Tiffany Gamboa
Professor Doris Cacoilo
Media 384
25 February 2016

 Defining the Male Gaze

          The male gaze is the phenomenon that the visual and behavioral components of a woman must cater to the standards of men. It has always been apparent that the social existence of a woman is completely different from a man's. While a man is supposed to radiate an image of power, a woman's existence is always to be considered as sexual objects to be watched by the pursuing eye of a man. According to British critic, John Berger, he wrote "Men act and women appear...the surveyor of a woman in herself is male...Thus she turns herself into an object and most particularly an object of vision: a sight" (Berger 47). This ideology of the male gaze is extremely detrimental to our culture. because it supports the idea that women do not have a persona of their own and it enforces the idea of women being only visual objects. For example, in the movie, Suicide Squad, the character Harley Quinn is seen as a klutzy, looney, promiscuous woman intended to serve the Joker unconditionally. She is depicted as the Joker's possession. This also sends a negative message to female audiences, which can shape their perception that this is the only role women can play in movies. Ever since the movie came out, many girls have been flocking to dress up as Harley Quinn and imitate her behavior, especially young girls. Figurines, such as this one, have been sold, helping to engrave the idea that young girls appearing sweet and sexy is the way to go.

Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad depicted to appeal to the eye of the male viewer.

          The oppositional gaze, discussed by Bell Hooks, is the notion that reaffirms black people's right to "gaze," or look, watch, observe.  It is mainly utilized black females to question the male gaze, specifically the white male gaze. “When most black people in the United States first had the opportunity to look at film and television, they did so fully aware that mass media was a system of knowledge and power reproducing and maintaining white supremacy. To stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage its images, was to engage its negation of black representation” (Bell Hooks 117). Bell Hooks speaks further about this preference that Berger failed to mention about.

Mammy, Hattie McDaniel, gazing at Scarlett O'Hara

Women are objectified, sexualized and exploited to cater to a male audience. The saying "sex sells" is has been proven countless times. However, the fact that this ideal is cemented into our culture is a huge problem. In Laura Mulvey’s book, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey writes discusses the concept of scopophilic, which is known as obtaining erotic pleasure from looking. Women are often  the target of these visual desires. Mulvey writes “Women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Women displayed as sexual objects is the leitmotif f of erotic spectacle;from pin ups to strip-tease” (Mulvey 837). In cinema, men are granted the privilege to gaze at women in an exhibitionist manner and by doing so they control the fantasy of the film, thus adding holding the power, as in the bearer of looking. For example, in both the original Spiderman and the gif of a Spiderman parody posted below, both protagonists Peter Parker, peep at Mary Jane from afar. Peter Parker, who is supposed to be a teenage boy, is played by an adult man. A lot of people can argue that because he is a "growing teenage boy," this is typical teenage boy behavior. These types of beliefs are what cause males to gaze at women at any point in time to become the norm, especially from a young age.

Jack Black as Spiderman peeping at Mary Jane, Sarah Michelle Gellar

In conclusion, these readings have taught me to look at media, especially mainstream movies a little closer and analyze the lens in which they're made. Unfortunately, they’ll most likely still be through the lens of white privileged males, however it is definitely something everyone should continue to analyze. It took me awhile to understand that everything stems off of patriarchy. Patriarchy is what causes gender roles within cinema. In Bell Hook’s Understanding Patriarchy, she writes “He was taught that for a boy, enjoying violence was a good thing...a boy should not express feelings. I was taught that girls could and should not express feelings...rage was not an appropriate feminine feeling” (Bell Hooks 19). You see males in films behaving in a much more aggressive way than females, and females succumbing to these macho male protagonists. An example of this is in Goldfinger(1964) featuring Sean Connery as James Bond. In the first scene of the clip linked here, you see Bond making advances on a woman who is trying to leave. She refuses his advances, causing it to him to become aggressive and pins her down until he forces a kiss out of her. These movies send negative messages towards the audience, making it seem okay for a male to show violence and aggression towards a female if she rejects his advances and in turn teaches females to submit to this type of behavior in order.

       

Works Cited

          
            Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

           Hooks, Bell. Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. Print.

          Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy. Louisville, KY: Louisville Anarchist Federation Federation, 2010. Print.

          Mulvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. N.p.: n.p., 1999. Print.

