreciate.” An old-fashioned sext.  A woman completely exposed, in her most natural state is turned into a sex-object through this image: “To be naked is to be oneself.  To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be seen as an object in order to become a nude.  (The sight of it as an object stimulates the use of it as an object)” (Berger, 54). 

An example of the degrading messages rap culture promotes.

Modern day examples of the male gaze in the media are extremely prevalent.  With rap being the dominant genre of music in today’s pop culture, women are negatively portrayed the majority of the time.  I personally love rap, but I love it because I appreciate the ability to tell a story or express oneself through poetry.  However most mainstream rap is hard to relate to as a young woman, which results from the fact that the majority of popular rappers are men. The bulk of rap (though not all) pertains to three things: girls, money, and drugs.  Due to the effects of this male gaze, women are viewed as currency.  The more money an emcee has, the more women he is able to attain.  This also creates the stereotypical image of the “gold digger.”   As you can see in this picture, women are photo-shopped over hundred dollar bills. This reiterates the idea that women and money go hand in hand.  This picture says: "the girls in this image will only like you if you have money."   Another example seen in media today is Sports Illustrated.  Why is a magazine dedicated to sports always plastered with images of (more than) half naked women? Yet again this emphasizes the concept that a woman exists purely for men to look at. 

Multi-dimensional portrayals of  women in the media are nowhere near as prevalent as their male counterparts, but it is even more rare for women of color.  In response to this lack of representation is the concept of the oppositional gaze: “Looking at films with an oppositional gaze, black women were able to critically assess the cinema’s construction of white womanhood as object of phallocentric gaze and choose not to identify with either the victim or the perpetrator” (Hooks, 122).  This “gaze” is a symbolic act of defiance against both the racial and sexual oppression that black women are dealt by society.  They are looking back at their oppressors, as they were previously told not to.  Historically, African American men were able to “gaze” at white womanhood through film, an act that could have gotten them killed in real life.  However once they themselves were able to create films, they portrayed black women in this same way. (Hooks, 118)  Women of color are often forced to watch depictions of women they can’t relate to, not only because of the natural tendency for the media to portray them two-dimensionally, but also because their race is completely underrepresented.

We see this underrepresentation even in feminist films: “A more troubling authorial signature is Gorris’s representation of racial difference.  The black woman in A Question of Silence simply joins the other boutique customers in a silent, supportive chorus” (Mulvey, 106).  Only white women are portrayed with depth.  Not only are women of color rarely studied on screen, they are few and far between in movie production as well.  Ava DuVernay, the director of Selma would have been the first black female director nominated for an Oscar.  Yet the Academy failed to recognize her for the amazing movie she made.  This precisely correlates to the misrepresentation of women of color in the media.  Who better to accurately portray minority women other than minority women?  But with few women behind the screen, we can’t expect much advancement. 

Studying the relationship between women and the media has completely altered my perception of the images forced upon me every day.  I didn’t realize how naturally accepting I was of the fact that my own stories are never told on screen.  My favorite movies (while I still love them) tell the stories of men.  The same can be said for the music I listen to. 

Image of Nicki Minaj used to promote her song "Anaconda." 

While female rappers like Nicki Minaj or Missy Elliott portray themselves as strong, successful women, men still control the rap game. And my favorite rappers are men. 

 But is Nicki Minaj really all that liberating?  She’s still dressed the same as the random girls that stand around next to cars in male rappers’ music videos.  Just because she’s the center of attention, is it really all that different?  It saddens me that a lot of the movies and music I love are not a reflection of things I can relate to as a young woman. The inability to make that sort of connection has powerful effects on both girls and women. By studying women’s misrepresentation in the media, I’m hoping to become immune to the negative effects.  I hope to be able to look at a Sports Illustrated cover and not let the media’s tricks get to me.  These negative effects can only really be fought off with the awareness to know better.

Works Cited

Berger, John. "Chapter 3." Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting, 1973. 45-64. Print.

Hooks, Bell. "The Oppositional Gaze." Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992. 115-31. Print.

Mulvey, Laura. "Author/Auteur: Feminist Literary Theory and Feminist Film." Feminism and Film. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1997. N. pag. Print.