All Eyes on Her

The Male Gaze: What is it? Who experiences it? I conducted an experiment among some women in a previous Media class and asked the question what do u think the male gaze is, and most of them just like me had never heard the term before( and most if not all of them are aspiring media majors)..

The male gaze to me is a term used to objectify women. It is a certain way that the male stares at a female and makes her feel like she is the the only one in the room. The term coined by Laura Mulvey was introduced as a way for men to view women. The male gaze enables women to be commodities that help products get sold. Companies rely on the "male gaze" to sell a product for example Maxim magazine, Victoria's Secret and Playboy.These companies all use the most beautiful , well tanned and sexiest women in their ads. The sexy women in ads personify what the male gaze represents.

"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." John Berger.. This statement hold true to because women do like the attention they receive from guys staring at them. Women love being told that they look good, or that they are beautiful. They feel some sort of acceptance knowing that they just received a compliment from non other than a man.

"The oppositional gaze" on the other hand is the total opposite of the "Male gaze". "The oppositional gaze" as used by Bell Hooks leans more towards women of color. It is the way the women of color are perceived in the film and media industry. Up until recently women of color were not often seen in major films or even in certain media outlets. But as time passed we have emerge from the cotton fields and have been starring alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood and one of the most influential women on our times just happens to be a women of color.