          

Post 2

The male gaze is a subjective view upon women's bodies, generalizing characteristics and promoting an image that may not be factual, yet heavily influences our society for years. The male gaze has been controlling everything since the beginning of time. Men "always" have the final say, so to speak, about women and how they're viewed. The oppositional gaze started with film, Bell Hooks states "looking at films with an oppositional gaze, black women were able to critically assess the cinema's construction of white womanhood as object of phallocentric gaze and choose not to identify with either victim or the perpetrator." The oppositional gaze allows you to examine how black women are portrayed in film, that portrayal in film may seem small but it creates a huge impact on the discourse that surrounds the matter. This helps viewers make hasty generalizations and make misinterpretations about black women. 

Bell Hooks mentions the film Imitation of Life, and when I watched that film myself, I remembered my grandmother telling me about how white women never raised their own children, they would hire black wet nurses and nannies to care for them. For me to see a movie that depicts lack women struggling and even when doing "right" they are never good enough. Women have always been under pressure to be and act a certain way and there is art dating back to the Renaissance Era that shows images of women projected a certain way. 

John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" is a perfect example about how women were projected during that time period. Berger begins by discussing Adam and Eve and states "They became aware of being naked because, as a result of eating the apple, each saw the other differently. Nakedness was created in the mind of the beholder. [The second striking fact is that] the woman is blamed and is punished by being made subservient to the man. In relation to the woman the man becomes the agent of God." This then leads into how shame came into play depicting women naked and feeling ashamed about it.

Berger also states that in these images, the implication is that the woman is being noticed by a spectator (a man). He also described the difference between nudity and nakedness in these oil paintings. Nakedness has a sort of shame behind it whereas nudity is where a woman is depicted sexually appealing to a man. This has some place in the world now because women are seen as sex objects too frequently. 

The film Miss Representation discusses how women are portrayed as sex symbols more frequently than in positions of power as if women could never attain that. The film explains that in other films or television shows, women are not portrayed as the decision maker, or have a position in politics or business. Movies as old as His Girl Friday even discusses that women can't even be taken serious as journalists. Bell Hooks touches on how women are shown as "bitches and nags," this shows that men dominate the views of women and thus have the upper hand because they're obviously the "better sex."

Works Cited

Hooks, Bell. The Oppositional Gaze. Black Looks: Race and Representations. South End Press, 1992.

Berger, John. Chapters 2, 3. Ways of Seeing:. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Post 1

Anytime you're put on the spot to figure out who you are in relation to the media, you'll notice how inarticulate you will be in trying to answer that question. If in fact you feel this way, you're possibly too consumed in media to even begin to think of who you are without it, or in it. It's like you get lost in trying to find yourself through media, let me explain. Media is so prominent in our society because it changed the way we intake news, music, fashion and art; everything appears so fast and then disappears as new media emerges. It can be quite overwhelming to a person who has embedded in their head that they have to take note every time a new piece of information is released to the web. You're probably reading this and asking yourself "what does this have to do with anything?" The thing is, if we lived without this fast paced media,  we would have a time to think about what it is we actually think of ourselves without the outside lens influencing us to be a person the media projects us to be. Now, I always thought I was at least one step ahead of the game because I know that media is a huge influence of how we think of ourselves and I try very hard not to allow media to change my own personal views and values about life. However, in me doing so, I can also tune the media out so much that I'm blind to the actual news outlets that try their best to release truths and in a domino effect I help the media generate the things I would consider trash (i.e. click bait, propaganda, reality television, etc.) by actually giving it my attention because in the back of my mind "I expect these things already." So what does that make me? A hypocrite or a person is controlled by media but would rather not admit that. 

It's true, I'm totally influenced by media. Media is my life, I'm a millennial; but when is it too much? 

My favorite platform is Twitter; I am always on Twitter. Every semester I deactivate all other accounts, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, but not Twitter. Why is that? Let's look at the things I do on Twitter: 

Absolutely nothing, I do absolutely nothing on Twitter except retweet my Leo horoscope "character traits", insensitive jokes about politics and people who I would consider idiots. It's not even like I'm entertained by all of these things, it's just very addicting if you let yourself become reliant on it. However, I promise I don't use my media for satire purposes only. I also retweet articles about black, male, female oppression (http://www.thenewsherald.com/opinion/the-oppression-of-women-is-alive-and-well-in-the/article_1b5846bc-32a7-57e7-9798-f5d799252de4.html), I tweet about how the media uses propaganda to control the discourse of our nation; I actually use my media for good (most times). When I tweet about those things, that's when I'm most myself on media. 

