The term “gaze” is to look steadily and intently, especially in admiration, surprise, or thought. In this article, we will tackle the issue of the male gaze and its possible impacts on the fashion industry and society. The male gaze transforms women into an object of desire and pleasure. Today, it is also used in social media where some women pose having in mind the expectations of the society which is often male-driven. The male gaze also reveals an unequal social power between men and women because it portrays the gazing men and the gazed-upon women.
Laura Mulvey is a British Film theorist, she is the first to theorize the Male Gaze in 1975. In her essay entitled “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she takes a critical look at cinematic productions and the roles attributed to women. Besides, she pays great attention to the camera views used to show women’s bodies. The theoretician declares that men and women are not portrayed nor equally observed in cinematic productions. It could be justified by the male-owned industry of cinema through which women are sexualized and objectified through the masculine gaze of the actor but also of the producer. Our daily actions and looks are highly influenced by the society we live in, therefore if the highly male-owned fashion industry portrays a perfected and sexualized image of women through the male gaze, it affects all women durably. A study by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) tracking female leadership in the fashion industry revealed that only 12.5 percent of apparel and retail apparel companies in the Fortune 1000 are led by women. The results echo a report called “The Glass Runway”, conducted by Glamour magazine in cooperation with the Council of Fashion Designers of America and consulting firm McKinsey & Company. In their findings, women in fashion made it to middle management but could not get higher.
According to Laura Mulvey, the male gaze results in the over-sexualization of women through the use of cinematic methods (camera views, focus, subjective focalization…) and says that the unique purpose of the woman in such a movie is to be observed and gazed-upon, she is only passive while the man acts. The film industry also allows Fashion to expose and promote its creations. In the movie Suicide Squad (2016), a controversial scene is useful for our purpose. During the movie, Harley Quinn, played by actress Margot Robbie gets changed and the camera makes a subjective shot on her body. It is a striking example of male gaze, in which the spectator observes the actress through the eyes of men.
This issue evoked first in 1975 is still up to date, and even more with the expansion of social media platforms. Indeed, Media portrays genders, figures in magazines, fashion marketing, advertisement, cinematic productions. It is often a subject of discussion that media and news channels portray women with beautiful assets, some think that it aims to attract more male viewers and increase benefits.
Since advertising is an essential tool for making profits, the fashion industry takes advantage of the male gaze that portrays perfected and sexualized women to sell more products and increase benefits. The Fashion industry played an important role in diffusing the male gaze through advertisements and even creations that would please men. For example, often in ads for perfumes are displayed nude bodies of women.
The male gaze and the female body are highly used as marketing tools for increasing benefits. Besides, one must be reminded that men bodies and figures are also often sexualized. Some artistic designers defend these practices in the name of art and the independence of aesthetics. However, the historical anchorage of the male gaze results in it being associated with a neutral perspective, as explained by the French journalist Adèle Haenel on FranceInter, a French radio channel :
“The male gaze has long been associated with a neutral perspective because the vast majority of films are produced by men who watch women. It must be said that this gaze has an origin and is linked with male domination.”
The historical anchorage of the male gaze is problematic because it means that it is difficult to decipher as we are used to it, some women even affirm that they internalized it. However, we live in an era where women want to move away from the male gaze towards equality so it is obvious that this is an issue. It would be too ambitious to deconstruct sexualized fictive female characters in cinematographic productions, but the male gaze should be contextualized and limited. Hence the rise of body-positivism and inclusion which helps bring real-looking women into advertisement. In November 2017, Vogue released an iconic video where Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep appear, the latter said: “We want girls to be free, we want them to be proud, we want them to be female… you put them in danger by not informing them about the male gaze and how it works on young girls”. This is not an understatement, it aims to denounce certain behaviors and unexpected dangers they might face. The interaction between fashion and society is dynamic and closely intertwined, and one of them irreversibly affects the other. The desires and goals of society strongly influence fashion, and the role of fashion in shaping social thinking and behavior is also very clear.
Although the men gaze is stronger, one must remind the objectization and sexualization of men as well. Despite the deep roots of the male gaze in fashion and also in the media, there may be a lighter side because we acknowledge this problem and are taking steps to solve it. Besides, through social movements such as the #Metoo movement models denounce dangerous behaviors in the fashion industry, the new generation is ready to expose problematic behaviors.
By Estelle R.
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