Have you experienced the male gaze in your life?
Why is the male gaze so damaging to women?
Because the gaze is a sexually aggressive force.
Recently, Chinese debater Ruixi he made this point in a debate on his show.
But the debater pointed out, The biggest problem with the male gaze is that it is not an aesthetic gaze, but an invisible biased violence with sexual aggression. Women who are ‘gazed at’ become more anxious, depressed and lonely. In this gaze, sex is possessive.
Because sex is aggressive, women feel fear. When sex is aggressive, women experience very strong feelings of insecurity in the public sphere.
What is the male gaze?
The male gaze is a theory developed by feminist theorist and filmmaker Laura Mulvey. The original popularity of the term was linked to the portrayal of female characters in film, who were portrayed as objects of male desire, inactive and often explicitly sexualizing. However, the impact of the “male gaze” is not limited to the portrayal of women and girls in film. Rather, it extends to the experience of gazing in this way at the female characters on screen and at the audience, as well as at all girls and women.
The impact of the male gaze naturally permeates women’s self-perception and self-esteem. This has to do not only with the impact of seeing other women reduced to supporting roles, but also with how women are asked to adapt to such roles in real life. Conforming to (or simply accepting or accommodating) this patriarchal perception, and the pressure to be seen in this way, shapes the way women view their own and other women’s bodies, abilities, and place in the world.
The dominant male gaze
Everything around us reminds girls of their appearance and even ridicules them for it. This is not to say that women cater to the male gaze by dressing up and striving for beauty, but rather that we should think about how tolerant we are of girls’ authenticity, and whether we can allow girls to go beyond what society expects of them, to make their voices heard, and to live their lives outside of the traditional patriarchy.
Is it possible to explore a different path for women, to show them that beyond the traditional narrative roles, women can play more roles in their lives, not as daughters, wives and mothers, but as “queens” of their own lives, as independent beings.
References:
Vanbuskirk, S. (2022) What is the male gaze?, Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-male-gaze-5118422 (Accessed: 05 December 2023).
Zhgna-H-Ei (2023) 【席瑞】对于男性来说被凝视可能只是玩笑，但对于女生来说那却是生命不能承受的无法言说。哔哩哔哩_bilibili, 哔哩哔哩_bilibili. Available at: https://b23.tv/fl3sbJW (Accessed: 05 December 2023).
Malena (2001) IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0213847/ (Accessed: 05 December 2023).
Jackson, L.M. (2023) The invention of ‘the male gaze’, The New Yorker. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-invention-of-the-male-gaze (Accessed: 05 December 2023).
