In reality the majority of the audience are not heterosexual males and the all pervasive male gaze is as relevant to modern society as the Penny Farthing bicycle. We are told over and over in many different ways that the princess is in another castle. It’s since expanded beyond movies to encompass all media, it is in just about everything we watch, read or play. I say “this” because what the male gaze does is reduce the woman down to an object for the man. The male gaze was first used to describe how the audience for a movie is required to observe from the perspective of a heterosexual male in almost all movies woman exist for men to enjoy, and the message is you too could have this.
What is the male gaze? What is female gaze? And why aren’t the two equivalent? Follow her on Twitter: All posts by Marcy Cook When not slapping words together she’s a sci-fi geek, comic book fan and avid reader. She’s also a semi-professional cat wrangler with an insatiable lust for Lego.
Marcy Cook is a creator of short stories, comic book scripts, interviews and articles.