Male gaze and patriarchy by monique antoine

susannah and the elders (Rembrandt)

the male gaze as described by Berger is the way that a woman should look to attract a man. another thing is that women apparently are more attractive when they are no longer dressed. in most paintings in this time period, the painting of a nude woman, the woman is looking out of the painting to the observer, which is usually a man. even in the picture shown on the right, no matter how unsettling the image, she is always looking out to the audience, attracting male eyes, almost like real females despite being absent in most past art. this is also pervasive in part because of the fact that a woman can be nude for a painting for male eyes, but being nude anywhere else assumed shameful and disgusting. its almost like a double standard that men have with women of this time because of nudity being only for their eyes and only for their viewing pleasure alone. there was even a portion where Berger talks about a section of oddly pornographic paintings that, again, were only for the viewing eyes of a single male or just for males alone.(berger56).Patriarchy from the understanding of bell hooks is a social construct that society made for us.society made us into women. Without this society, we would all be equals but instead, we ended up being the smaller weaker sex and the ones that could give birth to children. Becuase of these factors, women according to bell hooks are treated like second class citezens and are defined by our fenimity and our beauty than our skill and our status. The structures of patriarchy are defined as being the stages that defer from women. Women are supposed to be a certain way and are supposed to be silent and almost invisible and even nonexistant. Everything apparently is the woman’s fault and noone elses fault including when it came to attacks and rapes that was of no fault of their own. Even today, these structures are indeed beginning to curmbkle as women are beginning to fiund their voice and beginning to speak out, other countries are still treating women as second class citezen.understanding the structure now hasnt made me change my mind.i still believe that the structures should be changed and the patriarchy should be dismantled. The only problem is what replaces it?

Does a matriarchy replaces the crumbled patriarchy and its just the vicious cycle in reverse and men are the ones being oppressed and no longer the oppressors? We are indeed In a new era where the times are changing faster than we can realize but the problem is do we want to repeat history again after the patriarchy goes down? is that a safe thing to do after it goes down? believe me I agree with bell hooks and Berger but at the same time we to think of what happened at the page I should goes down this does change this doesn't change the fact that women are being oppressed no matter the skin color the the nationality the age it doesn't matter. nobody in all honesty should be oppressed in this day in age. this shouldn't be an issue but it is still to the people who are still holding on tightly to the roots of the patriarchy and not letting go. the people who are still keeping it alive who are still keeping these false stereotype alive and making more problems For the ones who have to deal with this Society day by day without a change. even though females are the ones who are majority taking down the patriarchy men have also come up in arms to help tear down the patriarchy men don't have to be the aggressive ones, the ones who make the six-figure paycheck, the ones who have to discipline the kids and just be downright unresponsive and cold. men are evolving as well as a woman. men are learning to be more Kinder and gentler and also more open-minded when it comes to relationships and also parenting of children. certain men have to take up the responsibilities in the situations of being the only parent to raise a child or being responsible adults in a relationship. Even though progress is being made they're still chances that everything could just go backwards.  our president of United States is not helping in this at all along with the conservatives who believe A Woman's Place is to be only in the kitchen and always be caring for them it feels like Society going backwards and not for the better but just for the worse. but that's what Society does, it takes two  strides forward and one big jump back to the Dark Ages. I'm or side with bell hooks saying that when men are Taught to be aggressive and rude at a very young age it just continues the next child and the next child in the next child in the Next Generation keeping this string of aggressive men and putting more aggressive than in our society that we don't need .not all men are vicious animals. not all men are born to turn into these businessmen that make millions of dollars sweeping women off their feet End women are not these beautiful petite dolls that must be kept locked away I only seen lewdly to 1 man or into a man of pleasure. I believe that a society changes so will the paste jerky and hopefully, we don't go into a matriarchy Because if men can be brutal to women back in the day women can be just as worse the men and talk to themselves.we don't need a  matriarchy we need quality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanna_and_the_Elders_(Rembrandt)

by- monique antoine