Looking from the Outside

Alexa Perez
Post 2

What is the male gaze?

The male gaze as descried on the Way of seeing is the notion that women are objects, meaning they are there to fulfil the satisfactions of the ideal fantasy for a man. The spectator as Berger states. The women's purpose is to be looked by the man. She has no meaning what's important is the figment that is envision by her presence. Berger theories are express through nude and sexual paintings of women images.

Women are constantly being examine in their every move and self expression. "One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between man and women but also the relation of women themselves." Women are placed under a microscope.

Another idea reflected from the male gaze is that beauty is what is worthy. This is an ongoing issue today because beauty is what sells. The most beautiful women are the ones' that are desired.

The media places a tremendous amount of pressure toward women in deciding what is consider beautiful. Women that are consider beautiful are the ones that are accepted. The outcome behind this view makes women compete with one another. This creates demons and self infliction among many women today. One issue that women deal with is her weight, if a women is petite, slim then that is sexy and beautiful!

The oppositional gaze described by Bell Hooks has to do with "the power of looking". Bell refers to black women as the spectator. She uses examples in her piece relating back to slavery when they were not permitted to look, " all attempts to repress our/black peoples' right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze."

Bell Hooks expresses how black women in films, "cinemas were objects of the gaze." But they were not representing themselves, they were portraying white women. Which meant that their experiences were consider non existent and unacceptable. The media today has made drastic changes within the last decades, but yet some criticisms still persist today.