I don't give media enough credit, personally. Anytime I get into an in depth conversation about how media is out to control us ,how it pushes negative agendas about women and minorities to turn everyone against us, but really, if we weren't shown those things, if we didn't know about these things, we wouldn't have our own opinion. The media allowed us to have an opinion. The truth is, media IS informative; without media, I probably wouldn't be so passionate about change. Everything is put in your face because of media, its up to you to refrain from being gullible and believing everything that is published is true, that's how you overcome "media oppression," but not being afraid to learn and research and think. 

Post 2: On ways of seeing/Viewing

By:Hussein Farraj 

What is the male gaze and why is it a pervasive form of vision in popular culture?

- The male gaze is a masculine view of how men view women as objects instead of actual human beings. The scientific word for this is scopophilia but then cinema takes a new lead to it when it gets to dominating women with power as well. This gaze has taken over our society today in political, religious, literature, and in media forms that degrade women to only having value in their appearance. For example, in Freud's famous  phase "Women's desire is subjected to her image as a bearer of the bleeding wound, she can exist only in relation to castration and cannot transcend it."(Laura Mulvey). This means that a women are only brought into this world to bear children, be a servant to man, and to look pretty for her husband. A relatable outcome that has happened in American culture was the presidential election. Instead of having a women that was fit for the position, America decided to elect a man who doesn't have a single clue about politics. President Trumps main focus to winning the presidency was basically lieing and bullying Hillary. Bell Hooks explains that white capitalist corrupt this system to their favor because they believe it was meant for them. "Imperialistic white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy to describe the interlocking political systems that are foundation of our nation's politics"(Understanding Patriarchy). Bell Hooks basically describes President Trump in one sentence. A man who only cares about money and believes he is better than everyone especially women. Remember the bus right he took!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o21fXqguD7U Here is another youtube video of the man literally talking shit about Hillary and getting away with this on a national stage. Isn't that a patriarchy moment!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLsSNi1BYk
-The male gaze is a pervasive form of vision in popular culture because the entertainment field is male dominated. "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/ female. Male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. (Laura Mulvey). This means that male writers and producers want to express their conditioned narcissistic views of male and female interactions to being the norm. That males hold power into looking at women and the women is just ok to being look at as a pleasure tool. The after affects of watching this unfair basis leads to the formation of rape culture. Professor Cacoilo explains through her lectures that these movies are shown purposely to the younger audience because of how easy it is to convince a child to think this way instead of an adult. For example, the Transformer movie franchise has a huge play to male gaze onto women. Remember that scene when Shia Labeouf looks at Angelina Jolie as she is fixing the car. Usually fixing a dam car is messy but instead the producers wanted the shot to look like a greased up women in a porno magazine.

Yep so sexy!!

What is the oppositional gaze and why( as described by Bell Hooks) has it developed?
-The oppositional gaze is a political resistance movement when black people weren't allowed to observe, stare, or gaze into cinema or any piece of information. This develops because during that time black people were increasing their knowledge through multiple information sources. Once conflict shows that these cinema films and news papers were delivering messages against black representation, they went a different path. "To stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage its images, was to engage its negation of black representation" (Oppositional Gaze, 117). Soon to follow was the bringing of black cinema, black news papers, and even black stations. An example, of a successful news paper that gave information to its people was the Black Press. Here is a passionate video that will better example the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Jg4wTthDM
How have you come to understand these structures and in what ways has this understanding changed your views about various media examples and of your own identity and role in these structures? 
- I now understand how the media has extremely conditioned men to believing that women are objects to be used in pleasure, dominance, and even as tools for blaming. As a brother and son to, two extremely influential women in my life, I can't let this go on. Personally, I feel embarrassed back when I made fun of my sister when she had problems about these obstacles going on in her life. When she couldn't get her first job because, her field is male dominated and females have to look appealing to being hired. Media today is slowly changing, because of the more diverse groups of people challenging these sources like Al-Jazrea. The media companies help the public to forming their own opinion and in the process, spreading the truth of what goes on. I am more aware now of how society conditions males to believe a certain way,  and its like now I can't stop seeing all of this unfair bullshit.

