The Gaze


“Men dream of women; women dream of being dreamt of...”
“Behind every glance is a judgement...”
“A woman is always accompanied... by an image of herself...”
Looking isn’t a neutral activity, it’s not passive; a judgement is always made.
Women are being continually scrutinised and surveyed.
“Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”
(Berger, 1972)


Women react to a patriarchal gaze.
Parallel with Foucault: men look at women but women don’t look at men
I.e. if women know they’re being looked at they will change their behaviour and self-
regulate, behaving how they think they should.


There has been a shift since the ‘70s but there is still an imbalance of power between men and
women.


Image: Hans Memling ‘Vanity’ (1485)


Gaze relationships in the image:


We’re looking at the woman
She’s looking at herself
o The title connoted that she loves herself, is narcissistic
Painted by a man; commissioned by man; at this time the audience would have been all
male
o Therefore is a patriarchal image of women
o It becomes an image of a male impression of womanhood and has an erotic function
o Allows men to laugh at women for being obsesses with appearance, yet is all about
men being obsessed with a naked female body.
o Reinforces the idea that men (the viewer) have power over the woman in the
painting, therefore becomes a symbol of dominance.


Historically, ideas of beauty have been constructed by men for the enjoyment of men.


The Materialist reading is that the Base is made up of men in control of art and production;
therefore ideas of beauty reflect the imbalance between men and women.


Image: Alexandre Cabanel. ‘Birth of Venus’ 1863


An idealised female body, available for the viewer to claim; she’s averting her gaze so the
viewers’ gaze is not discouraged.
The image is of submission, tacitly encouraging you to keep looking.
It is ‘asking’ you to dominate the woman, who in turn is allowing you to do it.
o That she likes this is a fiction created by men.
o It is a fantasy of human relations.


Image: Manet ‘Olympia’ 1863


By comparison, this woman is looking at the viewer whilst covering her genitals.
She is challenging the viewer, i.e. you can only have her if you pay.
This image shows more of the reality of human relations.
Both images suggest women are sexually available, yet Manet’s gives the woman more control.


Erotic images are given a veneer of respectability through conventions of “The Nude”.


Berger: naked and nude are different as the Nude is accepted as art.


Guerrilla Girls: in galleries, 85% of nudes are females as 95% of exhibited artists are men.


Image: Ingres ‘Le Grand Odalisque’ 1814


Ingres – French, famed for images of Turks


(1) The man gazing onto the woman = power, control and subservience
(2) The West to the East – ‘Orientalism’ = fantasy about cultures
o Also about power
o Suggests racist stereotypes of loose women and submissive cultures


Woman portrayed as submissive, young and innocent; she looks Western in a Persian setting.


Shows men’s desire for innocence and virginity
A child’s face makes the viewer feel like a dominant adult.
The same doe-eyed look can be found in modern pornography and celebrity images.


Image: Manet ‘Bar at the Folies Bergeres’ 1882


Example of Suture – spectators look though the eyes of the actors.
The viewer is forced into the eyes of the man in the painting
Can only be read as a man looking at the woman, can have no neutrality.
Other painting examples allow possibility of a male or female viewer, even though it is
always from a male perspective.
In this painting, Manet’s man is not in a dominant position.


Image: Jeff Wall ‘Picture for Women’ 1979


Suture is occurring: we are the camera and are forced into this position
It is still an image of a man looking at a woman
But photography seems to be a neutral, objective gaze whilst painting seems subjective and
created.


Susan Sontag (1979) ‘On Photography’

“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed” (pg 4)
o Therefore it can never be neutral


Example of how women are competing with other women to be subservient to men and be
approved by them.
She assumes the cameras are always on her and is therefore self-regulating, whether the
cameras are taking pictures or not. She is constantly acting up to the male gaze.
Celebrity images end up in women’s magazines; therefore it becomes a case of women
watching women from the point of view of male scrutiny.


Men are increasingly more scrutinised but as figures of power, strength and dominance.


Filament magazine – produced by women as a reaction against Nuts etc.


Aims to be a female gaze and objectify men
But men in the magazine are still defined by a patriarchal view of the male
In some ways, it is just women thinking in the same way as men, even though the roles are
reversed.


Women in positions of power in the media still perpetuate the male gaze.


Laura Mulvey on Miss World (1970)


“The Miss World competition is not an erotic exhibition. It is a public celebration of the
traditional female road to success.”
“Their condition is the condition of all men.”
o I.e. parading to be scrutinised by men.