Oppositional and Male Gaze

John Berger defines the “male gaze” in simplified terms as “men act and women appear.” (47) And after being objectified by the male the men then also judge a woman’s beauty and reward the beautiful woman. (Berger, 52) This beauty contest starts early on in our lives.  Let’s talk about high school, about the popular crowd, and the nerds. It is the young boys who judge the girls, usually the ones who dress up nice, wear makeup, and etc. The idea to be beautiful and deem them popular. Girls who prefer to focus on intelligence rather than their appearances are judged as less beautiful, and so are marked as outcasts, i.e.: the nerds.

But the “male gaze” is not only how women appear to the men, it is also how they appear to other women. In the film Sleeping with the Fishes the main character, Alexis, is returning home to her family for a relative's funeral. Her relationship with her mother is strained by constant judging and nagging, especially after her husband passed away. In one scene, the mother tells her daughter that people respond to other people who appear in a certain light, as confident. But Alexis gained some weight which made it seem as she has given up the will to live.

Oppositional gaze takes the male gaze a step further and acknowledges that the gaze also involves racism. Popular media's success depends on the spectator being able to identify with the work. In movies, the spectator is expected to identify with the characters in order to enjoy the film, especially according to Hollywood. But identification according to Anne Friedberg, depends on recognition (bell hooks, 119). No wonder there is an oppositional gaze that developed with the black spectator, and specially, the female black spectator. But I believe a few spectators actively resist the film to critically look at them.

Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft

For example Lara Croft, the main character from the Tomb Raider games and movies is a female archaeologist looking for treasure. Yes, here we have a female strong lead and super smart, and portrayed in movies but let's be honest; she was not created for the benefit of the female spectator. Her physical appearance, big breasts and long legs, and her dress code of short shorts and tight tank tops, is for the male spectator, the “ideal spectator” (Berger, 64). Characters like her, cause the majority the women audience to be unable to identify with her character. It is important to use the oppositional gaze as a spectator and start resisting.   

Watching films and TV shows, I often find myself falling into the Hollywood spectatorship. Especially when viewing the film for the first time. But when it comes to deciding whether I like the film, or show that I try to see whether I can identify with it. Yes, I am a white female, but I find myself being able to identify with characters not only because they are women or because they are white but I have something in common with them because of their background, storyline or dreams they are trying to pursue. However, gazing at films more critically is something I could practice more often.

“It’s what American filmmakers think fashionable British archaeologists are wearing nowadays.” (“Buried.” Warehouse 13, Syfy. 2010.)

“It’s what American filmmakers think fashionable British archaeologists are wearing nowadays.” (“Buried.” Warehouse 13, Syfy. 2010.)

Ways of Seeing and Viewing

       The portrayal of women in media is defined, predominantly, by the male gaze. The male gaze is a way of viewing women that objectifies and sexualizes them in order to appeal to the audience, which is considered to be male. Essentially, women cannot exist in media without being somewhat sexualized or suggestive. If a women appears on a magazine cover, even if it is for her accomplishments as a politician, photoshop will make them sexier to appeal to the male population.

Sarah Palin, though a Governor, is sexualized to appeal to what men want.

       The male gaze is the foundation for how women are portrayed in all things media. It creates an unrealistic bar that women must face. The majority of women in films, TV shows, magazine covers, etc, are considered attractive. Some are even considered PERFECT. This is how the male population views it. In turn, women strive to reach that unrealistically high standard that is created by the male gaze. Essentially, the beauty and portrayal of women depend on the approval and vision of men. "Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another." (Berger, 46) The "another" is a man.

This high standard cannot be realistically reached by all women.
I mean, no one looks like this while fixing a car.

