Women, Men and Patriarchy

`Katlynn DeMatos

September 19, 2019

Post 1:  Male Gaze and Patriarchy

Painting by Giovanni Bellini (1515) of a naked young
woman in front of the mirror.  This displays the concept
Burger explains of the ironic vanity of a woman looking
at herself while being looked at by the surveyor.

When you walk into a museum and make your way towards the European paintings, there is a repetitive theme that is present in each art piece:  nude women. In the European nude, women are turned into objects by the viewers looking at them, who are men surveying their femininity and judging them on their beauty.  This is better known as the “male gaze,” which John Berger addresses in his book, Ways of Seeing.  He writes, “...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 particularly an object of vision:  a sight” (Berger, 47). Berger is addressing how the male gaze objectifies the woman or women in the paintings. Specifically in the nude European paintings, the women are made to appear as though they are an object that men could lust over, and therefore, their femininity is being looked upon even though they have no clue who the viewer is.   If that is not enough, men have also painted women holding mirrors which symbolized the vanity of women (Berger, 51). Through this, Berger is explaining how because of the male gaze, women are not only watched and judged by the male viewer, but they have to constantly watch themselves.

In the present day, modern art has drifted from the nude, but the ‘male gaze’ has expanded its platform to other forms of media like “advertising, journalism, [and] television” (Berger, 63).  Even though we have progressed in modern art, the other platforms still center women as the focus, therefore, still portraying them as objects to the eye of the male observer. In advertisements, for instance, Berger displays a picture of a woman doing an ad for a lipstick line for the company, Almay.  The ad really does very little to emphasize on the actual lipstick and zooms in on the mouth, specifically the lips and tongue, of the woman with the saying, “Almay’s new lipsticks are a blaze of frosted colour. But that’s only half the story” (Berger, 40). The advertisement exerts sexual vibes and--just like the ad for sheer stockings to the right of that image--is for the pleasure of the male eye.  Even though these advertisements may be outdated, the ones displayed today still uphold the same qualities of turning the woman/women into objects for the eyes of men.

From the male gaze comes another topic that is not openly spoken about enough:  male patriarchy. In Bell Hooks’, The Will to Change, she says that, “Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation” (Hooks, 17).  In other words, this issue, which is minimally mentioned in our society, has turned into a plague that is harming both men and women. Hooks goes on to define patriarchy 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 that dominance through various forms of psychological terorrism and violence” (Hooks, 18).  The concept of patriarchy starts within the walls of one’s home, and Hooks discusses her own personal experience as a young girl, saying how her and her brother were taught to follow their specific “gender stereotypes.” Hooks writes, “My brother and I remember our confusion about gender. In reality I was stronger and more violent than my brother, which we learned quickly was bad. And he was a gentle, peaceful boy, which we learned was really bad...our behavior had to follow a predetermined, gendered script” (Hooks, 19).  Through a patriarchal household, girls and boys are forced to be confined into boxes of gender stereotypes, and if they drift from those “standards,” then they are usually violently abused, whether verbally or physically, to conform back and stay within those gender lines. Hooks also gives the example of how patriarchy keeps men from expressing any emotion making them “emotional cripples” and denying them "full access to their freedom of will..to rebel against patriarchy” (Hooks, 27). The disease of patriarchy keeps women timid and afraid to step out of their gender roles and men from expressing emotion and having free will.

Through the class discussions and readings, I am able to achieve a clearer understanding of where the concept of ‘male gaze’ has originated, why men view women the way they do and how patriarchy is at the route of all this.  I think one of the most eye-opening points I have experienced is how patriarchy truly starts at home within the four walls you live in. If a boy or girl are raised with a strong patriarchal father, who instills the gender-stereotyped roles on them through violent actions and words, then that continues the cycle of patriarchy.  I have seen this sense of patriarchy in films where the woman is not as strong in her will or strength as her significant counterpart is. However, because the male gaze and patriarchy has light being shed on it, I feel that women and men are fighting back and exposing it. In today's cinema productions, more women are playing lead roles and fight with their own strength.  An example is the scene in Avengers:  Endgame, where all the women heroes are defending Captain Marvel, who has obtained Thanos's Infinity glove (Burwick).  This theme of powerful women has carried on in the Marvel films with Captain Marvel, a woman, and it's even present in the DC Comics in the new Wonder Woman movie, which takes a strong feminist perspective on Diana, the main character.  However, even though there is progress, there are still constant words being used like "girl power" and "huge female scene" to describe all the Marvel women (Burwick).  There has been progress in women standing in their own strength, but the "male gaze" and patriarchy has factors that still need to be overcome.

Avengers: Endgame  "Girl Power" Scene displaying all the
Marvel Women Superheroes

Works Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. 1972.

Burwick, Kevin. “Female Avengers Unite: How 'Endgame' Directors Pulled Off That Epic Scene.” Movieweb, Movieweb, 10 May 2019, movieweb.com/avengers-endgame-female-superheroes-scene-explained/.

Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change. 2004.