The Male & Female Gaze

The male gaze is the representation of women in a sexualised manner; the director (often male) chooses to portray women as "sexy", "seductive" or "desirable" in order to catch the attention of the stereotypical heterosexual male, this is due to the stereotype that most women that are seen on media (that have the perfect shape or figure) represent a whole nations worth of females. Examples often include a shower scene in horror or action movies which illustrates an "ideal looking" female in the shower (undressing or already naked) who is overly sexualized. A feminist would often look at this concept from 3 different angles; how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women.

The feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey came up with this theory of the male gaze as it suggests that the way women are viewed in cinema is "unequal" and only presents women in this type of demeanour for the pleasure of men. She also came up with the "3 Types of looking", this meant that there are 3 different perspectives/points of view of watching a sexualised female; the perspective of the camera whilst it records the scene, the perspective of the audience as they watch the scene and the way in which male characters view female characters. Mulvey also argued that women would either be objectified as a "sex object" or would just appear on screen as the powerless "damsel in distress" who needs saving. This was seen as a passive role that women would play, whereas men would play the active role.

The female gaze is the representation of men also in a sexualized manner, this is used to draw attention from a female viewers perspective. Similarly, this can also be seen as the director objectifying men and making them appear to be alluring and seductive. This theory is often disregarded by most feminists as it appears that the male gaze is far more occurring in the media industry, mainly for marketing and advertising purposes.