        As a counterpoint, bel hooks describes a technique that transforms the sense of the word "gaze" when viewing media. The oppositional gaze is a way of viewing media critically and analytically and without the bias and prejudice against women and women of color. The oppositional gaze, much like the male gaze, is a figurative approach to a literal experience.
        The literal experience here is described by hooks: "When thinking about black female spectators, I remember being punished as a child for staring…looks that were seen as confrontational. Afraid to look, but fascinated by the gaze." (hooks, 115) She claims that gazing and staring, especially by colored women and children, was seen as forbidden and punishable. She goes on to say that as she got older, she just kept staring. By confronting with an unrelenting gaze, one defeats the forbidden quality of the gaze. "Not only will I stare. I want my look to change reality."(hooks, 116)
         The oppositional gaze was developed as a response to the stigma around staring and gazing. Though the literal sense of gazing is challenged here, so is the figurative sense in that it challenges the male gaze. In a world where all women are judged by men, whether by staring at them or a picture of them, the visual aspects of women in media are determined unjustly. The oppositional gaze aims to break this tradition by transforming the "gaze" and by using it as a powerful tool in analyzing and viewing media.
          My role in media is directly related to how women are portrayed. They are portrayed how I want them to be portrayed. That is something that I did not realize before. Even though it is not me, personally, it is me as a consumer that influences how a woman is seen in media. Knowing, as a consumer, that I am contributing to the problem of the male gaze is eye-opening and redefines who I am as a media consumer.

Beyonce: Women can "Gaze" Too

Bibliography

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting : Penguin, 1972.
2. Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992.

Ways of Seeing/Viewing

The Male Gaze is objectifying and sexualizing a woman, seeing her as an object to be possessed and judged for the viewer’s pleasure. Or sometimes displeasure, which has to do with when women turn the Male Gaze onto themselves. They become the surveyed and surveyor: “She has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance.” (Berger 46) The Male Gaze is very prevalent within popular culture because when you have a culturally male dominated society, the women are looked to as entertainment. Whatever they do needs to be done for the male’s enjoyment.

even something as simple as grocery shopping

Let’s face it, men generally like to look at sex and what is sex-related be it even a simple ad for sunglasses. And then they judge the women for doing things which they’ve requisitioned be done, i.e. Vanity (dude, really?). What the Male Gaze does is constantly raise the bar for how far they can push the degradation of women for their own interests. It’s invasive, uncomfortable, and leads to unrealistic views and expectations regarding women.

no shit, Brian

bell hooks explains the Oppositional Gaze as a way to watch film or television with a critical, analytical eye without identifying with or wanting to be anyone on the screen. Normally, when we watch something, we emotionally connect to it in some way that we can live vicariously through a character. The Oppositional Gaze does away with that. “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, Black Looks 122)

The reason for this development was because the cinema did not hold a place for black women, especially not in a sexual sense. What began as shame and anger at the film industry’s refusal to create this role started a new movement within feminist film critique. Although, it’s still a work in progress as “many feminist film critics continue to structure their discourse as though it speaks about “women” when in actuality, it speaks only about white women.” (hooks 123) In the early days of black people breaking into Hollywood films, the depth roles were sparse but even more so for women to play any character remotely considered a sexual being. For example, Lena Horne beautiful and talented as she was, was rarely given a chance to showcase her talent and cast as a leading lady. “I was a test case. I could never feel like I was just a person working in movies.”

not leading lady material because racism

I think a lot of the way I’ve understood this part of society, the male gaze specifically, is due to the patriarchal society we live in. These roles are ingrained in us at such a young age by gender norms from the older generation and continuously perpetuated by our immediate environment as well as contemporary media. “Most of us learned patriarchal attitudes in our family of origin, and they were usually taught to us by our mothers. These attitudes were reinforced in schools and religous institutions.” (hooks, The Will to Change 23) hooks even references Terrence Real’s story about how his son who liked to dress up as Barbie got the message from his peers that this wasn’t okay to society, despite his parents not objecting to it at all. “Without a shred of malevolence, the stare my son received transmitted a message. You are not to do this.” ((Real, How Can I Get Through To You) hooks, The Will to Change 22)) And part of why this happened is because dressing like Barbie really means dressing up - something that is done to attract the male gaze.

no one looks like this, okay. not even a 3 year old boy playing dress up

I honestly didn’t know what the male gaze was until I was close to high school but it was still a part of my life. My family would sit on the porch with our neighbors and “people-watch” - focusing on women, nitpicking and judging their appearance . This was a significant part of my adolescence. It wasn’t until I was about 12 or 13 and starting to notice boys that I noticed how men (or teenage boys) looked at women, and started defending women - that they weren’t and shouldn’t be there for decoration. Before then, if I noticed the male gaze on TV or in movies, I just thought it was exaggerated behavior and people didn’t really act like that, and I didn’t see anything wrong with the cameras focusing on these women who were highly made up to whom I was supposed to aspire to emulate. Once I started to realize it did happen, and it did matter, and why it mattered in such a negative way, I began to change my own attitude and behavior. 

