The

Consequences
of the Male
Gaze and
Sexual
Objectification
Written by: Gina Miller
Rhetorical Theories and Professional
Communication


The male gaze is a term that is commonly used among feminists arguing the role of a
female for the sexual objectification of a male spectator. The male gaze was originally
brought up by Laura Mulvey in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, and her
meaning of the term relates to the woman as a spectacle in film. Other feminists have used
to the term to describe print material as well as film and multi-media as being a product of
the male gaze.

Sexual objectification means looking at a person as an object merely for sexual

pleasure and as an object for use. Sexual objectification is comparable with the male gaze
because both theories are feminism theories and have affects on men and women in our
culture today. Feminist see sexual objectification as being a major part in the patriarchal
order in which women are not equal to men. Sexual advertisement has also been a
producer of the male gaze and sexual objectification, which in turn has created
consequences proving feminism theories and causing psychological problems within some
women in our culture.
Laura Mulveys Visual and Narrative Pleasure doesnt regard homosexuals, and
transgendered people in her theory concerning the male gaze, but her feministic views
have opened readers eyes on the truth about patriarchal order existing in our culture.
Laura Mulvey begins her essay with looking at women symbolically as the bleeding wound
of castration, and unconsciously raising her child in this image, therefore continuing the
patriarchy. Mulvey studies Freudian philosophy on phallocentrism1 as she compiles her
findings about how to break the oppression of the female gender.

Freud was also in her thoughts when determining the male gaze. In her essay she
writes, Freud isolated scopophilia as one of the component instincts of sexuality which
exists as drives quite independently of the erotogenic zones. At this point he associated
scopophilia with taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and
curious gaze.2 Mulvey constitutes that the film industry has adapted a narcissistic way of
portraying women as objects for men. In a way the film industry has prayed on the
audiences perversion and voyeuristic fantasies.
The male gaze according to Mulvey can be seen as active and passive roles that
satisfy the spectator. The spectator in this culture is a man according to the patriarchal
order we live in, and this makes the spectacle a women. Freuds views would support this
as being a mirror image of oneself, a more egotistical image, which will be portrayed as the
main man in the film as the women is simply an erotic passive spectacle who has no
bearing on the importance of the film. She is simply an erotic figure used as an object to
fulfill fantasies for the spectator made by the spectator. The film aesthetics also have much
to with the messages portrayed, and how the male gaze can be subjected to the audience.
The mise en scene is important in allowing the spectator to put himself into the scene. The
dimensional aspect of the scene should be one dimensional in the fact that the egotistical
spectator can fulfill his fantasy with the object of affection by looking at it as a still image
with no distance between them.
Sexual objectification relates to the male gaze in the fact that it views a person as a
sexual object for fetishistic fantasies, and disregarding the persons personality. Sexual
Objectification is an actual complex, and not all males look upon women as objects. There

are many feminists that study sexual objectification and argue for ways to prevent it, which
in turn will hopefully help the patriarchal order to subside, and give women the respect
they deserve.
Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts wrote an essay, Objectification Theory:
Toward Understanding Womens lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks. They focus on
the consequences behind the male gaze and viewing women of different ethnicities as
sexual objects. As a result of sexual objectification, women have a self image that they are
constantly monitoring, which causes stress and actual mental disorders. Sexual
objectification and gender oppression have the same consequences for women which
results in employment discrimination and sexual violence.
Frederickson and Roberts agree that sexual gazing is what enables sexual
objectification, and when these acts occur womens body parts are what defines her as a
person rather than her personality. The objectifying gaze, according to Fredrickson and
Roberts, is noticeable in three different instances; the first being in public places with an
actual social encounter and in most cases women of color is more apt to get a sexual
comment with the gaze than a white women. The second scenario would be objectification
in the media that portrays a likeness of a real encounter in which a male is gazing at a
female while the female doesnt notice the attention, and her attention is directed at
something else. The male gaze would be a good way to describe the third objectification
instance in our society. Fredrickson and Roberts describe the third instance in terms
credited to Laura Mulvey, and the male gaze. They see this visual media sexual
objectification as being the most threatening in our culture. The male gaze is not limited

to pornography; in fact it is portrayed throughout many films, live television, and

advertisement. While men are mostly represented in detail facial view, women are mainly
shown as body parts alone. These media tactics are actually provoking sexual
objectification in our culture today.

Sexual objectification as a perspective on a persons physical self can also be

considered a condition that affects people today. Because of the objective portrayal of
women in the media and advertisement, some women actually start viewing themselves as
objects and start to dissect their appearance to what is the cultures standard of being
attractive. Some studies show that some womens life experiences can be based upon how
other people view her appearance. Unger, R.K.3 says that physical attractiveness can
emanate power for women in the work place, or enhance social acceptance. Women that
seem vain and narcissistic can very well be conditioned from sexual objectification and the
male gaze.

If the audience views the material presented to them in a preferred subject position,

then they would definitely experience the effects of sexual objectification or the male
gaze. Some people view sexual advertisement in the oppositional subject position, in
which they would have a more disgusted view and they would not be affected by sexual
objectification or the male gaze, in fact they may even argue against the messages being
presented. Not all men are natural to the gaze and not all men objectify women. Women
too arent all affected by the male gaze or sexual objectification.

