For years, men have labeled women as objects that can be stereotyped according to their perspective. Women in media are either lovely housewives, lustrous femme fatales, or klutzy bombshells. There are more, but all simply boil down to a similar appearance: pretty, sexy, and extremely feminine — the basic necessities of the male gaze.
As women began questioning these labels and the identity restrictions that come with them, feminists introduced a concept of another gaze: the “female gaze,” which is supposed to empower women but is instead being used by the patriarchy to victimize men.
The ripple effect of women in media
The male gaze, according to Laura Mulvey’s essay titled “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” is the men’s projection of their sexual fantasies on women in media. It places a huge burden disguised as societal responsibility on women. It enforces the idea that women should be perfect companions to men — physically and emotionally.
Fortunately, towards the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, there has been a rise in the number of women contributors to media — some are even directors and producers. It wasn’t much of a rise, however. USA Today reported that women directors increased only to 13% in 2019 from a mere 9% in 1998, while cinematographers increased from 4% to 5% only even after 11 years.
This small increase, nonetheless, has brought changes to the media industry. A shift in tone, mood, and themes is evident as women have gained more nuanced portrayals and complex character sketches. Even male directors and producers improved their approach to female characters as well. Yes, there are still housewives, femme fatales, bombshells, but they are now housewives who attend parties, femme fatales who fail and cry, and bombshells who speak with such eloquence. They are also students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, commoners — the list goes on.
For instance, notice how the Philippine media’s depiction of women has changed through the years. With two different action films — “Ayos na… Ang Kasunod” (2000) directed by Boots Plata starring Fernando Poe Jr. as Ramon and Ara Mina as Amor, and “BuyBust” (2018) by Erik Matti starring Anne Curtis as Nina Manigan, Brandon Vera as Rico Yatco and Victor Neri as Bernie Lacson — the changes in media’s portrayal of women can already be seen.
In the first film, Amor, Ramon’s love interest, is a gorgeous woman whose life and love revolve around Ramon. She is his constant damsel-in-distress whose only purpose is to put the hero on a pedestal. Then, after 18 years of slow reforms in media, BuyBust is released. Despite having the same genre as the former, it showcased no women as damsels-in-distress. In fact, Nina, among several other women in the film, is physically capable on her own, all the while being vulnerable and flawed.
Women in media have become multifaceted, thanks to the years of campaigning, advocating, and fighting by and for women, which led to the birth of the female gaze.
The female gaze is a term coined by Laura Mulvey in her aforementioned essay. Generally, it refers to the changes in the way women are portrayed in the media, but it has also changed how men are depicted — from heartless “alpha males” who are only born to brood and breed to vulnerable, humanized men.
However, the world’s patriarchal society can’t seem to wholly accept that women can gaze back at men with their own oppositional yet progressive ideas. The patriarchy then twists the concept of the female gaze to help men play the victim card.
Warping the female gaze into patriarchy’s tool
With today’s media trying to cater not only to one gender but also to a variety of them, men are not the only focus of the media’s content anymore. As the world starts to recognize the female gaze more than before, men have begun feeling “objectified and insecure.”
In a YouTube video posted by Brett Maverick, he accused the female gaze of making men feel “ugly” about themselves, clearly confusing it with the male gaze. Maverick even claimed that women’s preference for chiseled bodies, tall stature, and god-like faces is because of the female gaze. He also shared timeless examples: Magic Mike, Captain America, and James Bond.
However, the descriptions stated above are exactly what the patriarchy has set in stone with its male gaze. Having chiseled bodies, tall stature, and god-like faces are all constructed with men in mind, not women. These standards are not created to please women but to guide men so they can possess a trophy wife and family.
It’s the patriarchy that has set a standard on people, regardless of gender. It’s the patriarchy that saw it fit for women to stay at home — sexy and beautiful. It’s the patriarchy that decided that men should be outside — fit and masculine. It’s the patriarchy that has set its own trap.
To escape that, the patriarchy tried deceiving people into believing that the female gaze objectifies men like how men have long been objectifying women. However, the female gaze is merely an inevitable consequence of the male gaze, and never intends to oppress but rather hopes to liberate. It liberates men and women alike from the identity restrictions the patriarchy has brought upon the world. It gives them the chance to break free from the societal burdens they carry by introducing concepts that do not force them to be pretty, handsome, or sexy; rather, it lets them be imperfect — it lets them be humans.
To gaze back, liberate, and progress
It’s time for the world to stop seeing the female gaze as something that it truly isn’t — that it can objectify and oppress — just because of misogynists who mislead people to bring the spotlight back to them. The female gaze, after all, is not the men’s enemy, but the male gaze itself. The very thing that served as their guide for centuries is the one that shackles them in a mindset-constricting chain.
If everyone can never be truly free from the ideas and standards the patriarchy has constructed, then they can at least be a notch more progressive with the female gaze pushing their old ways into the back of their brains. But character complexities and vulnerabilities can be etched into minds only if the media continue to use the female gaze as their guide, helping societies learn and unlearn. With this, women, including all genders, can finally gaze back at the patriarchy who have stared at them with objectifying and stereotyping eyes for so long.
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