The Male Gaze and Patriarchy

John Berger depicts the Male Gaze as the way women are seen as objects for men to have pleasure in viewing.  He brings the idea of the “surveyor” and the “surveyed,” [Berger, 46] otherwise known as the men and women. This idea shows that men survey women before they treat them so in turn, a woman must ready herself to be surveyed in everything she says or does. Men on the other hand, do not face this kind of judgement since they simply watch. Berger goes on saying, “One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. 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] With this idea, women begin to objectify themselves by conforming to the way they want men to see them. Even with the naked paintings of women, it has nothing to do with the woman herself. “This nakedness is not, however, an expression of her own feelings; it is a sign of her submission to the owner’s feelings or demands (the owner of both women and the painting.)” [Berger, 52] These women were painted in ways that grasp the male gaze, with their attention towards the spectator, they appeal to the male sexuality. This shows the importance in the male gaze as it attracts the viewers by fulfilling their fantasies.

The persuasiveness of the male gaze relates to the popular culture we see today because this idea of women pleasing men has not gone away. We tend to encourage it actually, especially through the media. Starting from childhood girls see older women on TV and Media and are influenced by them. For example, the Miss America/Miss Universe pageants are something made for those women to just be viewed by others. Young girls look up to this and are influenced, they will begin to want to look like those women to be admired. The male gaze can also be found through beauty trends, magazines and advertisements. We see women posing for various different advertisements like beer, perfumes, underwear, etc. They are usually dressed with very minimal clothing all to attract their intended audience. We also see in magazines such as Sports Illustrated, women almost completely naked to attract the eyes of men. Women have been and will be continued to be portrayed in this matter of the male gaze for as long as our society lets it happen. With this idea of the male gaze I now see these art forms so differently. The idea that women are just objects to attract viewers makes me as a woman feel uncomfortable almost. I’d like women to be viewed for their beauty and intelligence rather than their bodies and sexual appeal.

Women in Ads for the Male Gaze 

          Patriarchy can be related to the male gaze as it also puts forward an idea that degrades women to men. Bell Hooks sees it as “the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation.” [Hooks, 17] Patriarchy is a political-social system that gives men dominating power over women in ways which include forms of psychological terrorism and violence. Some examples of patriarchy can be found simply in an everyday household where a man is in charge and works while the woman stays home to cook and clean. “Our sense of gender roles was learned from our parents, from the ways we saw them behave.” [Hooks, 19]  With these examples, gender roles are set to us as children and the idea of patriarchy begins before we can even know what it means. Gender roles play a huge part in the idea of patriarchy. We grow up learning that  men are meant to be masculine, strong and rebellious while women are meant to be quiet, pretty and obedient. This already sets forth an idea that a man is to be more powerful than a woman. Hooks also mentions how the idea of patriarchy can be very dangerous as it requires men to be dominant by all means which then condones sexist violence.  Men will not see this as a social issue because it brings them power, so why would they deny it? However, patriarchy can also affect the emotional stabilization of men. “Patriarchy demand of men that they become and remain emotional cripples.” [Hooks, 27] It psychologically ruins them because they are forced to hide their emotions to keep their “macho” image. So it is not just a woman issue that feminists try to tackle, it is a man issue too. Growing up I have learned how patriarchy influences my identity and the identity of others. I was always taught to “act lady like” and I saw how my guy friends would be tormented with expressions like “stop crying like a girl.” I now understand how these structures we face and  grow up hearing all come from the idea patriarchy.

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Penguin Books, 1972

Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy, 2008