Many have heard the term \u201cmale gaze,\u201d which is a conscious and subconscious process by which women are viewed by an assumed male audience. This results in the sexualization and objectification of women and the curtailment of female agency. Al\u00adthough the male gaze cannot be tangibly felt, touched, or even easily defined, its practice is increas\u00adingly detrimental to women. Many readers may dismiss the male gaze as no longer rele\u00advant to the 21st century, but it is responsible for many women\u2019s preoc\u00adcupations with appear\u00adance and often spurs eating disorders, diet\u00ading, and plastic surgery, which have become prevalent in our society today. Even the most successful women fall prey to the standards of the male gaze. Criti\u00adcal attention must be called to the male gaze because it is the root of many unhealthy, self-objectifying body image views that affect women today.<\/p>\n
It is easier, now more than ever for women to receive and internalize the ideals of the male gaze be\u00adcause of the pervasive ways in which the popular me\u00addia of both today and the past reinforce the male gaze. For instance, many magazine ads and music videos depict women in a way that assumes a male spectator and appeals to male sexuality. The female sexuality included in these videos often is an expression of the fulfillment of male sexual desires. The media and art (music videos, advertisements, paintings, television) have the power to mold our subconscious modes of thinking. The world is narrated by the male gaze, and women can internalize this detrimental, objectifying male gaze.<\/p>\n
The male gaze also wields the power to dis\u00adable female autonomy. As John Berger, an English art critic, states, \u201cMen look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.\u201d John Berger\u2019s analysis of European nude paintings encapsulates the concept of the male gaze. Many women are depicted viewing their reflections in a mirror, \u201cresponding with calcu\u00adlated charm,\u201d or simply assuming positions of dis\u00adplay while regarding themselves as a sight to be viewed. These paintings assume that the target audience is male, further reinforc\u00ading male gaze. This practice goes on in our daily lives: most of us dedicate many, often unnecessary, hours of our week primp\u00ading and perfecting our appearances in the mirror. Sometimes we forget that what we have to offer tran\u00adscends our outward appearances.<\/p>\n
Unlike other forms of control, the male gaze operates within the subconscious of both men and women who internalize these ex\u00adpectations. And while we may be aware of the concept of the male gaze, it is very important to remind ourselves how our practices reinforce it.<\/p>\n
This is not a plea for the boycotting of mir\u00adrors, make-up, dieting or even plastic surgery; rather it is a gentle reminder to not let these things serve as validations. It\u2019s important to examine and critique the motivations behind why we do the things we do be\u00adcause if self-satisfaction is based on fulfilling the male gaze ideal, a true sense of self-satisfaction is difficult to achieve. So, continue putting on make-up, look\u00ading in the mirror, and admiring yourself. The point to remember is that, when it comes to body image, only one person\u2019s opinion matters- and that is yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Many have heard the term \u201cmale gaze,\u201d which is a conscious and subconscious process by which women are viewed by an assumed male audience. This results in the sexualization and objectification of women and the curtailment of female agency. Al\u00adthough the male gaze cannot be tangibly felt, touched, or even easily defined, its practice is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,234],"tags":[144,125],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-feature","category-vol-1-issue-1","tag-male-gaze","tag-valerie-latimore"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.scrippscollege.edu\/invisible\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}