However, I am very aware of the male gaze turned inward (more than being surveyed) and it does bother me. It’s harder to grasp the oppositional gaze because it’s so easy to let yourself go and fall into a story on film or TV without analyzing it but I’m trying. Nobody wants to be the person in the room who goes into a whole diatribe as to why the story we just saw wasn’t good enough. But the idea that media shouldn’t be analyzed and critiqued in order to make it better is ridiculous. Society does need to break away from this mentality to a place that makes everyone comfortable.

Bibliography
1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting : Penguin, 1972. 
2. Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992.
3. Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004.
4. "Black Hollywood: The Originals." - Fayard Nicholas, Herb Jeffries, Lena Horne : People.com. 21 Feb. 2005. Web. 

Ways of viewing/seeing

“ Even when representations of black women were present in film, our bodies and being were there to serve to enhance and maintain white womanhood as object of the phallocentric gaze” The over sexualized depiction of women in media is not something that began recently but a long standing tradition that has only grown through different forms of entertainment which has always been predominately male driven. This notion that women are to be looked at for a man’s pleasure, to be objectified and devalued as a sexual object simply to please the oppositional gaze. 

On Ways Of Seeing/Viewing

Widespread sexism series from UN Women

The male gaze is not merely about how men look at women. According to Berger: “…men act and women appear. Men look at women. 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) In this case the male gaze is not only about how men look at women. The male gaze is also within every woman, as the way she looks, perceives, and judges herself is as a man would look, perceive, and judge her.  

Berger’s male gaze is pervasive in popular culture as I have encountered this gaze firsthand. When I dress up and look in the mirror I judge myself as a man would judge me. If I think I look attractive, I subconsciously think that men will find me attractive and therefore look at me. This gaze is damaging as women are basing their appearance and therefore their self- worth on the idea of what men will think of them rather than feeling comfortable and confident in one’s own skin. 

On the other hand, the oppositional gaze has formed because  “…black female spectators have had to develop looking relations within a cinematic context that constructs our presence as absence, that denies the “body” of the black female so as to perpetuate white supremacy and with it a phallocentric spectatorship where the woman to be looked at and desired is “white.”” (Hooks, 118) In this idea, Hooks asserts that black females do not associate themselves with the white women in films that are subjected to the male gaze. Rather, they feel virtually absent from this category and are able to separate themselves from it.

However, Hook further states: “Even when representations of black women were present in film, our

Imitation of Life (1959)

bodies and being were there to serve – to enhance and maintain white womanhood as object of the phallocentric gaze.” (Hooks, 119)  A prime example of this representation is in the 1959 film, Imitation of Life where Annie Johnson (a homeless black widow) and her daughter becomes a housekeeper for Lora Meredith (a white aspiring actress) and her young daughter. Though the film tries to imply that the two mothers form some kind of bond, the stronger message is that Annie Johnson is only there to maintain and reproduce Lora Meredith’s white womanhood as she breaks out into the acting industry and thus becomes an object of the phallocentric gaze. 

Even before reading these works, I have understood these concepts. That is why you will never find me posting up a picture of myself in a bikini on social networking sites. However, this male gaze poses serious problems. For example, let’s say I do want to post up a picture of myself in a bathing suit, then many would claim I’m doing it because I want attention from men. Even the argument that I’m posting it because I feel good about myself is technically rooted in the psychology that the surveyor in myself is a man. On the other hand, if I don’t post at all, then I’m still making that decision in accordance to the male gaze, as I don’t want to be viewed by men as easy. It seems that in all scenarios, the male gaze wins out. Thus, one could question where does women’s liberation actually come into play? When will women's minds matter more than the ideal body type?

It's All in the Gaze

                 The male gaze is a process where the man observes women and through this active act of observing, objectifies the woman therefore creating a fantasy where the woman is only present and useful when she provides the man pleasure. This form of vision is pervasive since women are born with this singular ability of expressing her own attitude to herself. Men have been able to 'manipulate' this ability of women to observe themselves and use women's own ability on the women themselves to fulfill their own desires. It is easy to see why such a powerful ability is pervasive in a field where men mostly dominate. 

