As a girl have you ever received harassing messages from men on the internet? As a man, have you ever received harassing messages from women on the Internet? What is certain is that women receive far more harassing messages than men, and the most important reason for this is the influence of the male gaze in today’s patriarchal society.
What is the male gaze?
The male gaze is a concept developed by feminist film critic Laura Moore, which briefly explains that in patriarchal societies women are in a passive position, and therefore become objects for male heterosexuals to carry their sexual urges, fantasies, and violence. It should come as no surprise that in this age of liberalization, there is still such an injustice, and given the current state of the internet, the battle for women’s rights will be a long one.
In the new age, the media has a variety of mediums such as social media, e-books, music, film and television, etc., which can conveniently convey information as well as ideas that male gaze at, and in film and television, the female characters usually act as an aid to the growth of the male characters to push the story forward, and often some of the women’s own sparkle is erased, and it seems as if the women’s existence is only there to inspire men in various ways, love, sacrifice, or sexuality. There are a lot of feminist films made by men, but the different genders are never able to fully empathize with each other, for example, in filming the theme of women being oppressed and violated by men, they always prefer to focus the camera on the victim (female) rather than the abuser and are unable to call for equality between men and women by focusing on the bad behavior of some men, but instead, that kind of image will provide sexual fantasy value to men who are unable to empathize with each other. It takes away from the meaning of the film.
And in today’s social media there is no shortage of women who are willing to show and share their lives on social media platforms, and it is because of the virtual anonymity of the internet that has fuelled the development of some male gazing, there are a lot of males who will send them harassing messages for fun, this is a very typical male gazing behaviour in contemporary times and this behaviour in itself has put women at the low end of the scale, it doesn’t have enough respect, they Getting emotional value out of disrespecting women this is objectifying women and it’s unfortunate that there are still a lot of men who don’t realise this.
In any case men need to learn the meaning of the male gaze more than women do, and need to recognise the fact of gender equality. The day when the display of femininity is no longer shot from the feet to the face may be the day when the male gaze changes.
Reference
KIM LEONARD ON APRIL 25, 2021 What is the Male Gaze? Definition and Examples in Film What is the Male Gaze? Definition and Examples in Film (studiobinder.com)
Chang G 29th March 2019 The Male Gaze In Movies https://youtu.be/QS2-6X2y5Is?si=PKRcH71rl-_S1OGo
Hi～I really agree with the opinion in your blog. Like you wrote in your blog, I think there is a long time continuity to the effects caused by the male gaze. For example, though there are more and more women are daring to show their true selves online or in real life, advocating the freedom to dress and rejecting body and look anxiety. But because of the anonymity of the internet and the so-called freedom of speech on the internet, there are always many people maybe most of them are men who are viciously and harshly critical of free women. How many women are brave enough to fight back head-on against such criticism? I think it is very few. This is because the gender gap between men and women and the male gaze have a persistent effect on women, just like a psychological shadow. In my opinion, we should do more to encourage women to be brave enough to fight for their own freedom and rights and reject the male gaze.
Thank you for your agreement, I think this is not a one-sided work, this society is made up of people of different genders, and the solution to this problem requires the efforts of all, for example, if a woman is violated, there are always people who like to teach the girl needs to be clean or complain about why don’t you dress conservatively, but very few people to tell the boys that you need to respect the women don’t go to violate the women, women need to be conscious of the awareness of the awakening of the rights and interests of the defense of women, the men need to realize that this is a fair society, and then the status of the two genders are still not equal, the balance of the scales should be biased in favor of the female side to rectify the situation!
Your typography is beautiful. I agree with what you say. Women feel powerless and insecure under the male gaze. Some women will judge their worth and self-objectify with a male perspective in such a culture. And to find a balance, there needs to be more female monologues as a way of constructing their own subjectivity.
Nowadays, you will find a lot of girls posting their photos or other information on social media, and as soon as there is a little bit of inappropriateness, the comment section will be filled with comments from male coagulators commenting on them. But there is no inappropriateness at all, this standard is because of the long-term pressure from the male condensation under the production, really hope that the girls can not be too much of other people’s opinions, enjoy their own life.