Hi mens rights: Diversity of opinion and the Male Gaze.

EvilPundit · 2012-05-18T02:11:17+00:00

The "male gaze", like "male privilege" and a whole other bunch of feminist myths, is just a means of condemning men in general. If you have a Y-chromosome, you can't even look at someone without being guilty!

2012-05-18T02:52:39+00:00

Feminists rationalize male objectification by saying male's dominant position in society means they aren't harmed by the objectification like women are.

Lolz.

Also, females are only disturbed by gaze of unattractive males.

Remember, to avoid being a harasser: 1. Be handsome. 2. Be attractive. 3. Don't be unattractive.

2012-05-18T06:55:51+00:00

I have had a feminist explain to me that the term "male gaze" is strictly a term used for film criticism. That is, the gaze of the camera (as pointed by the presumably male director) captures what men wish to see and not what women wish to see. And, furthermore, she swore up and down that "male gaze" is strictly about that and not about the mundane act of men pointing their eyeballs at women.

Unfortunately, this is belied by a quick Google search of the use "male gaze," which reveals plenty of instances of feminists using the term in the midst of conniption-fits to describe the act of a man looking at a woman. This is always accompanied by complaints about how horrible and terrifying it is, as if men's eyes shoot-out a deadly heat-ray which causes women to scream and agonizingly melt into flaming puddles of goopy orange lava.

Luckily, the eyeballs of rich and sexy celebrity men don't seem to shoot this kind of heat-ray. And gay men can stare at each other all day long without bursting into flame. They must wear a lot of asbestos, I guess.

My conclusion: Feminists either don't know how to use the term properly, or the term means whatever it is that a given feminist wants it to mean.

For one of them to insist that it is strictly for film analysis and it's never meant to be used in any other situation, despite the fact that a simple web-search can uncover reams of comments where it is not being used to analyze film... it makes me think the feminist movement can't even get their own BS concepts straight.

2012-05-18T07:29:01+00:00

I wish I had this gaze super power they speak of. Alas, my raised eyebrow is unlikely to send anyone to the emergency ward.

2012-05-18T08:18:00+00:00

"you think I'm looking at you because I want to fuck you?"
"don't flatter yourself..."

EZ

Boss_Monkey · 2012-05-18T11:50:30+00:00

Feminists would be better served to avoid the topic of the male gaze. While it reinforces the victim trope, it could backfire. Men are largely unaware of the power that they hold over women. This would be the power feminists seek to remove from their eyes looking upon women. The emasculation of men has largely worked, as you described in the male passengers. Why tempt a slave rebellion by mistakenly giving men knowledge of their innate natural power over women?

truthjusticeca · 2012-05-18T01:59:14+00:00

diversity in any (beneficial) position that is male dominated.

Seems hypocritical

what is your opinion of this 'Male Gaze'?

Most men don't stare, they just glimpse. Who cares, I don't even mind gays checking me out in the gym or locker room.

Screaming and whistling is inappropriate.

InfinitelyThirsting · 2012-05-18T15:58:10+00:00

Well, I certainly think the Male Gaze exists. What I really hate, though, is that the people who get really huffy about it like to pretend there's no Female Gaze. And there sure as shit is. I'm a woman, and every girl I know will objectify a tasty-looking fellow. And there's nothing wrong with that, so long as you remember they're still people, and don't treat the people you actually interact with as objects.

That said, I do believe the Male Gaze is a more socially powerful thing. Not the actual action of men's eyeballs pointing at women, but there are a lot of underlying social support for the idea that women are there to look pretty for men, without an equal reverse balance. Female politicians are critiqued on their appearance far more than males are. In cinema in particular, women are all beautiful, and you almost always see the male lead get some dream girl--even if he's a nerd, or chubby, and so on. You never see the reverse, except in Hairspray. Women are in many places still expected to wear makeup and heels and generally put far more effort into their appearance than men, because that's our role in society, to be pretty. A personal, infuriating example. There are a lot of men who think it's within their rights to tell pretty girls to smile. A Softer World put it best. Older ladies sometimes do it too--but usually with a tag about how we need to catch a man, or something.

It comes up in a lot of film stuff, as mentioned below. Male is the default, because we as a society have been teaching that for a long time. Men are normal people, and women are female people. Look at the Smurfs for an illustration, or any other of the numerous things where you have characters split up by traits, and one of those traits is 'female'. It's another part of why faceless bad guys being mown down are always male--because not only are women seen as more sacred, but also because making them women makes them not faceless anymore.

It's also why men being topless is seen as harmless (even though we ladies ogle a hot shirtless guy just as much), whereas women topless is taboo or even illegal. I've had people insist to me that a woman's chest is inherently sexual (even though cultures where the women always go topless find our obsession with boobs ridiculous), and that men's chests are inherently not (even though that's what half of /ladyboners is, is topless dudes lookin' hot). They're so entrenched in the Male Gaze that they can't fathom it's a perception, and not a fact of nature.

But yeah, it's a general phenomenon, not supposed to be used for specific examples of individual behaviour. Just like how no individual white character in films or comic books is senseless, but when everyone is white, you notice the whitewashing. Or when gay people don't exist, or there's one token who seemingly exists to be gay. Or how any individual sitcom husband might not be bad, but when you notice that all of them are barely-functioning idiots, you start to wonder.

ExpendableOne · 2012-05-18T13:16:24+00:00

The "male gaze" is just another term coined by female chauvinists to vocalize a contempt and disdain for men and male sexuality. It is used to further demonize, belittle and shame a male heterosexual interest in women.

rightsbot · 2012-05-18T01:42:17+00:00

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Title	Hi mens rights: Diversity of opinion and the Male Gaze.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	16
Comments	29
Date	May 18, 2012 1:40 AM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/tsm0c/hi_mens_rights_diversity_of_opinion_and_the_male/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/hi-mens-rights-diversity-of-opinion-and-the-male.1021590 https://theredarchive.com/post/1021590

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