What is the Male Gaze?

Attribution: Library of Congress

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

The male gaze is a concept used in feminist film theory that was coined by Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Consider the camera as the male gaze: a man looking at the woman on screen as nothing but a sexual object. The male gaze forms a film around the heterosexual male desire that is evoked by looking at a woman, or what Mulvey called “scopophilia.” In short terms, the male gaze is a lens in a film that empowers men and objectifies women.

What are the Impacts?

Internalized Objectification:

When girls and women see products of the male gaze so often, they begin to feel the need to appeal to it. One study looked at the internalized objectification of 105 female college students: the women who were expecting to interact with a man “reported significantly greater body shame and social physique anxiety,” compared to the women who were expecting to interact with a woman. This is a daily struggle that woman must face because it would be difficult to go out in public and not expect to see a man. There is no wonder why young girls are more anxious and insecure than ever; objectification in the media they consume is forcing them to objectify themselves.

Gender Socialization:

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Accurate representation of women becomes important when considering gender socialization, or when children learn gender roles that ultimately impact their sense of self as they grow up. This process occurs at a young age, before socialization related to schooling or religion. As little girls observe women as sexual objects in film, they may struggle to see themselves as anything else as adults. If little boys observe the male gaze in films, they will learn to see women in that way, ultimately making the sexualization of women feel normal.

Attribution: Nenad Stojkovic via Flickr

License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode

Changes: Cropped

Confirming Gender Stereotypes:

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Films with the male gaze confirm the stereotype that women are nothing but a sexual object for men to use for themselves. This outlook contributes to the sexist ideals that exist in the US’ patriarchal society. The male gaze lives in the binary of men as dominant leaders and women as submissive objects. These specific gender stereotypes give men power and dehumanize women. Additionally, the male gaze has a level of heteronormativity – as if EVERY woman desires validation from a man.