Is ‘The Gaze’ Gendered?

‘The gaze’ refers to how people respond to visual media and is often spoken about in terms of film after Laura Mulvey published her well known 1975 essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Theory’ which mainly speaks about the male gaze[1]. The gaze is largely about viewers getting pleasure from what they are being shown, achieved by them finding erotic pleasure in what they’re looking at or through identification to the characters portrayed in the narrative; both important in discussing why the gaze may be skewed to fit the gender binary. Mulvey argues that the gaze is gendered towards and in the favour of men and that media objectifies and sexualises women for the pleasure of male viewers[2], however, in this essay I will, using other sources in addition to Mulvey, discuss whether or not this is the case in today’s social climate and if the gaze is gendered at all.

Firstly, it can be argued that the gaze is gendered. This is because film and television has always been suited to specific audiences, often based on gender, to enable producers to sell their products. Media is sold to audiences by using typically masculine or feminine tropes, storylines and characters to appeal to audiences they are trying to capture and so, for this to work, the gaze must be gendered. For instance, traditional ‘manly’ films such as the action film will stereotypically have physically attractive women for the male lead to save. This is done for the intended heterosexual male audience to not only identify with the protagonist and gain pleasure through that but also provide them with an erotic pleasure of gazing at female characters. Mulvey explains this role of women in these films by saying, ‘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.’[3] Niall Richardson and Sadie Wearing in their book, Gender in the Media, discuss identification by saying, ‘the male body on the cinema screen is, arguably, not a source of erotic contemplation but a body with which the male spectator identifies. […] The revelation of this body is in order to suggest its power and strength rather than to exploit its erotic potential.’[4] These quotes support the idea that in typically masculine media that features strong male leads, heterosexual male spectators (as the target audience) will exercise the gaze and find pleasure in eroticising the female characters and identifying with the male ones as they are not shown to be muscular and physically fit for the purpose of them being sexualised, its more to show them as strong and capable.

An example to demonstrate this point would be the film, Fight Club and the character Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Throughout the film, you are presented with images of his shirtless body in various fight scenes (fig. 1). However, this is not done for the audience – which I would argue is meant to be heterosexual males – to eroticise his body but to show his strength and power, showing his masculinity in a way that is not intended to be overtly sexual. From this, we can see how the gaze may be gendered because it helps the world of media prosper as a business that there are gendered target audiences that filmmakers will try and appeal to.

You could also argue that the gaze is gendered in order to uphold the power balance between men and women and this is shown in both real life and media. As Mulvey explains, ‘in a world ordered by sexual imbalances, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’[5], saying that men have an active role in the gaze, often being the one to look and women are seen as passive and are the ones who are looked at. Richard Dyer also describes this in his book, Don’t Look Now; he explains,

‘In public places, on the street, at meetings, men could look freely at women, but that women could only look back surreptitiously, against the grain of their upbringing. […] [In film and television] it is very definitely established that he looks at her and she is looked at. […] It encapsulates, and effectively reinforces, one of the fundamental ways by which power relations between the sexes are maintained.’[6]

This supports this argument that both in film and the real world, there is a power balance between men and women and an unspoken set of rules which these two genders must uphold. Dyer further explains the idea of activity and passivity by saying, ‘the idea of looking (staring) as power and being looked at as powerlessness overlaps with ideas of activity/passivity.’[7] Historically, males have always been held higher in society than women, as shown by the rights women have had to fight for that were simply just given to men over hundreds of years. This makes it seem plausible that the gaze would naturally reflect the imbalance between men and women as it reflects how members of society act. Therefore, the gaze would have to be considered gendered since there is not an equality between how the two genders act on and respond to the gaze.