          Sources: 

The Oppositional Gaze-Bell Hooks:
https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/pg/masters/modules/femlit/bell_hooks.pdf

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema- Laura Mulvey:
https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf

Understanding Patriarchy-Bell Hooks:
http://imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf

Group 1: Patriarchy, The Male Gaze, & Miss representation

Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently the power holders while women 

are inferior. They are endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that

dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence. Within all societies, religion, and

personal households, women are often treated as second class citizens. Patriarchy conditions men to feel

powerful and to objectify women, hence the connection of patriarchy to the male gaze. Women in media

today are often portrayed from the masculine perspective. They are presented as objects of pleasure for

men.Laura Mulvey called this representation of women, “the male gaze.” The misinterpretation and

objectification of women are rooted in the patriarchal ideology of the society. As opposed to male gaze,

oppositional gaze is the way black women are represented in the media. The phrase was developed by Bell

Hooks in 1992. Hooks argued that black people, and specifically women in particular, are often

misrepresented in the media or not represented at all. The oppositional gaze is the direct response and

rebellion to their misrepresentation in film. Black women were objectified, not only by men, but also by

white culture. They were denied voice and authenticity in their representation. However as women they

were also victims of the male gaze, and the rules    of a patriarchal society. The documentary, Miss 

Representation  highlights women’s underrepresentation of women in politics, power, and influence. The

documentary really summarized the complexities of representations of women in our world and showed us

just how connected these concepts of patriarchy, male gaze, and oppositional gaze are, and how they’ve

been imbedded in a culture dominated by the media. It teaches us to challenge our world and perceptions

and to be ambitious in our own goals and excel. Above all, the documentary teaches us the importance of

being critical, especially in a society where we have been conditioned not to think, just to observe and retain. 

- Hussein Farraj, Ekaterine Kervalishvili, Roba Alamari

Media and African American Actors

The male gaze is the unconditioned stimuli which are the female sight that turns into a conditioned response. Female worry and raise her anxiety level due to the fact she wants to meet the now conditioned response of the male. 
" she is not naked as she is, she is naked as the spectator sees her"(Berger,50) The United States of America is considered as the pinnacle of freedom and the mother of sexual freedom. America is looked up to as a heaven that many dreams of reaching. But what is shocking is that Europe has been expression more sexual freedom especially in media. Nudity is not serious on the tv screen, and they do not over react at the sight of the female body. As this quote illustrates a woman is only naked by the way she is looked at. One can be sitting in the same room as the woman she can change in front of him, but at the same time he could not see her "naked." In contrast after a long conversation with an. Individual they might become bald, and fragile    After they have the exposed themselves to you.

The pervasive form of vision is conditioned in all males growing up. Girls are seen as weak creatures that are only created for the enjoyment of man. Their dress, their makeup, their actions are all geared for a man's fun and pleasure. Every media platform helps develop this idea which leads to the growth of these negative notions. "The consequence of this misframing  are important to young been searching for ways to be a man." (Kimmel). Woman as objects for man All children growing up have the same dreams, and wishes tell they get to middle and high school. The shocking thing is that no one pays attention to when and how these dreams and values change. For boys they desire manhood. This manhood is illustrated in movies as violence and dominating woman. For girls, womanhood means more makeup. Boys sexuality and emotions are suppressed the more suppress they become, the greater the chance of violent release. This is seen in the number of shooting and suicides nationwide. In psychology, the science of describing the relationship between physical (objective) and a psychological (subjective) event is called psychophysics. This could be used to understand scopophilic instinct which is the pleasure of looking at another person as an erotic object.( Mulvey 841)
The media, as well as the movies, have erotic and voyeuristic nature to them. Woman are quickly turned into "passive raw material for the active game of man ... until the structure of representing adding to the ideology of the patriarchy order . ( Mulvey 841)


We live in a society that places so much pressure and value on the idea of perfection. From music. To sports,  to even the birth of a child seeking perfection leads to madness. This leads to a society that is controlled and the death of freedom which in return kills humanity. Bell Hooks talks about the power and monitoring that the media had and still has. The oppositional gaze is described as a different way to re-analyze and critically think of the press that is forced upon each. This was a kind of rebellion against the white supremacy in movies and media. A result of this revolution black media and cinema started. " the gaze has been and is a site of resistance for colonized black people globally.(Bell Hooks 2). As a child growing up the gaze is critical. Some societies say it is disrespectful to look at parents and that you should look down. In contrast, other countries want you to look at the person yelling at you or teaching you because looking away is disrespectful. I never really thought about how critical this gaze could be. A simple yet very powerful human habit that is innately done by ever living creature. Hooks describes how this same gaze was seeing as the rebellion by the African American slave to his master. The same way the media doesn't show the life and experiences of American Americans to the same extent as the white man's life is portrayed in movies.  This is why there is a black entertain network, and even independent black movie awards show. Something fascinating and sad is the notion that every African American actor had been asked or worn a dress. How can the only way great artists such as Terry Crew have to wear a dress to make a dollar? What the African American Actor forced to do

