The Male Gaze, Art and Society

   Throughout history, women have been the subject of art in various medias whether paintings, cinema, literature or poetry.  The manner in which women are portrayed and the purpose of this portrayal impacts societies perceptions of women, how women view themselves, and how others perceive women's attitudes toward themselves.

   There is an underlying power struggle that comes in to play with the way these women are portrayed.  In Berger's article he explains the difference between the presence of a man versus the presence of a woman.  A man's presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodies. The promised power may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual - but it's object is always exterior to the man (Berger, 45-46).  In contrast,  according to Berger a woman's presence expresses her own attitude towards herself  e.g. her gestures, voice, tone, opinions, the way she presents herself, is seen as a direct reflection of who she is, who she perceives herself to be, how she wants to be treated,  and the sense that her existence is for the purpose of being looked at and to appear for the male eye.

    We are bombarded with societal suggestions of perceived beauty through advertisement, media, magazine covers, the perceived beauty that celebrities are held upon, all in direct correlation to the standards which have been set up by white European men's standards from the past.

   History shows us that the male presence or gaze, is directly enforced through the manner in which women are portrayed as objects, something to be looked at.  This enables the male gaze to exert its power over the woman, and her objectification suppresses any power that she could have.  To place her as a naked figure with alluring eyes, and a seductive look, pertains to the direct purpose of exerting male dominance over the female psyche.

    Bell Hooks addresses the topic of Black Female Spectators in order to address the imbalance of black women's portrayal in cinema.  She points out the political underlying stereotypes of black women's representation in the media.   The difference between the spectator (the male) and the image which were women further puts a gap between the two sources of power- with men grasping a dominant stance on women's appearance in film.  Hooks further states that even white women themselves were not perceived to be "white" enough when referring to blonde "bombshells" that have been known in American culture such as Marilyn Monroe and Bridgette Bardot.  These women portrayed are not only white, but platinum blondes, considered to be "ultra feminine" and "ultra sexy."  (Hooks, 119)

  Hooks' article further presents the idea of questioning the images before us.   The gaze is not only representational of digging into social, political and racial issues but to raise the idea of questioning the scene/imagery/stereotypes that is placed before us.  Her point is to not only question whether the misrepresentation of Black women is deemed unfair and traumatic but to raise knowledge of the way we are groomed to view women as mere objects for the white male's ideologies of what women are supposed to be.  She hopes that in due time that we can think critically of the way females are subjectified and that Black female spectatorship can be used to know the present, understand the past, and possible invent a different future.

  The portrayal of women in art and cinema is something that I have been exploring through my art.  I  am sometimes unsure of the direction in which I plan to go with.  There are times that political aspects of sexuality and race are my main ideas, and sometimes I wish to promote female power and strength.  Our society has certainly changed in the past few decades and the new millennium has produced a different breed of women.  Not only are women CEO's of corporations, they are doing it all while still performing domesticated duties such as raising a family and obtaining degrees.  The power of persuasion through the use of cinema, art, literature has definitely encouraged me to pursue different goals and aspirations.  Hopefully one day, there will be a time when the "gaze" can be balanced and shifted into an even scale void of male dominance or coercion.

Marilyn Monroe & Bridget Bardott