The Male Gaze and Patriarchy

“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 women 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) This is how John Berger describes the male gaze. A women's main objective is to serve men's sexual appetite, however, not have one of their own. This kind of thinking has been embedded within society for centuries. One can go as far back as to when the bible was written and come to the conclusion that the writers created a hierarchical order between God, Adam and Eve, with God being the divine, all-knowing creator, Adam being his agent, and Eve merely being a submissive after though who is told to be obedient and bear Adams children. Within art, primary way to advance and promote the male gaze throughout history is through the paintings of nudes. In them, women are always the center focus. Little boys or men may be surrounding her, the attention however always lies on the women. The female body is depicted hairless and although male actors might make eye contact with the female, she always stares off to the side, almost as if she was looking to lock eyes with the person viewing the piece of art.

"The Venus of Urbino" by Titian, highly sexualizes the female body, which is achieved by placing her left hand between her thighs. Furthermore, the maid and child in the background are a reminder of women's obligations and expectations.

Patriarchy is a social construct in which men dominate society and women take a passive, obedient back seat to their male counterparts. It effects every aspect of live, may it be social, within a family, or in the professional corporate world. “Patriarchy is 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 and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” (Hooks, 18) It is heavily intertwined with the language we use as well. Certain words seem to be reserved for the male sex, such as successful, strong, dominant, tough, angry. Hooks brings up further examples of patriarchy she experienced while growing up, being punished for showing rage, as this was a feeling women should eradicate, however her parents emphasized the importance of showing her feelings. The opposite was true for her brother. He was punished for showing his feelings, but encouraged to express rage.

Today, as much as we have evolved and moved forward as a society, the male gaze and patriarchy can still be found everywhere in our lives and as Hooks illustrates, it starts at a very young age when these ides get embedded and drilled into the minds of young generations. It is important to understand, however, that this relationship is not one dictated by nature, but rather a man made concept. It can be changed at any point in time, only it has been manifested within societies for so long that change is difficult. It is also necessary for men and women to, first of all acknowledge the issue, and secondly be willing to fight together to change it. It has to be a shared effort. As mentioned above, language and the words we use and what we associate them with are a key factor. Words should be gender neutral, it is inconceivable that “strength” or “success” should be reserved or strictly associated with males. This has to start in early parenthood, teaching young boys that there lies no shame in showing your emotions, playing with dolls, or loving the color pink. Likewise, young women should be encouraged to be strong , independent and successful. Once we manage to change this fundamental thought process, we will be able to have a more equal, just and healthy society.

By Julian James Tsolakis

Work Cited


Berger, John. Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series with John Berger. British Broadcasting Corp., 2012.


Hooks, Bell. The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Simon & Schuster, 2004.