Children growing up are exposed to these images and have them in the back of their heads. They see that society doesn't black man unless he is a sports star or  Rapper. Even those two are looked at negatively being compared to beasts and associated with crime and violence.

       Work Cited

• Berger, John. Chapter 2-3 Ways of Seeing. 1972.
• Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy, The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity and love.Washington press,2004 
• Hooks, Bell, The Oppositional Gaze, Black looks: Race and representations. South End Press, 1992
• Mulvey,Laura, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Film Theory and Criticism, Introductory Readings New York OXFORD 1999

The Gaze

Claudia Fareri

Woman and Media

Doris Caçoilo

25 Feb 2017

Being a woman, especially a woman of color, holds many hardships in a world that roots for the white male but turns a blind eye for anyone else. Being a woman is like trying to win a race but your opponent received a five second head start, each and every time. In all aspects of a woman’s life, she comes second best in a patriarchal system that encourages and regurgitates the same skewed ideals of women's purpose in life, which is the please men. In order to combat this system, the first thing to do is educate oneself and those around you about it. In doing so, terms such as the ‘male gaze’ and ‘oppositional gaze’ come up and are important aspects to learn; it is the first step in recognizing how our identities have been shaped in society by the patriarchal system and how we can reverse it.

The ‘male gaze’ is a term describing how the way a woman acts and is viewed in the world is through the eyes of a masculine point of view and only for the benefit of men. According to John Berger in his novel Ways of Seeing, a woman “has to survey everything she is and everything she does because how she appears to others, and ultimately how she appears to men, is of crucial importance for what is normally thought of as success of her life” (46). Berger describes the role in which women play in society. Men hold the ultimate dominating power; it is through them that women seek success or value in her life. Women are held to high standards and must fulfill them by constantly observing herself and her actions because her worth is determined only by how she is seen. In all forms of culture, we see this idea play out countless times. Television shows like The Bachelor fuel the idea of the male gaze. Each contestant on the show must compete against one another to win the heart of a bachelor. These women must act in the right way, talk in the right way, and look the right way in order to bypass the next girl and avoid being eliminated - all for the sake of the bachelor's approval. If done right, this women will become the 'winner'' of the season and get the success bestowed upon her from the man she was trying to please.

The Bachelor 2017: Thirty contestants ready to win the heart of Nick Viall.

This type of thinking has dated back to the Renaissance. During this time period, women were painted in the nude by male painters, who never included themselves in the picture. Instead, the painter paints as though “everything is addressed to him. Everything must appear to be the result of his being there. It is for him that the figures have assumed their nudity” (Berger, 54). From the earliest forms of media, men have used women to their advantage and labeled them as objects. they have projected this idea that women are only there for a man's satisfaction. Over time, this mentality has been carried down to this day and age. As Bell Hooks describes it in her novel Understanding Patriarchy, he explains how "patriarchal thinking shapes the values of our culture. We are socialized into this system, females as well as males" (23). It is something that has been considered ‘the norm’ for centuries, which is why it is still evident in popular culture and hard to question. Even those who are deemed as feminists have once fallen under the trap of the male gaze; Beyonce's music video for her song "Why Don't You Love Me" is a prime example of this. In the music video, she prances around in seductive outfits while doing house chores such as cleaning windows, doing laundry, and attempting to fix a broken car. All the while, Beyonce is staring intently at the camera while shaking her butt, grabbing her boobs and biting her finger. She sings “I got beauty, I got class/I got style, and I got ass/And you don't even care to care” and then questions “Why don't you love me?/Tell me, baby, why don't you love me when I make me so damn easy to love?” Just like with the nude paintings from the Renaissance, Beyonce is acting the way she is for the male spectator behind the camera, trying to please him to get him to love her, like how she wishes in the song. She sings about how she is pretty and desirable so why isn’t she loved? This illustrates how Beyonce is objectifying herself and in turn, promoting the male gaze.
On the other hand, oppositional gaze was a term coined by Bell Hooks. She used it synonymously with “an overwhelming long to look” and “a rebellious desire” (116). It was used to describe the way people of color resisted against mainstream movies that only featured white people and therefore the engagement of the negation of black people. For a long time, people of color weren’t able to look at white people so the ability to gaze was a chance to see the one sided world around them and form their own resistance against it. But even then, woman of color faced their own issues. When “representations of black women were present in film, our bodies and being were there to serve” (Hooks, 199). Woman all over dealt with the same issue of being only objects for men. As Laura Mulvey explains it in her novel Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, “The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation” (837). In film, a women’s character holds no value or importance. Her character is only to be seen as a spectacle such as a show and if anything, become a distraction for the protagonist.