On the other hand, it can be argued that the gaze is not gendered. This is firstly because gender is now a much larger spectrum and more fluid than was understood in previous years. It is now widely accepted that sex and gender are different things and ‘sometimes, a person's genetically assigned sex does not line up with their gender identity’[8] with sex being biological and gender being more of a personal identity. Judith Butler, in her essay Performative Acts and Gender Constitution, argues that gender is a performance based on society and what is considered to be masculine and feminine[9]. Butler says, ‘gender reality is performative, which means that it is real only to the extent that it is performed’[10] and ‘genders, then, can be neither true nor false, neither real nor apparent’[11] to explain her ideas about how gender is not a predetermined state a person is born in, but an idea that we place ourselves in throughout our lives that fits how we want to present ourselves. In addition to this, sexuality – which is also a broad spectrum – is also an issue that should be considered as people will have their own gaze depending on their sexuality. If we view gender and sexuality in this way, outside of the binaries of male and female and heterosexuality, it becomes difficult to say that the gaze is gendered because there arguably can be no such thing as something being ‘gendered’ in a society where someone can have no gender. Also, what appeals to a heterosexual male will also (generally) appeal to a homosexual female etc.; this makes it difficult for their to be a male gaze as Mulvey suggests or a female one as there is always going to be people of varying genders and sexualities that will also be finding erotic pleasure in media, regardless of what gender it may be aimed at.

An example of this would be the portrayal of actress, Kristen Stewart. Until around 2015, Stewart had only been seen to be dating men[12] and was thought of by the public and media as heterosexual. At this time, she was presented as what is shown in figure 2, from a photoshoot in 2011. From this, we can see a very feminine look; lots of make-up and feminine clothing. She also fulfils the position of a typical female model in that she is passive and relaxed. Richardson and Wearing explain this idea by talking about the female nude that fits the ideal of the male gaze, saying, ‘a female nude is relaxed – a body in repose, inviting the gaze of the spectator to marvel at her beauty’[13] which relates to this image as although it is not a nude, the same thing can be seen. However, in figure 3, a photoshoot from 2016 after Stewart began to publicly date women, she is portrayed in a much less feminine way. Here, she is wearing a suit, has more natural make-up and her hair is messy rather than perfectly styled; she also is sitting in a less inviting and more confident

and confrontational position compared to the first image. It could be inferred then, that the photographers changed how they portrayed Stewart once her sexuality was confirmed as not heterosexual. This shows an awareness of how images can and will appeal to more than one gender and sexuality at a time and shows a response to this, supporting the idea that the gaze can’t be gendered due to the broad spectrum of genders and sexuality that will be exposed to such images.

It can also be argued that the gaze is defined by race and ethnicity rather than gender due to the difference between the western and non-western gaze and the ways in which black and white men are portrayed differently in imagery like the pin-up. For instance, Dyer argues,

‘the activity shown or implied in images of white men is clearly related to the split in Western society between leisure and work activity, whereas black men, even though they are in fact American or European, are given a physicality that is inextricably linked to the notions of ‘the jungle’ and hence ‘savagery’.’[14]

We can see this activity in figure 4, which is a classic example of a typical white male pin-up, showing what are referred to as beefcakes, wrestling. Beefcake as a term became popular in the 1940s in response to the term cheesecake, used to refer to attractive women at the time[15] and men who are considered beefcakes are described as ‘drool-worthy, impossibly good-looking hunks of the big screen whom the studio exploited for their sex appeal.’[16] The wrestling in this image in order to create erotic pleasure from the viewer is extremely active and supports Dyer’s point that white men were usually seen as being active in such images. Dyer also says, ‘the celebration of the body in sport is also a celebration of relative affluence of Western society, where people have the time to dedicate themselves to the development of the body’[17] which expands on the activity in images of white men and explains the western gaze as being one from a point of privilege. This means that images that will appeal to westerners will be different from non-westerners as they have different values and priorities. Therefore, it could be argued that the gaze is separated by race and location rather than gender.

In conclusion, it is difficult to say definitively whether the gaze is gendered as there are compelling arguments on both sides. On one hand, it is undeniable that there is a basis in gender that perpetuates the gaze and allows it to work as an idea and it certainly played a role in previous years in defining the gaze. On the other hand, as gender and other social issues such as race and sexuality have become more understood, it is harder to say the gaze is still a gendered concept. I would argue that the temporal properties of the gaze are fragile and so it is susceptible to change as time progresses. Therefore, you could say that where the gaze once was heavily gendered, it may not be as much anymore and eventually could become ungendered completely.