                Most media with images perpetuate this male fantasy since it is so easily understood and accepted. It almost seems flattering, that women are the sole center of attention, it may be created as romantic and beautiful but the underlying message is disturbing: women are meant to be valued based only on the pleasure that they can provide through only their physicality: how appealing their bodies are, how luxuriant their hair is, how pretty their face is, etc. because the beauty is contained by a man. It is not hers."That part of a woman's self which is the surveyor treats the part which is the surveyed so as to demonstrate to others how her whole self would like to be treated" (Berger, Ways of Seeing, p46). 

TIME magazine, March 2013

ECOYA body care ad

When and if a woman is successful, of course an appeal would be needed to ask people to focus on her legacy and accomplishments before hating her for them (without knowing what they are). This kind of message would not be needed for males.
 The male gaze has widely perpetuated since the eyes are the easiest and fastest of the senses to appeal to. Women are given more complexity in literature and music (not music videos). 

               I never really knew the technical terms of the stereotypes that the movies as a media perpetuate but I was always aware of them and I would love to discuss them with my sister. And the male gaze is not limited towards only women but to anyone who is not part of the [exclusive] group of male gazer. This would include males of other ethnicities. The male protagonist is always a white, handsome male. 

The only film that I can easily recall that didn't follow this stereotype was Bridesmaids. The principal love interest was a male with an accent, a little chubby and not the typical handsome 'Brad Pitt'. I like to avoid watching movies that perpetuate these stereotypes and if I do by any weird chance I like to always keep track of everything that perpetuates this stereotype and I make it a point to let my friends know about it. For the most part they appreciate it but sometimes they just want me to watch the movie (but I can't!) :) 

I like to help bring diverse movies into the spotlight, share them on social networks and watch them if I have the chance.  

The Male and Oppositional Gaze

       The male gaze is the objectification of women by means of male pleasure. In this instance, women are dehumanized and devalued until acceptable and “non-threatening” to men, based solely on their looks. As John Berger states in his book, Ways of Seeing,“Women are there to feed an appetite, not to have any of their own,” (Berger, 55). The appetite women are feeding, are those of men, and since women are the objects in this matter, their needs are not met, nor do they matter. In society, and the media as the largest power source, male gaze is highly prevalent. From television, to magazines, to even radio ads, the reality of the male gaze stands boldly in our faces. Prior to the world we know today, the Renaissance era was the first widespread example of such objectification. With paintings of naked women, with submissive looks on their faces, women were there to boast the male ego and libido.  

American Apparel ad.

American Apparel ad for socks.

      When I hear of male gaze, the term that comes to mind which is slightly more modern is “Sex Sells.” In all those ads, it is the female sex that is used to sell products, from body sprays to even food. In popular culture, the male gaze seems to be the only lens to which the media has taken a liking to. The notion that it is acceptable to devalue women is just another point made by Berger where he writes, "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)”. In pop culture, this is seen everywhere. In clothing stores such as American Apparel, if you scroll through their catalogue, it falters on the edge of being soft porn and something that makes you forget you were even shopping around for clothes.
          The male gaze has  henceforth, been seen as ordinary. So ordinary, that many young females aspire to fill the spot as the primetime “surveyed.” Wanting to be the object of affection and live up to the standards of what society classifies as beautiful. Now a days, you see young girls posting videos of them twerking, or performing sexual acts. The male gaze is also a pervasive form of vision in music and music videos. While many songs in the music culture stick to bashing women, the music videos become a manifestation of all things “manly”: women, money and liquor. In elementary school, there was one program that exemplified all of this, BET: Uncut. On this show, if I was lucky to catch a glimpse without my parental timer going off, it would literally be music videos of half naked women running around, and being  fondled by men like play things. Though this show doesn't exist anymore, there are still videos and songs that get played and even more girls who aspire to be in them. One music video however, does the opposite of all these things. Beyonce's song, "Flawless" which features feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, speaks of female empowerment along with advancement. 
                The idea of the oppositional gaze, as posed by bell hooks, is a response to the oppressive gaze/ male gaze. In this effect, the oppositional gaze is one that belongs to that of black woman. Hooks remarks on the lack of self identification of characters in movies, due to the lack of color on screen. “To experience pleasure, Miss Pauline had to imagine herself transformed, turned into a white woman portrayed on the screen” (hooks 121).  In a society, where many people try to pretend that everyone is equal, in Hollywood, the amount of black actors receiving main roles are still scarce. In reality, a lot of these minorities are only receiving roles where the writer and director themselves are of the same background. Producers and directors like Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Lee Daniels as well as others, are the only people where you’ll find an all black cast. During moments like these when I watch in amazement as to how many black people there are, I also realize, they are the only ones who will hire them. For myself, I’ve realized how true this is. Although, I’m very fond of slave movies, as well as movies about my history and culture, I still feel that’s not enough. I cannot relate to those movies. Instead, I wish to watch a movie with black castmates, that don't focus on slavery, or the stereotypical “Uncle Tom”; just a simply good movie, whatever that may be.
        The oppositional gaze and the male gaze each have a place in the shaping of popular culture. Being a black woman, I’ve realized how strongly I’ve been shaped by both of these factors. From not being able to relate to the white male or his white love interest, to being objectified due to a chromosomal alignment I had no choice in, each have an effect on the person I am today. Due to the power of the media, and the use of social networking amongst other social movements, maybe stigmas of minorities and women could gradually be casted away. Instead of being passed over, due to factors that are clearly out of our control, a step in the right direction can be made and gazing will transition to a more active movement.

