Seeing and Viewing, A Chain Reaction from the The Male Gaze

Negative Body Images, Need for A Man, Lack of Self Worth

The male gaze is the male perspective of women, or objects so to say, in paintings, film and television, and advertisements for the sole purpose of personal gain in money, sexual pleasure, and ultimately control. The men create the art as the women stand bare, stripped of their clothing, nude ready to be viewed as a prize and painted as one to be widely received by the “dominant” male population who will be viewing, purchasing and partaking in this degrading, negative connotation of women’s bodies. The gaze is not being naked, because being naked is a result of giving up modesty for human connection in love; it is your raw, truest self on your terms. The gaze represents nudity, a way in which a woman seductively poses for a picture or painting in hopes of attracting the male counterpart in which they will are lured in and meant to feel in control of “their possession.” As Laura Mulvey explains it, “Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at… the surveyor of women in herself is male: the surveyed female. The she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight” (Mulvey, Pg. 47).

But It's Only an Ad for Jeans...

Mulvey continues to explain, “She is not naked as she is. She is naked as the spectator sees her.” Women not only are objectified as objects, but they themselves become the one objectifying by subconsciously allowing male thoughts to cross over and convince them of their faults and imperfections until they have convinced themselves of what men want. All within the idea of the spectator is that men find women valuable with their clothes off; flattery from men gives women power. The prize is to be owned, you win by getting the man, but you’re owned. Thus the idea of even enticing creates a negative outcome even for a pay off.

            The Oppositional Gaze, stemming from Black female spectators, creates an idea of “There is power in looking” (The Oppositional Gaze, Pg. 115). In order to change what we see, we as both women and men. need to stare back and challenge the gaze male directors have shown us, even the female directors who give into the male spectators’ needs. “Women can be as wedded to patriarchal thinking and action as men” (The Will to Change, pg. 23). It is how we grow up, what we watch in theaters, on televisions, computers, iPads, iPhones, etc that end up feeding into the notion that we accept what we watch and its portrayal of women. But if we do not accept it, then we have to create it; we have to change the male gaze and oppositional gaze from being culture based and ethnicity specific because in retrospect, the problem is a worldly issue that has to be changed from its roots.

The fundamentals of what make us nations is where the problem stems from, it’s what our children and ourselves learn from each other everyday, to change that we need to show what we are and what we can do. Talking and writing sparks an issue, showing brings it to the forefront. We are capable of creating films and paintings of nudity without being explicit, we are able to show love and sex without going overboard, we can show intimacy and yearn and lust without degrading ourselves to get there. When did money come over body? Money can go in seconds, your body last forever, it makes an impact. “I make films because I was such a spectator!” (Julie Dash, The Oppositional Gaze), Dash did something about it, Ava Duvernay (Selma, 2015) is doing something about it. 

But as for all societies, it takes time for drastic changes to become the norm. After watching Miss Representation (2011) and reading these articles of Hollywood classics and media habits giving into the idea of belittling women, yet success from women is still wanted, something has to change. Even Scorsese has fallen drastically under this category, Margot Robbie very quickly became well recognized for her role in The Wolf of Wall Street, for what exactly? Allowing a detailed, degrading book showcase itself as a well received film. Click the Scorsese link, think about what you actually like about this movie, or was it media's propaganda that made you think you liked it... Remember what it didn't win at the Oscars, there's some respect for women and for our bodies and our minds. As an actress, I hope I don't allow myself to be tricked as so many actresses before me have been, for money versus art and craft. my body, voice and mind are all part of my career, I need to make sure the projects I choose and end up being offered, fit me and for what I stand for, not the other way around.