The Male Gaze & Patriarchy by Amber Torres

The role of women in art has been one that is extremely powerful but often times diminished by the ways in which they are depicted especially under the brushes of men. According to John Berger, the idea of the male gaze insinuates that a women is often times objectified as that of an object of pleasure for the male viewer. Her own thoughts, feelings and sexuality are in turn disregarded in favor of the opposites sex’s pleasure, often times masking the woman in question completely. In essence, a male painter paints a naked woman because he wants to look at her. She is naked and vulnerable to this man, showing who she is as the male sees her, not as who she sees herself to truly be. In this, women exist to simply feed the male appetites, the disregard of her own being an expected narrative that she must conform to.

In his article, “The Ways of Seeing,” author John Berger writes, “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 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). In this, it can be deduced that the view of women in its whole is completely dependent upon the gaze in which men appoint to women as they would like it.

The idea that women serve simply to appease men within an art context is a strong indication of the patriarchal and oppressive attitudes that were pervasive all throughout history and is still very much seen today. In this, women have been placed on pedestal of perfection. The perfect eyes, the perfect hair, and the perfect body have been designed specifically in the ways in which men want them to be and thus, it creates an unfair archetype that women must live up to because that is the way men want them to look like. A woman loses her sense of self in this belief, as the essence of her being is diminished into simply acting as a pawn for men to subject their own desire on to.

Berger continues, “Women are depicted in a quite different way from men - not because the feminine is different from the masculine - but because the “ideal” spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him.” (Berger 64). All throughout history, women have always catered to men socially, religiously and sexually, among other facets of life. The male gaze reflects this sentiment and it is this notion that only perpetuates the near constant sexualization of women that is rampant in multimedia platforms today.

Fashion magazines often show images of scantily clad women promoting products that have no relevance to these types of imagery. In fact, within the entertainment industry, it is a common place belief that, "sex sells," thus the more appealing individuals look within a film, show, or advertisement, the more likely it is that money is to be made. Tom Ford, a renowned American fashion designer, is one individual whose advertisements are incredibly sexually charged in a bid to appeal to a larger male demographic. In this ad, Ford is selling his synonymous men's perfume. The words, "For Men," is printed and presented in a subtle but blunt way, specifically citing who he is aiming his products for all while using the sensuality of a woman's body as discourse.

This Tom Ford ad utilizes the idea of the male gaze to appeal to a mass consumer audience. 

The sexual nature of these images plays on the notion that sex does sell so long as it is the woman whose body is the conveyor for such sexual pleasure. As in the male gaze, the subject here has no face. Her body draws us to her all in its saturated beauty. And yet, this beauty is not for her. As the script says, this beauty is, "For Men."

This same marketing contradiction is seen in another fashion advertisement, this time for major fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. Here, we see a young woman laying seductively amongst the eyes of multiple men, some half undressed. The strong sexual overtones depicted here are stark examples of this notion of the male gaze not only in a literal meaning, but in the fact that despite being the only woman pictured, it is clear that she is the most important character in the scene. Her importance has nothing to do with who she is, rather it what her sexuality embodies to the men around her. Their gaze sets the viewers with the overall mood of seduction and sex, overtly prying on the woman's body for the overall theme. 

This advertisement implies heavy sexual undertones through the use of colors, poses and mood. 

Likewise, a similar argument is discussed in Bell Hook’s article, “The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love,” in which the systematized acceptance of patriarchal dominance is discussed. As per Hook’s explanation, patriarchy is a social structure adhered to by the majority of the world in which males partake in dominant authority over whomever they consider lesser beings, typically women. This sense of superiority has consumed just about every corner of our society and is for the most part a system in which individuals today are conditioned to adhere to regardless. Hooks writes, “We need to highlight the role women play in perpetuating and sustaining patriarchal culture so that we will recognize patriarchy as a system women and men support equally, even if men receive more rewards from that system. Dismantling and changing patriarchal culture is work that men and women must do together,” (Hooks 24). This conditioning of patriarchy is seen in so many facets of our lives, the most prominent for me being in my own family. Within my home, I see the cyclical nature of the perpetuation of patriarchy being practiced by my own parents. My mother works at a hospital and my father works from home. Yet, once their work day is over, no matter how tired my mother maybe or how long her commute back home may have been, she is expected to cook and clean whilst my father tends to other responsibilities. It is this everyday occurrence that I have been conditioned all my life to believe was normal and would one day be expected of me, too. Now, as a young adult with a more educated and concise understanding of how strong of a grip patriarchy has on our society, I have become the greater voice of reasoning in my home in favor of a more balanced team between the two. Coming from a Catholic home whose matriarch is an immigrant women imbued with the cultural values of respect and discipline, the norm that patriarchy holds over my life is one that I have begun combating once I realized just how unjust it was to me, a young college woman living in a time where the resistance against these systematic failures is at its peak.
In the end, patriarchy and the male gaze are two ideas that are interwoven not only within our society, but within our own psyche as well. These notions that have oppressed women for so long and continue to regulate our society in such a systematic way have the chance to be dismantled so long as we continue to fight against these commonplace injustices today and tomorrow.

Works Cited:

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

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