The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze

By Ayshat Micheal

The male gaze is when the world and women are viewed in the masculine perspective and at this point women become objects of male pleasure. The male gaze is present in magazines, strip clubs, work places, the entertainment world, etc. The male gaze will also forever remain whether a woman is clothed or not. It exists in every religious community which is not surprising because the male gender dominates every religion. The male gaze also exists in cultures, politics, and more.  For example, in the Islamic religion it is permissible that men can marry four wives. The reason behind men marrying four wives is because there are more women than men in the world. God also made it clear in the Qur’an that you can marry up to four wives if they can take care of all four women equally. Some men take advantage of this and marry as many as twenty wives. Some get twenty wives with the mindset that each of them will provide him with a different type of sex. The feelings will not be same and he cannot obviously cannot treat twenty women equally, talk less of four women which is difficult already. In my opinion, this is where women become objects of pleasure in the male perspective.

                In the art world which is a male dominated world, the male gaze is naturally present.  John  Berger states, “In the average European oil painting of the nude the principal protagonist is never painted. 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 figures have assumed their nudity. But he, by definition, is a stranger with his clothes on.” (54, Berger) Here, Berger is explaining to the audience that in majority of European oil paintings, the spectator is presumed to always be a male. These types of painting are made by men who paint nude females for their pleasure. It is no surprise that the female body is an easy way for men to get pleasure because we were created to love the opposite sex. Females in paintings are regarded as less thans. A woman only feels naked when she is seen by others. When a woman is in her room dressing up she is not conscious of being naked.  Paintings of naked women can easily arouse a man and this is why some male artist take pleasure in painting naked women.

               

Patriarchy is a system of society or government where men are the ones in power and women are powerless. Patriarchy has founded a lot of institutions, laws, religions, etc. It is also present in cultures. For example, I am a Nigerian and in Nigeria domestic violence is accepted. If your husband beats you, you cannot dial 911. To be honest, there is no 911. In Nigerian culture, domestic violence is accepted because the wife is supposed to listen to her husband regardless. If the wife does not listen, she should be punished and that punishment is beating from her husband. At a young age, I was exposed to domestic violence at a young age. I could not call 911 because there is no 911 in Nigeria. Last time I witnessed a domestic violence incident was when I was fifteen.  Growing up, I knew that I had to establish some type of independence. I understand that patriarchy exists but independence does as well. Women that do not address patriarchy become the oppressed. Women should be ready to speak up and take power when they need to.

                Patriarchy has existed from the beginning of time. Bell Hooks states, “Patriarchy is a political social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” (18, Hook) Bell Hooks described patriarchy as a system of government that men dominate in. Men in patriarchy are superior to everyone and everything especially women. Patriarchy gives men the right to dominate with different ways of violence and terrorism psychologically. Families are also founded on patriarchy whether the father is present or not. When a father is absent in a household, the woman still teaches things to her child with patriarchy. For instance, she instills in her son what society wants him to be and instills in the girl what society wants her to be as well at young ages. Statements like, “You better not cry because MEN do not cry!” to a boy at five years old or “You have to keep your room tidy because women have to clean and must be tidy.” to a girl at seven years old. Patriarchy is not a system that protects men only but it also protects women. It is a system that is flawed for everyone. It is sad that women uphold patriarchy by being silent or being unjust to their children. Silence is as bad as violence.

https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/7-reasons-why-patriarchy-is-bad-and-feminism-is-good-for-men/

http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/sexuality-in-art/