The male gaze and the oppositional gaze (more so the male gaze) have been structures that I’ve began to understand on my own, without realizing what they were called. However, reading more about it has made me more critical about what is shown in media and the type of content I engage in. My role for myself is to live my own life and to do whatever makes me happy, but many times the things I do are rooted from the idea of the male gaze such as shaving. Learning about these structures has given me a chance to reevaluate the motives behind my actions and put myself in check.

Works Cited

Berger, John. Chapters 2, 3. Ways of Seeing:. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Hooks, Bell. In Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1992: 115-131.

Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria Books, 2004: 17-33.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.

Ways Of Seeing

Roba Alamari

Professor Cacoilo

Media 384

February 25, 2017

                                 Ways Of Seeing

The single most important thing about a woman is how she appears. Even if a woman does have power, 

her lack of physical beauty, by societal standards, makes her less powerful by default. Her sexuality must be

available and submissive. Power never seems to come from the mans physicality. The patriarchy has

embedded a culture of hyper masculinity and sexualizing women. Males are to be the dominating figures 

whose importance lies in their capabilities and actions. Women are expected to be passive and submissive

because their worth lies in their appeasing looks and ability to nurture. In Bellhooks Understanding Patriarchy, 

she states, “Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to

everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule

over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence,”

(Bellhooks, 18). This “psychological terrorism” is what it known to be “the male gaze.” The male gaze is

essentially an ideology that reflects on how women towards themselves, and society as a whole, view and

value them through their appeasement of men. Berger goes into depth about this phenomena in Ways of 

Seeing. “One might simplify this by saying men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch

themselves being looked at,” (47). Women have grown accustomed to “societal standards” of beauty, but who

set these standards? Beauty is no longer judged by how a woman feels about herself- but how acceptable it is

through a mans gaze. The part of a woman that fixes her looks for the approval of males, is in itself male. She

no longer knows how to value herself beyond that of a mans measurement of her. This pervasive form of

vision is no doubt a direct result of the patriarchal dominated culture we live in.

http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/05/patriarchy-and-how-it-shows-up-for-everyone/  Throughout history, 

women have been domesticated nurturers and men have been the breadwinners. Women have always been 

accessories to the dominance of a man. In Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey talks 

about how even in cinema, women are denied characters that embody complex, multidimensional identities, 

which is essentially a humanistic attribute.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/women-in-film-underrepresented-hypersexualized-

report_n_3273398.html They are objectified and are there to give men a sense of power and enjoyment when 

seeing erotic looking characters that are there for their liking.

Representations of women in the media are only “accurate” if they tap into their sexuality

The oppositional gaze is synonymous to rebellion. In Bellhooks Oppositional Gaze he talks about how 

gazing can change your very reality. “Even in the worst circumstances of domination, the ability to manipulate

ones gaze in the face of stricter or domination that would contain it, opens the possibility of agency, (116).

Gaze in of itself can be used as a form of opposition because “the black male gaze seemed to always subject

to control and/or punishment by the powerful white, (Bellhooks, 118).  It has been used by the oppressed to 

defy. The “oppositional black gaze” was developed as a direct response to the lack of black representation in

the media, specifically black women. To look away is to protest, and in turn, gave rise to the independent 

black cinema. 

I’ve come to understand these structures as connecting elements of a historical societal structure. In a 

world bent on fixating our perceptions, we fail to think critically and connect the dots. From slavery, to

patriarchy, to racism, to the male gaze, to connection between rebellion and oppositional gaze, and to the

capitalistic enterprise, I see how everything is interconnected.  