The women that are affected by sexual objectification can actually experience

psychological problems throughout their lifetime, and according to Mulvey, raise their

children to support the patriarchal order. Certain women will experience shame, anxiety,
peak motivational states, and awareness of internal bodily states. Fredrickson, Roberts
(1997)4 A definition of shame from Darwin, (1872) is a negative emotion that occurs when
people evaluate themselves relative to some internalized or cultural ideal and come up
short. Darwin seemed to notice the gaze as being an answer to the shame feeling.

Our culture consists of images of young, beautiful, slim, Caucasian females in our

media, advertisement, and television. Studies show that only 1 in 40,000 women are
considered model material, which proves that its false advertisement at its best because
women generally are not shaped that way. This fake ideal way to look has caused some
women to be shameful of their own appearance, which then provokes feelings of
worthlessness, confusion, and depression. Fredrickson and Roberts question the morality
of our culture in which women feel shame due to sexual objectification.

Anxiety can be a permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of

mental disorders, usually accompanied by panic attacks or compulsive behavior.5 Some

women tend to be anxious about how someone else will see their attractiveness. There can
also be safety anxiety in women concerning rape. Most rapists argue that the women were
asking for it by the way they were dressed, so this statement proves that sexual
objectification can be a cause for sexual violence. Men in our culture do not necessarily
understand what women are mentally going through when determining their safety and
constant anxiety based upon their appearance. Sexual objectification and the male gaze is
the root to these mental illnesses among women.

From little girl stage to womanhood, females seem to become somewhat self

conscious in themselves. Self conscious thoughts actually stop women from experiencing
peak motivational states of learning which can disrupt their path in life of learning and
gaining confidence to follow long term goals. Females view their bodies as objects from as
young as grade school age when little boys start commenting on their appearance. This can
turn both ways, because it seems natural for boys and girls to flirt with each other, but little
boys growing hormones seem to have a larger impact on sexual objectification of their
fellow females than that of objectification of males. Females biologically go through
puberty faster and develop breasts that can be noticeable to young men, which then some
males start objectifying females at a very young age.

Many theorists have also suggested that women are less aware of their internal

bodily states than men, which is can easily be described as a problem caused from self
views of objectification. Women are less likely to feel what their body is telling them
through physiological sensations, for example; heartbeat, stomach contractions, and
glucose level. This problem could be caused by either long term dieting and ignoring
hunger cues, or self consciousness of the body due to body monitoring. Either way both of
these answers can be rooted to objectification.

Fredrickson and Roberts studied many different consequences of the male gaze

and sexual objectification. They have also come up with major mental illnesses thought to
be caused from sexual objectification such as; depression, which was mentioned earlier,
sexual dysfunctions, regarding female orgasms or lack thereof. Women generally do not
have orgasms as easily as men, and this could be a result of many factors mentioned above

like ignoring physiological cues, and also women being self conscious about their bodies
due to sexual objectification. One other example of an actual disorder would be eating
disorders. Some women starve themselves to lose enough weight to feel comfortable in
our culture. They call it a phenomenon in our culture that women actually want to starve,
but many people see it as a repercussion of sexual objectification.

The male gaze, sexual objectification, and even self objectification can be seen in

many different types of advertisement. One for example is the PETA commercial titled
Veggie Love. The commercial was banned from the super bowl in 2009 because it was
very perverted in the message they portrayed and the actresses werent dressed
appropriately for public television. I presented the commercial to my peers in class, and
they actually disproved sexual objectification because they acted in an oppositional
position and actually rejected the ideological message that was presented, but some
females are subjected to feelings of sexual objectification, and if it is causing some harm on
females, then it truly needs to be noticed and disregarded from media and advertisement,

The male gaze is definitely present in the PETA commercial because it is made for

a man as the spectator, viewing the images presented to them in objectionable form in
which they can imagine themselves using the women as objects of sexual desire. The
camera source in Veggie Love is actually set up to have a feel of being a man spectating
over the women as they have their way with vegetables.

The PETA commercial is considered an extreme example of the male gaze and

sexual objectification, but it is a good example because it shows that a lot of advertisement
and media we watch today have mixed messages portraying sexual objectification and the

male gaze, and both of these feminist theories are proven to harm women throughout
their lifetime. Women have lived with the patriarchal order, in my opinion, since the
beginning of Christianity, or even further in history. Women have been struggling in our
culture to be looked upon as being equal with men in the workforce, in public, and even at
home. Respect is all women want. Some women dont even know they are a product of the
male gaze or sexually objectified, so there should be more education on this subject
matter to teach women what other theorists have found over the years, so everyone is
aware of these tactics being presented to us.

Notes

1

Privelaging the masculine. Mulvey talks about phallocentric ways still existing today and oppressing females.
Mulvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema1999
3
Unger, R.K. (1979). Female and Male. New York; Harper and Row
4
Fredrickson and Roberts purpose a series of mental illnesses that can inhabit women that are subjected to sexual
objectification. Their references for this information is due to Deaux & Major, (1987) full source available in the
bibliography.
5
Definition Source; http://www. google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2ADRA enUS405&defl=en&q=define:anxiety&s
=X&ei=fx8BTdi8NpKcsQPThfSvCw&sqi=2&ved=0CBYQkAE


















2

Bibliography

Mulvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Film Theory and Criticism :Introductory
Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.
Fredrickson, Barbara and Roberts, Tomi-Ann, Objectification Thoery: Toward Understanding Womens
Lived Experiences and Mental Health Risks. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21 (1997), 173-206,
Printed in the USA

Unger, R.K. (1979). Female and Male. New York; Harper and Row

Deaux, K & Major, B. (1987). Putting gender inro context: An interactive model of gender related
behavior. Psychological Review, 94, 369-389.