The Male Gaze

In the mainstream representation of men and women, women are always made to be desired and guys are just there. I mean of course at times they have good looking actors but most of the time it's some average looking dopey guy with some hot wife or girlfriend, especially in comedies and action films. Generally mainstream cinema is usually aimed at heterosexual males or teenage boys. The male gaze whether its in film, art, and or music videos it presents with the same male heterosexual point of view. In these forms of media, women are usually seen as objects. 

A great example of how objectified women are in films because of the male gaze is in the film series "Transformers" by Michael Bay. Through Michael Bay's male gaze, Megan Fox is objectified when shes fixing the car, even though she is supposed to be fixing the car you would imagine the audience would like to know what she is fixing but instead the whole camera is all over her body as if it were a landscape.

Jon Berger also speaks on the male gaze in various forms of media in "Ways of Seeing". Berger discusses the male specifically in art. He explains in various painters how the observer or even the artist himself has to be a heterosexual male. "The observer is active, the image of the woman is static. She's present for the use of the man and her image is objectified sexually, cheating her body language toward him" (Berger, 47-49). Berger is simply stating how even in art the female presented in these works are simply for the male to stare at. Even at times if a male is in the painting the female in the painting is still giving us her full attention. This is because not only are the owners or observers of this work are male. The artist is also male therefore he puts the female for his enjoyment as well.

Another example of the male gaze is in advertisement. The male gaze is seen in a lot of adverts which makes no sense, but since society believes in "sex sells". A great example of the male gaze is in an advertisement for Calvin Klein. In the the ad which is trying to sell us a cologne named "Obsession" for men. The advertisement shows a fully nude Kate Moss, and no sign of a cologne. At this point not only is the advert objectifying the model but again they show no sign of the cologne they are selling. This is the male gaze at its finest (or worst). 

bell hooks speaks about the male gaze. To somewhat tackle the issue she brought up a term called the opposition gaze in one of her books title "Black Looks: Race and Representation."The oppositional gaze is the nerve to look at media in the eyes. To rebel and hold a critical eye against media depictions of black people and how massmedia effects are impacting society as a whole. (hooks, 116). bell hooks not only was a feminist but she was also against racism. Being a black female she completely ill represented. So by creating a way to attack the male gaze not only for females but for blacks and minorities as well shows a lot guts and it's definitely something that should be done more often

In the end the male gaze is really destructive and negative. It could exclude a lot of women from being a part of media for their looks either not being pretty enough or not having the right body type. But even when chosen for a part they are simply just items to be looked upon and have no further meaning other than just being there to look pretty and stimulate men for no reason. It also not only lets media dictate how women should look like or act but then also gives reasons for men to just view women as sex toys with no other function than their own stimulation.

Works Cited
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Britain: British Broadcasting Company and Penguin Books, 1972.

hooks, bell. The Oppositional Gaze. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992. 115-31.