Male Gaze - Tumblr Posts
“It’s literally impossible to be a woman.
You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong?
You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you wanna be thin. You have to say you wanna be healthy, but also, you have to BE THIN.
You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass.
You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean.
You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas.
You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time.
You have to be a career woman, but also, always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is INSANE, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining!
You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood, but ALWAYS STAND OUT and ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL. But never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that but ALSO, always be grateful!
You have to never get old. Never be rude. Never show off. Never be selfish. Never fall down. Never fail. Never show fear. Never get OUT OF LINE. It's too hard! It's too contradictory, and nobody gives you a medal or says 'thank you!' And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also, everything is your fault.
I'm just so tired of watching myself, and every single other woman tie herself into knots, so that people will like us.
And if all of that, is also true for a doll just representing a woman, then I don't even know." -Gloria the barbie movie
this is it. this is exactly it oh my god.
I think I noticed Chizu and Usagi checking out on each other in Season 1 of Samurai Rabbit, without noticing. 😏🧐
Enjoy my rant about the male gaze
Male Gaze Theory is great and all but I’m currently realising that there absolutely is a Neurotypical Gaze as well and it’s been breathing down my neck my whole life.
reblogging this so i dont forget it
“It’s literally impossible to be a woman.
You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don't think you're good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow, we're always doing it wrong?
You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you wanna be thin. You have to say you wanna be healthy, but also, you have to BE THIN.
You have to have money, but you can't ask for money because that's crass.
You have to be a boss, but you can't be mean.
You have to lead, but you can't squash other people's ideas.
You're supposed to love being a mother, but don't talk about your kids all the damn time.
You have to be a career woman, but also, always be looking out for other people.
You have to answer for men's bad behavior, which is INSANE, but if you point that out, you're accused of complaining!
You're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you're supposed to be a part of the sisterhood, but ALWAYS STAND OUT and ALWAYS BE GRATEFUL. But never forget that the system is rigged, so find a way to acknowledge that but ALSO, always be grateful!
You have to never get old. Never be rude. Never show off. Never be selfish. Never fall down. Never fail. Never show fear. Never get OUT OF LINE. It's too hard! It's too contradictory, and nobody gives you a medal or says 'thank you!' And it turns out, in fact, that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also, everything is your fault.
I'm just so tired of watching myself, and every single other woman tie herself into knots, so that people will like us.
And if all of that, is also true for a doll just representing a woman, then I don't even know." -Gloria the barbie movie
this is it. this is exactly it oh my god.
Shaming women for catering to the "male gaze" is a form of conservative slut-shaming masquerading as feminism.
There's a trend I've seen of people looking at female characters in media who look sexually attractive and saying that the creators of this media are bad or the enemies of feminists because they created something to "cater to the male gaze."
For example, video games with female characters who have big boobs are criticized for "sexualizing women" for the sake of male consumers.
I've also seen a post which made a comparison between the old and new Harley Quinn, claiming that the one who had "choppy and fun" bangs rather than "seductively framing her face" was much better because it showed female rather than male gaze.
The issue with these criticisms is that well-meaning feminists start to generalize them to real women. We tell women not to look seductive or sexually attractive because those traits cater to men. We feel pity for them for having become victims to men's lust.
Do you see why this is bad? If you look closely enough at these claims about the male gaze, you see that modern feminist language is being used to repeat the same conservative slut-shaming bullshit our society should have overcome by now.
How different are these claims, really, from the teacher at my high school who followed her presentation about the dress code by saying that girls who have been victims of sexual harassment have invited it upon themselves with the way that they were dressed?
Some things that are bad:
Telling women how they can and can't dress
Saying that if men are attracted to a woman, she is not safe or not respectable
Telling women to dress modestly
Shaming women for wanting to be attractive to men
To be clear, the opposite is true too. It's bad to force women into sex of course, or to make them wear something "attractive" that they aren't comfortable with. But telling women that they are "catering to the male gaze" if they want to look attractive disempowers women by taking away our choice to be sexually liberated, choose how we dress, or look attractive for our own sakes.
In addition, when feminists consider the male gaze their enemy, they also start to consider women who dress attractively or are purposely seductive or engage in sexual acts as their enemies. We end up with women yelling at women, enforcing the patriarchy on ourselves. It's fucked up, and we can do better.
the male g(l)aze is when
males see the world through jizz (and it has to be their own, of course) colored glasses.
cassie howard and the male gaze
Cassie is showing the damage not having a stable father figure and understanding between love and lust can do to a person. Cassie is shown to be very sexual but not in the way Maddy is, maddy understands how to use her sex as power she also knows what it means to men. Show by the fact she lied to Nate telling him she was a virgin making him feel as if he was in control. Cassie on the other hand is know for being sexual and sleeping guys claiming to love her. She is so trusting of these men she gets herself pregnet in the first season of the show. This to me show what not having that proper father in your life can do to you. Cassie never had a loving father to explain what real love from a guy was like. cassie mother was still bitter from her father leaving so she never showed her daughter the right way to love. When can even see this in lexi. Lexi isnt as confident about her sex life or body, cassie uses sex as a way to cope and lexi uses anything but sex. After see her father drunk she is afraid of men and what they can do. Cassie always tried to see the best in their dad while lexi saw the reality.
And probably the most famous and most obvious example of Cassie effort to please the male gaze come to her 4 am beauty routine. we see Cassie try to emulate both Jules and Maddy to win Nate never really showing her true self. She gives him everything he could want, and he still longs over Jules and Maddy, this proves my point that even if you clean yourself up and dress for a man you cannot hide your brokenness and lack of depth.
Parallel between Cassie from Euphoria and Camille from Le Mépris
Priscilla by Sofia Coppola
tw- sofia coppola hate<3 The movie itself wasn't all bad. I thought the cinematography and art department did a beautiful job and the movie is total eye candy, which I love. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi clearly both put their whole actusies into the film. That being said, I was really disappointed by story. It was the epitome of the male fantasy. I remember laughing to myself seeing this 15 year old girl wake up and pop some pills, already with flawless skin, rosy lips, and perfectly pointed eyeliner. Never did we see Priscilla exist on her own, separate from her relationship to Elvis. Her existence in the film began when she met him, and ended when she left him. There was never a time when she advocated for her own desires or needs outside of him, it was just Elvis, Elvis, Elvis. The character Sofia Coppola created is an incel's wet dream: a girl who never says anything wrong, a girl who has no goals for herself, a girl who cowers under her abuser. I am so sick of seeing women idealized in this way. It gives us such a narrow scope of what beauty and fulfillment is. I saw the film with my mom, and I think she said it best: "The opening credits said it all. It's darkness and then we see these two perfect feet. And they're walking through this lush shag carpet, and you think 'where are they going?' Maybe to a bathroom, maybe to a cool pair of shoes, or a mirror. But then you just get a shot of some draperies and a china elephant or whatever and then its like... PRISCILLA. We never see where she goes"
Conan Gray// Elizabeth Gilbert//Taylor Swift//John Berger// Micheal Law//Brene Brown