Belittled, objectified, and traumatized, women have been victims of violence since the beginning of their existence.
The male gaze and plague of patriarchy have condoned and justified a means of unwavering dominance placed on women by men. The male gaze describes a lens that has been used for centuries by artists to capture a woman’s figure and beauty that would ultimately please its male audience. It is a practice that has been utilized without consideration of a woman’s essence: the subjective traits that make a woman captivating, to begin with.
John Berger's Ways of Seeing elaborated on the prevalence of the male gaze throughout art. Once the concept is seen and understood by an audience, it is quite impossible to see another artwork without considering this lens. Creating artwork while considering the male gaze ensures that the average human male will appreciate the painting or photograph. Men will enjoy it because it extends their presumed power upon even a woman in art. As she becomes an object of his pleasure, he grows in power. Berger expresses, "You painted a naked woman because you enjoyed looking at her, you put a mirror in her hand and you called the painting Vanity, thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you had depicted for your own pleasure. / The real function of the mirror was otherwise. It was to make the woman connive in treating herself as, first and foremost, a sight" (Berger 51). Men assert their opinions at any point that is convenient for them, regardless of the woman's desire to hear it. Yet, more importantly, to continue their rule over women, men shame them in the most hypocritical way: admire her beauty until she acknowledges it the same way then label it as "vain". Men feel entitled to their pleasure hence the prevalence of the male gaze. Berger continues to write, "To be naked is to be without disguise. The nude is condemned to never being naked. Nudity is a form of dress... Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear to be the result of his being there" (Berger 54). The male gaze asserts a definite difference between a woman being naked and nude. Nakedness refers to the pure human being that lies beneath her skin and the beauty that is emphasized by her physical features. However, the concept of being nude is what appeals to the man and creates the male gaze. Nudity separates the woman from her personality and body; she is solely seen as a physical object. Beyond that, the painting is designed with the intention of a male viewing and appreciating it, thus every pose, crevice, and shadow added to the artwork is done for the viewer. The posed woman is manipulated to be the sight of a man's pleasure. For example, The Judgement of Paris by Rubens encapsulated how men viewed women then: objects awaiting their predicament.
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Based on their physical features and the preference of the man observing, women were deemed beautiful or not beautiful. Their "prize" for being beautiful was to be claimed by the man. Men decided what is considered attractive and wanted, none of which considered the heart of the woman including her passions and intelligence. Women were portrayed as a sight.
Patriarchy, the foundation of which the male gaze became pervasive, has been analyzed and observed by various artists and literary writers. Most notably, Bell Hooks passionately discusses the topic in her work Understanding Patriarchy. She begins by writing, "“Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation” (Hooks 17). By opening with this line, Hooks makes a statement. She declares the severity of patriarchy in the country and demands change. This sets up the tone for the rest of the work. She continues with, "Patriarchy requires male dominance by any means necessary, hence it supports promotes, and condones sexist violence" (Hooks 24). Men's uncontrollable desire for power inevitably leads to violent measures. To prevent them from exposing their true feelings of failure to meet a standard of masculinity, they attempt to prove their might by belittling those around them, especially women. The system, ruled by patriarchy, justifies this practice hence its prevalence in the nation. To emphasize the role of women in the existence of the phenomenon, Hooks expressed, "By placing the blame for the perpetuation of sexism solely on men, these women could maintain their own allegiance to patriarchy, their own lust for power. They masked their longing to be dominators by taking on the mantle of victimhood" (Hooks 25). Women who submit to the laws of patriarchy and men are condoning the violence and allow it to grow as a norm. Without fighting against it, they are just as guilty for creating a society that allows the system to run this way. Patriarchy encourages violence as a defense mechanism and method to control others.
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Art and media, as seen through paintings, advertisements, and throughout a variety of mediums, morph into sexist statements if analyzed through the lens of the male gaze and patriarchy. In other words, if contemporary artwork is compared to artwork from the 1600s, especially those idolizing women, there is little to no difference between them. Berger compares La Grande Odalisque by Ingres to a picture of a model in a girlie magazine. The facial expression is identical which is key to appealing to males and adapting the male gaze. A sensual expression invites a man to view and judge a woman as he pleases. This is a tactic utilized by several advertisements and it truly emphasizes how women are mere objects in the eyes of men. They are an item to be stared at, rather than appreciated for their captivating essence. The concept of the male gaze makes it impossible to observe artwork of women without considering how a man views it.
Bell Hooks discusses the connections between patriarchy and the rise of modern-day feminism. Hooks wrote, "Despite many gains of contemporary feminist movement-greater equality for women in the workforce, more tolerance for the relinquishing of rigid gender roles (Hooks 29). Modern-day feminism is paving a path for women to emerge from submitting the powers of patriarchy and encourages them to act on the inequality they face constantly. To retaliate, the female gaze has been created to oppose the male gaze and ultimately, patriarchy. In the words of Foster, “If the male gaze is all about what men see, then the female gaze is about making the audience feel what women see and experience.” (Foster). Women are compassionate and thoughtful, thus the female gaze reflects that. It is in our nature to empathize and understand one another in a way that men may think is impossible. The female gaze has been utilized in films and art galleries as a stand against the male gaze. It empowers women and adds to the Feminist movement.
The male gaze disregards a woman's personality, passion, and power to be able to see her as a mere pretty picture. Rineke Dijkstra's Tiergarten, Berlin takes a different approach to oppose the male gaze. Portraying a young woman posed casually in a forest-like background symbolizes a feeling of inner confusion for the model. The background of the photograph cannot be overlooked thus forcing the audience to consider the young woman's personality, experiences, and heart as a human being. This artwork asserts a statement that retaliates the seemingly normal practice of sexualizing any image containing a female.
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Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation, 2008.
Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville Anarchist Federation Federation, 2010.
“Rineke Dijkstra's Teenage Portraits.” Www.nypress.com, 2015, www.nypress.com/news/rineke-dijkstras-teenage-portraits-CYNP1020001017310179976.
KITAMURA, KATIE. “The Female Gaze.” Frieze, Oct. 2009, frieze.com/article/female-gaze.
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