Male Gaze & Patriarchy

  In John Berger’s passage, “Ways of  Seeing”, the male gaze is described as the act of presenting women, in the arts and in literature, as objects of male pleasure. Art has a way of clearly demonstrating the male gaze. There are hidden signs that are meant to be interpreted through the artwork. It is a way of depicting that women and men are indeed different, in that men are superior. Men are the “ideal” spectators of women and images of women are designed for men to be flattered. Female bodies are presented as though they are objects to be viewed. Which ultimately affects women and how they view themselves. Women “survey” themselves, meaning they are always aware of what they might look like through the eyes of a man. 
          We are all participating in the male gaze whether we are consciously or subconsciously aware of it. Therefore, our pop culture, things such as music videos and social media, all portray the male gaze in some way. Understanding the male gaze has made me more aware of my surroundings. I also started to realize that an image that is desired by men is also envied by women. An example of this would be the Victoria Secret models; men desire the females in the advertisements while the women envy them.

  Berger states, “He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man. Everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear to be the result of his being there. It is for him that the figured have assumed their nudity. But he, by definition, is a stranger— with his clothes still on.” (Berger, 54) This line describes how men are always portrayed as being powerful. They are in control of how they choose to illustrate a certain view. Berger also states, “Its coherence is no longer within itself but within the experience of the painter.” (Berger, 61)  This line shows how power doesn't lie with the women, instead it lies mainly with the male painter. Since the painter is male, it’s all about their perspective of the female body. As a result, women's expectations of how to carry themselves has been influenced by male artists for generations. 

  Patriarchy. Most men are oblivious to the meaning of this particular word, yet it’s about them, how ironic? We live in a male-dominated world but men can’t even seem to have the understanding of how or even why that is so. It starts from the minute they are born. They are raised differently from women and don't ever seem to question why. They follow the footsteps society lays out for them. Maybe they are afraid to question society, or maybe it hasn't crossed their minds to. 

  In Bell Hooks passage, “Understanding Patriarchy” Hooks describes 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 through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” (Hooks, 18) She later goes on to explain how patriarchy is indirectly taught. It’s in the way one raises their kids. If the girl is raised to cook and clean, she will always carry that with her and deem it to be her “role”, what is expected of her. While the boys are raised to suppress their emotions and even sometimes be violent to prove their masculinity. Our gender roles have been learned through observing our parents behavior.

  Hooks stated, “Patriarchy as a system has denied males access to full emotional well-being, which is not the same as feeling rewarded, successful, or powerful because of one’s capacity to assert control over others.” (Hooks, 31) Although men are painted out to be tough there is still a part of them that craves emotional freedom. But it seems as though that won’t really go away until we recognize and give attention to the effects of patriarchy in the first place. As Hooks said, “Clearly we cannot dismantle a system as long as we engage in collective denial about its impact on our lives.” Before we try “fixing” the system we first need to identify that there is a problem.

  Why is it that patriarchy has prevailed for so long and why does it still continue? Do women play a role in that? Women do indeed play a role in it because they are upholding it, through their silence. Men aren’t the only ones who play a role in patriarchy, women do as well. After reading this passage, it is easier and more likely for me to spot signs of patriarchy. My perspective on how art and media depict women has changed and I am more aware of the hidden background information that has lead them to be the way that they are.