The Male Gaze and Patriarchy

Venus of Urbino by Titian
Venus is shown laying on the bed directing her attention toward the male spectator.

The male gaze, as described by Berger, refers to the idea of looking at visual art in a way that objectifies women and empowers men as the spectators. Berger’s concept of the male gaze arises from the fact that women, in art, are seen as objects to flatter men and the power given to them depends on how they appear to men. In the paintings, women become conscious of their nudity and display it in a way that does not represent their own feelings but that please the male spectator outside of the picture. In “Ways of Seeing” by Berger, it is stated that “…the ideal spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (64). Therefore, a woman’s identity is explored by means of how she is perceived by the male spectator, her sexuality is not projected as her own, instead it projects that of the male watching her. Berger also explores the concept of submission, and how the female’s feelings in the painting do not express her own, but a submission to her owner’s demands (52). The male gaze in art and popular culture is pervasive because it portrays women in erotic ways designed for men to view. Women in such situations engage in a relationship with the assumed male spectator and their actions in the picture are expressed for him to admire and flatter. Take into account the GUCCI GUILTY male cologne advertisement , although the woman in the ad is involved with a lover in a physical relationship, she is directing her attention to the outsider, which would be the male spectator. Note that images like this were also pervasive in paintings during the Renaissance era such as the famous painting by Von Aachen, “Bacchus, Ceres And Cupid”, a male is observed in the painting, however the female is ignoring his presence and visually engaging with the male-owner spectator. Therefore, the female painted is forced to acknowledge the owner as her true lover and completely ignores the male in the painting (Berger, Ways of seeing pg 56). The male gaze robs women of their independency and expression of their own as they are portrayed as being there for men, their role is to be attractive to men, and only if they fulfill this role can they be attractive to themselves.  In popular culture, the male gaze is also pervasive because females are used to “sell”, they are projected offering their femininity and sexuality to unknown male spectators making a product more attractive to the male. 

Male cologne advertisement by Gucci

Patriarchy, on the other hand, is defined by Bell Hooks as a threat that assaults the male body and spirit and insists that males are dominant and superior over everything considered weak, especially females ("The will to change" pg18). In addition, Hooks relates how the concept of patriarchy arises from blind obedience and repression of all feelings except of fear (23). Patriarchy arises when fear gives way for it to establish, when a female is afraid of her male counterpart there is more room for patriarchy and thus dominant behavior from the male to take part. However, if females disobeyed or stood up to patriarchal males, they were severely punished, especially for not fulfilling their gender roles. 

Patriarchy and its components 

Hooks provides examples of her story to help us understand patriarchy in a better way, she explains that she was taught to serve, to be weak, to nurture, and feelings of rage were not allowed because she was a girl. As opposed to her brother, who was taught that he must be served, his roles were to provide, to be strong (18).  Caretaking was a role for women, men were supposed to be aggressive and dominant, and whenever these gender roles were switched, it was devastating, and such behavior had to be punished. I have come to understand that patriarchy is still dominating in some places, even though people do not often realize it. We fail to think that patriarchy can also arise from women, as Hooks explains; and women must be part of it for patriarchy to be understood. Sometimes we unconsciously promote patriarchal principles in our households, for example, in some Hispanics households, sisters are taught to serve their fathers, to clean after them and their brothers, they are taught to cook etc. However, males are never taught these things because we have established the ideas that such things are for women to do, males are supposed to provide, therefore there is no need for them to learn because after all, women were taught to serve. This is a way of implicitly promoting patriarchy, sometimes by just telling children that boys are not supposed to play with dolls and girls must not play with action figures, we are already imposing patriarchy on them. An article by Drew Serres, "Why Patriarchy Persists (And How We Can Change It)" , the author explores the nature of patriarchy and how people collectively adhere to these principles. He states that one of the problems of patriarchy is the conforming of society to principles such as that of "Boys will be boys" and therefore they must be aggressive, as well as celebrating the "Macho man" character in men. 

I have learned that because Patriarchy, female artists in art history were hardly acknowledged. As the Guerilla Girls explain, it is not that there have not been enough women in art history, it is just that they have not been considered great artists (“Guerrilla Girls” pg 7). Because of patriarchy, women were not acknowledged as artists of quality and their works were often signed under their male mentors, making it even more difficult to find their authentic work. 

By: Joselyn Guaranda

Work cited:

1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing; a Book Made by John Berger. British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.

2. Hooks, bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Simon & Schuster, 2005.

3. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Print
4. Drew Serres, Why Patriarchy Persists (And How We Can Change It,  n.d. Organizing Change