It's all or nothing. Unless you're willing to fight for everyone, don't expect change.

I grew up with a patriarchal mindset truly embedded in my everyday life, and I’ve acknowledged this form of 

oppression that I, and millions of others, have endured from the minute we were born. In fact, acknowledging 

this is one of the many reasons I chose to dress how I dress. As a Muslim, the headscarf and loose clothing,

among many other things, is there to make sure I am heard and not just seen. It allows me to project 

empowerment and strength by freeing myself of standards of beauty and from being judged by physicality

rather than intellect. These readings mostly helped me to think more critically about the world around me and

why we do what we do, especially today, in a media controlled society.

                                                             Works Cited

•  Hooks, Bell. Understanding Patriarchy . The Will To Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Washington Square Press, 2004.
• Berger, John. Chapter 2-3. Ways of Seeing. 1972.
• Mulvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford UP 1999.
• Hooks, Bell. The Oppositional Gaze. Black Looks: Race and Representations. South End Press, 1992.

Ways of Seeing/Viewing

Alex Caminer 
Media 384 

Ways of Seeing/Viewing 

Female film criticism was given in 1975 by Laura Mulvey. She says that male gaze is a way in which the visual arts and literature represent the world and women from a male point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. 

Berger explains in his book "The Nude Kenneth Clark" that "the nude is a form of art" (53)

but is not always confined to being photographed, poses and gestures in the nude. He tells us that

when God created man and woman they were naked but neither of them knew that he was until Eve

ate from the tree and fed Adam. I would say that based on that time, we can say that I always exist

patriarchy since God created man first and then woman. To see naked women in times past has never

been anything bad because as Berger says, women were chosen to make paintings and photographs.

This was sent as a present for a man. Also, Berger says "Women are there to feed an appetite, not to

have any of their own" (55). And I agree with Berger since women have always been used to make

nudes for either photos, movies or commercials. Also, we have reached the point that everything that

man does is fine and if a woman does it is considered the worst. This is based on the system we have

been running for years. Also, I do not think that it is the fault of men to carry a patriarchy system, I

believe that women have not given their place and have collaborated with the system. If we get to see

some famous artists, they lend themselves to record intimate videos. For example, there is a sprite

propaganda where a woman lends herself to making a commercial with double meaning. In the end,

the man receives a satisfaction and the woman an use. As Berger said, women are about to satisfy

others.

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc_g9MV_sqs

To conclude, Berger says "Women are depicted in a quite different way from men- because the feminine is different from the masculine - but because the spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the women is designed to him flatter him" (64) By this he means that the problem is not that women are naked, but are as a product for the eyes of men and that they will only see it at their convenience being the object of satisfaction of man.

If we have to talk about what it means or what patriarchy means, I can say that it determines a dominating model. Where men have the charge of everything, such as politics, family property, social privilege and demonstrating more power over women and children. This was regarded as the Father's Rule. Based on the times of the past, patriarchy has been a system where man has had the absolute power to say and do what they have wanted. While women have only respected the decision and have been the shade of men. Today, patriarchy is seen but not as common as in the past. An example of patriarchy is the current President Donald Trump, who in the seizure of power, his wife Melania Trump says something cheerful that he does not like, which makes him respond and she stayed quiet and stopped smiling. Here the video of what happened.

Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_ePacjgro

In the book: the will to change "Hooks tells us that anti-feminist women and men insist that feminism is destroying family life” (107). As men argue that working women leave the private homes of housewives and children without maternal care. I think the world was different before. I'm not saying that we live in a sexist world, but women had a different position. Before they did not have the same equals as men. They were in charge of the house, of the children, while the men were in charge of the hard work. In this 20th century, things are different, since women have the same opportunities. Nowadays things are difficult and you can no longer think that man must pay everything. Now there must be equality in everything. Both work, both take care of the family and both contribute to household expenses. Nowadays the media, as well as social networks, newspaper and television help us to see things in a different way. Before we did not see women working in offices or doing men's work, now. Let's not go that far, Hilary Clinton was going to be the first female president in the United States that means that women are increasingly gaining the space they deserve and do not live in a limited space like they used to.

Work Cited

Berger, John. "Ways of Seeing."  (1974): 53-55-64.

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Visual and Other Pleasures (1989).

Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria Books, 2004: 107

The Burdens of Not Having and Having a Penis

Michelle Wong

Media 384

The Burdens of Not Having and Having a Penis

            Media makes sure that the disadvantages of not having or having a penis is put in our face everyday, with the intention of us not thinking too much about it. We enjoy cinemas and media so much, but we tend to question it so little. That is why an industry was created for the male gaze, that shapes how we are to present ourselves to society.

            Male gaze is essentially an idea of fabricating women to male pleasure. We started seeing this trend in European oil paintings that illustrated women in sexual positions, for the sake of her observer. Berger says in “Ways of Seeing”, “And so she comes to consider the surveyor and the surveyed.” (Berger, 46) While knowing the presence of her observer, she also observes herself through her observer. Women in oil paintings are often looking at mirrors, having a sense of self-awareness, and that someone is watching her, therefore she has to be in a pleasant position to be looked at. An oil painting documenting Adam and Eve’s story illustrates another disadvantage of not having a penis. While Adam and Eve both committed a sin, Eve is subjected to be own by him, and Adam “becomes the agent of God.”(Berger, 48) This becomes one of the explanations why women are property belonging to men.

Woman painted sitting in a position being ready to men to possess her.

            Being possessed by men allowed male gaze to foster. Possessing someone gives one power, and through the gaze, men gain power. In possessing them, we are also oppressing women and in “Why Men Oppress Women”, Steve Taylor says, “The oppression of women stems largely in men’s desire for power and control.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-darkness/201208/why-men-oppress-women  In “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Malvey dissects one of Freud’s philosophy, scopophilia. She says, “…he associated scopophilia with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze.” (Malvey 835) This idea that women are mysterious objects, by looking at them, sexualizing them, and having thoughts of sexual encounters with them demystifies them, and tame them. She also included a quote from Budd Boetticher, “What counts is what the heroine provokes…who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.”(Malvey, 837) Female characters are heroines for making the hero take action; so while he does, she is just present. The hero is not saving the world from a zombie apocalypse though, he is simply “saving” her by inserting his penis into her, because she “needs” since she is castrated.

            Besides film, video games satisfy the male gaze. There is a lack of female characters in games. But another problem is the purpose of female characters’ existence. Their existence is for the intention of pleasing male gamers, with their unrealistic body configuration. Their tremendous boobs and long thin legs cannot be condemned in a short skirt and revealing top, and their outfit is not functional for fighting, but this is all for the sake of male visual pleasure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU5laE9ZCdc

            Critics always points out how male gaze affects women, but fails to address the issues for black women. People of color were not widely represented in media, and when they were, they’d be subjects of amusement and jokes. For example, Andy ‘N’ Amos, starring two colored gullible men. The under representation is the effect of oppression to gaze.  Gaze is a power, and people of colored were denied that. In response to this, Bell Hooks coined the term, Oppositional Gaze. She said, “It was the oppositional black gaze that responded to these looking relations…” (Hooks, 117). In “Oppositional Gaze” Bell Hooks also mention how black women were being overly sexualized. While white women were subjects to be desired by men, black women were looked down upon. Therefore, many black women refrained from Hollywood and cinemas in general.

Poor representation of people of color in media. White painted black face actors as two gullible characters.

            We should consider the system of patriarchy to be one of the causes of these troubling media illustrations. Even men, the ones with penises are being affected. Patriarchy “…is assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation.”(Hooks, 17) In “Understanding Patriarchy” Bell Hook discusses the limits society puts on gender. While “it was his role to be served; to provide; to be strong; to think…” it was her “…role to serve, to be weak, to be free from the burden of thinking…” (Hooks, 18) Then a power dynamic is created where men owns women. She also talks about how boys are taught to be tough and emotionless, while girls are to be subtle and emotional. Men are supposed to be macho, to live up to the examples of men shown on T.V. This is putting restrictions on society, and not allowing individuals present themselves as their own self.

            I am affected by the system of patriarchy in a sense that I shouldn’t be too dominant, or assertive, and ambitious. I unknowingly put myself in a position where I design myself to cater to men, as much as I’d hate to admit. This is because I am a woman without a penis. The penis dictates which side of the spectrum an individual is on, and neither side is the most ideal place to be in.

Works Cited

Berger, John. "Ways of Seeing." Journal of Aesthetic Education 8.4 (1974): 46-48.

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Visual and Other Pleasures (1989): 835-37.

Hooks, Bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. New York: Atria Books, 2004: 17-18.

Hooks, Bell. In Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End Press, 1992: 117