Tuesday 21 February 2012

The Inverted Male Gaze

Cover of 'Men's Health' Magazine


What happens when the Male Gaze is inverted? According to ‘Negotiating masculinities: Advertising and the Inversion of the Male Gaze’, lifestyle magazine advertising has caused men to gaze upon images of their own bodies. This is a crucial element to this subject as it is incredibly current. The importance of male beauty is rapidly increasing, it is not just women being judged by their appearance. 

The Male Gaze in Fine Art

"Judgement of Paris" by Ivo Saliger


The Male Gaze Theory was coined around 1975, however Western fine art for hundreds of years has portrayed men as viewers and women as viewed.

The Male Gaze in Advertising

Pictures of women in poses compared to men in the same poses, appear completely different. Women being more attractive to the viewer. In Western cultures it is normal for women to be pictured  in poses that would seem odd if posed by men.  Women are often posed tilting their heads or bodies. Does this suggest submissiveness? Poses often include putting a finger to a mouth or touching the face in a childlike way. Is this a mild form of pedophilia? Does advertising condone the perversions of pedophilia? 


Very accomplished women will strike submissive poses. Something that would not happen with men. Are they demonstrating their control over the gaze? Are they just trying to appear feminine and attractive? What is 'feminine'? 



Victoria Beckham in a Marc Jacobs advertisement 



“Most women make less money and have less power than most men, and the message that goes out to women without power is that to got some, you need to gain control of a male view of women - which means to get power through male power, rather than your own” (Callender, Chipetz, Hintlian and Streeter, 2005, online)



Does the Male Gaze in advertising reinforce unbalanced male chauvinistic view of women as sex objects? Young beautiful women are used, even when advertising products that are for a mixed gender consumer group. Do advertisements that stereotype women using unusually beautiful models, uphold a male chauvinistic system? Does this lead to women competing against women for sexual power? 






Jimmy Choo Advertisement 



“Men ‘act’ and women ‘appear’. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” (Berger, 1977, p.47) 



It can be argued that a models’ beauty does not undermine their intellectual capacity and the use of female models empowers women. High-profile models represent a successful role model which other women wish to emulate. Also because the media focus and immense effort on portraying women in a certain light shows how important women as consumers are.