Works Cited
1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting : Penguin, 1972.2. 
2. hooks, bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992.

On Ways of Seeing - Scott Fleisher

Katy Perry of the Cover of Cosmopolitan.
Cosmopolitan as a magazine is a leader
in media for creating "the perfect woman."

The Male Gaze is the perception that women are objects meant to be viewed for the purposes of entertaining the males in society. Women are objectified in any form of media, such as sexualization of female characters in video games, photoshopped images of women on magazine covers, the outfits women wear in films, even clothing that female news reporters wear, and the list certainly doesn’t end there. A big reason for this has to do with the social order of  patriarchy that the United States media operates under. Patriarchy is “a political-social system that insists that men are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weaker, especially women, and endowed with the right to dominate over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence” (Hooks 18). This has been the dominant view people have held for a long time, so it has become a natural message to receive about the social order, as children grow up to be adults.
The Oppositional Gaze is the response to the Male Gaze in that is recognizes that there’s more to gender roles than a  male viewer and a woman object. The purpose is to challenge the opinions and beliefs of those in charge. In a practical application, Hooks used it to analyze the role of black women in films after she had come to understand the “terror felt by the child who has come to understand through repeated punishments that one’s gaze can be dangerous.” (Hooks 115).

This is an example of a typical video game female. Obviously

supposed to be a warrior of some kind,

yet wearing odd scantily-clad "armour," and is a great example of how

woman are objectified in media

For the longest time, I would say that the objectification of women was one of the dumbest aspects of this country but I had no idea why exactly it was like this. I would see in cartoons female characters wearing sweaters with a boob window and wonder why the heck it was there. I never really gave any thought to a social order like patriarchy to answer that kind of question. Now I understand that society holds women as a lower figure, and suddenly everything around me clicks into place.

Part of my issue in coming to discover this was in my open-mindedness. I’d never really thought of women to be below me (as I am a male) and perhaps I’ve been fooled into thinking that part of American culture was long gone. When I think about it, my own household runs with these same ideals and I just never noticed (nor did I ever like a lot of it). As a male, I’m expected to be able to do certain stereotypical things and I’m also to be obedient to my father, who my mom also tries to hold up as the authority of the household. But then, how many households don’t do that I wonder.

I guess that my role in this system is ignorance. I failed to notice that this was the way that the world around me has been brought up, and all I ever did was look at it with disdain and confusion, as if it didn’t really mean anything, and as if it didn’t affect me. I’ve grown to be someone who has trouble coming out and saying what I think, and I had failed to acknowledge how this system of patriarchy effected this, how it has affected me and shaped me.

Regardless, I would say that I am someone with an oppositional gaze, partly because it’s my nature to disagree with social norms most of the time, but also because I never latched onto the views my parents held, probably because I was so obedient, and remain so, that I never was really punished (for the sake of avoiding punishment) because “we were to remember that if we did not obey his rules, we would be punished” (Hooks 21) although my father almost never resorted to violence, excessive or otherwise. His weapon was words alone usually.

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell. "Feminist Manhood." The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004. 107-24. Print.   
 Hooks, Bell. "Popular Culture: Media Masculinity." The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004. 125-34. Print.
Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy." The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria, 2004. 17-33. Print.