Illustrations

Figure 1 – Still from Fight Club. David Fincher, 1999. Fox 2000 Pictures, USA

Fig. 2 – Norman Jean Roy. Kristen Stewart on a sun lounger in black bikini for GQ magazine, c. 2011, GQ Article, ‘Blood Lust’

Fig. 3 – Kristen Stewart on a sofa in a black suit for a photoshoot for her film Café Society, c. 2016, Celeb Mafia Online Post, ‘Kristen Stewart – Café Society Photoshoot – Cannes Film Festival 2016’

Fig. 4 – Bruce of Los Angeles. A pin-up of two white male ‘beefcakes’ wrestling, c. 1950s, HuffPost Article, ‘‘Beefcake’ Takes A Look Back at The Golden Age of Muscle Men’

Bibliography

“Beefcakes and Barbarians: the language of the macho man”, Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press. [n.d.]. Web. 20th May 2019. https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/08/26/macho-man/

“‘Beefcake’ Takes A Look Back at The Golden Age of Muscle Men”, HuffPost. Verizon Media, 15Th March 2015. Web. 18th April 2019. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beefcake-lady-bunny_n_6832950

Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” Theatre Journal, Vol. 40.4 (1988), pp. 519-531. JSTOR. Web. 16th April 2019.

Dyer, Richard. “Don’t Look Now: Richard Dyer Examines the Instabilities of the Male Pin-Up. Screen. Vol. 23.4 (1982), pp. 61-73. Print.

“Explainer: what does the ‘male gaze’ mean, and what about a female gaze?”, The Conversation, The Conversation Trust Ltd. [n.d.]. Web. 18th May 2019. https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486

Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. (New York: Oxford UP, 1999) 833-844

Richardson, Niall and Sadie Wearing. Gender in the Media, Macmillan International Higher Education, 2014. Print.

“Sex and gender: What is the difference?”, Medical News Today, Healthline Media UK Ltd. 7th Feb 2018. Web. 19th May 2019. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232363.php

“Kristen Stewart Loves and Hookups”, Ranker, Listopedia [n.d.]. Web. 20th May 2019. https://www.ranker.com/list/kristen-stewart-loves-and-hookups/celebrityhookups

[1] “Explainer: what does the ‘male gaze’ mean, and what about a female gaze?”, The Conversation, The Conversation Trust Ltd. [n.d.]. [2] Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. [3] Mulvey. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. 837 [4] Richardson, Niall and Sadie Wearing. Gender in the Media (Macmillan International Higher Education, 2014). 38-39. [5] Mulvey. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. 837 [6] Richard Dyer, Don’t Look Now: Richard Dyer Examines the Instabilities of the Male Pin-up. Screen. Vol 23.4 (1982): 61. [7] Dyer, Don’t Look Now: Richard Dyer Examines the Instabilities of the Male Pin-up. 66. [8] “Sex and gender: What is the difference?”, Medical News Today, Healthline Media UK Ltd. 7th Feb 2018. [9] Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” Theatre Journal, Vol. 40.4 (1988) [10] Butler. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory”. 519 [11] Butler. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory”. 528 [12] “Kristen Stewart Loves and Hookups”, Ranker, Listopedia [n.d.]. [13] Richardson and Wearing. Gender in the Media. 36. [14] Dyer, Don’t Look Now: Richard Dyer Examines the Instabilities of the Male Pin-up. 68. [15] “Beefcakes and Barbarians: the language of the macho man”, Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press. [n.d.]. [16] “‘Beefcake’ Takes A Look Back At The Golden Age Of Muscle Men”, HuffPost. Verizon Media, 15Th March 2015 [17] Dyer, Don’t Look Now: Richard Dyer Examines the Instabilities of the Male Pin-up. 68.