To be seen as a Female is to be seen as a conceptualization. Used as a tool to captivate the masses, the Female holds abilities greater than any fictional Superhero. A tool used to dismantle feminism, a power structure designed to “enlighten” and “liberate” the Woman, the Female is powerful enough to shift the trajectory of our reality based on a performance curated so delicately at the hands of a Male, not so much as a “Man”. The “Male Gaze” is the curation of a Female through the lens of a male, often portraying the Female as an oversexualized object – ditzy, docile, occasionally dominant, and dense. An intersectionality between the idea of a Woman and the reality of her presence in a social setting. In communities where gender roles aren’t at the forefront of a social structure, Women are seen as people, individuals who are capable of contributing to the development of total wellbeing outside of Birth or Motherhood. The issue with American Western society, specifically, is the way we use our women as tools to destroy the minds of other women and corrupt the minds of men. Through various media, we consume this vile poison of female conception in several ways.
Sabrina Carpenter, A former Disney child star and current iconic pop star, embodies the subtle dangers that the Male Gaze carries. Her music, consumed by millions of listeners, often criticizes men in a way that can alter the way we think of female empowerment, or feminism and feminist liberation. Feminism in itself has nothing to do with men; it’s central to the empowerment and power structure of Women. Female Pop music in today’s culture has so carefully intertwined the criticism of a male to be disguised as feminism and female liberation. I don’t believe Sabrina Carpenter herself intends to bring this effect to her music, but I do think those in charge of record labels and record sales intentionally push music that sounds good, feels good, seems slightly relatable to the masses, and isn’t liberating enough to cause critical thought or intense analysis. Sabrina is a perfect vessel for the Male gaze, she’s blonde, charming, ditzy, & short n’sweet. Historically, the blonde & blue-eyed persona has been a driving force for the champion of the Male Gaze. It’s impressive to watch how quickly our perception of beauty can completely alter the way we receive and process information when we’re not seeing ourselves.
Another dominant force contributing to the concept of the Male gaze is film/television. Laura Mulvey, a Filmmaker, Theorist, and Woman who coined the term “Male Gaze,” explains, “Men are considered the ‘active’ do-ers of the world, while women are expected to take a more ‘passive’ role supporting the men and/or men’s goals. In the context of cinema, it’s mostly men who write the films we watch, mostly men who make those films, and it is men who are usually the target audience. Therefore, men are usually given the lead in the stories themselves while female characters are assigned functions that are limited to serving the goals of those male protagonists.” Continually consuming media like this over and over again eventually has an imprint on the way we view our reality and society, and importantly, the way we view Women. To combat the rooted hatred we have for women, we must liberate our minds from the familiarities we’re accustomed to seeing on the screens, in music, through radio, and through word of mouth curated by the hands and minds of Males.
