The Male Gaze: A Lens That Shapes Female Identity and Self-Worth
Ana Hernandez
The phrase “the male gaze” was first coined by film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the representation of women in visual arts and literature as sexual objects from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Over time, its meaning has extended into society, portraying women as potential relationship material even before adolescence. A 2011 study conducted by the American Psychological Association said: “mere anticipation of a male gaze increased self-objectification in young women and led to greater body shame and social physique anxiety when compared to participants who anticipated a female gaze or no gaze at all.” Concluding that when women are enabled to take a self-objectifying gaze, they feel anxiety and shame about their appearance.
The male gaze has significantly affected women’s self-esteem and identity, shaping their self-perception from a very young age. Even today, societal expectations often pressure women to conform to certain gendered standards, which promotes a very narrow view of femininity. The pressure to conform to these societal norms, or even to accept them, has taken a toll on women’s mental health. According to data obtained by The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media, women in media are four times more likely to wear revealing clothing than their male counterparts.
This camera shot is used to formally depict the women as the main object surrounded by men who are objectifying her. | Image Credit: Pinterest
Social media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, and Tinder have historically been tied to dynamics that often undermine women. Facebook, created by Mark Zuckerberg, initially served as a rating tool to demean and berate women. Snapchat’s founder Evan Spiegel, faced controversy over misogynistic messages he reportedly sent during his fraternity days. Spiegel sent messages referring to girls with terms like “bitches” and “sorisluts” along with other inappropriate comments about women. Tinder, a gamified speed-dating app, has spawned terms like “tinderslut” to refer to women who use the app to explore their dating options.
The camera shot helps depict the woman as the main source of the man’s point of view. | Image Credit: Pinterest
The concept of the male gaze has also led to the term “internalized male gaze,” which refers to the widely felt pressure on heterosexual women to appease and appeal to men. This expectation is often one that many people learn from a young age, where traditional gender roles suggest that women should embody certain traits to be viewed as desirable partners for men.. Examples of these roles include cooking or cleaning, dressing in a very feminine way, conveying “innocence” and naivety, and fulfilling a nurturing role within the family.
The male gaze also reinforces a power imbalance between the observer and the object of the gaze, as it portrays women as passive objects for male use. In her 1975 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey first introduced the concept of the “male gaze”. She recently wrote a new essay elaborating on her stance, as the term has since been overused and given a more clichéd definition.
“Female performers, that is, the female stars, were visualized with all the spectacular attributes of the cinema itself, but also highly sexualized and endowed with a quality that I called ‘to-be-looked-at-ness," Mulvey explains. The male performers, on the other hand, tended to control the story and responded to the ‘woman as spectacle’ with a dynamic, active, and erotic gaze,” she says. A good example would be Tom from 500 days of summer, whose perspective of summer heavily fluctuates as his feelings change throughout the movie. He would say that he's in love with summer in his “good days” with her and then he would devalue her when they broke up, making him an unreliable narrator a rendering the audience's perspective of her based solely on his opinions, which could lead to viewers not being able to make the decision for themselves.
Image Credit: Pinterest
In order to promote a more inclusive voice, we should have more female representation in the media. Using women’s own perspectives to make the cinematic industry more inclusive. Giving women a more understanding and nuanced story would help gain a new point of view on women’s struggles in relationships and their internal journeys.
Strike Out,
Ana Hernandez
Editor: Carla Mendez
Ana Hernandez is an aspiring author with articles featuring topics such as human rights, psychology, and fashion. She has prior experience with Strike Magazine Boca and was also a copywriting intern for an eyewear brand. Her hobbies include writing heartfelt reviews about books, with the majority of their genres being romance, literary fiction, and mystery. She is a student at Broward College pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English with a track in writing and rhetoric. You can see her portfolio here.
