The Duality of the Male Gaze

 

Nymph 

Virgin

Mother

Damsel

    This series reflects some of the many contradictory roles a woman must take to be "perfect" in the eyes of the male gaze. The perfect woman has to be sexy, but she can only be sexy to one man, otherwise, she is a whore. Conversely, a woman cannot be a virgin because then she would be a prude and not a good lover. A woman who has sex in the first date is titled as a whore, while a man is titled as a champion. If a woman refuses to have sex in the first date, she is labeled as boring and prude. In addition, the perfect woman has to be a damsel, constantly saved by her cunning and strong man. The damsel must be youthful and full of life, without any stress. But the damsel must magically turn into a mother from time to time for this same strong man. The perfect woman would cook, clean, and take care of the man without ever reminding him too much of his mother, or else she would be titled as commanding, and possibly crazy. 

    This series could very much reflect an exaggeration of expectations, but it doesn't. It reflects a very real description I have heard multiple times throughout my life of what the perfect woman would be under the eyes of a highly patriarchal man. This series was heavily inspired by Ana Mendieta and Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman's influence can be seen in the influence of background lights along with full character impersonation for the pictures. Now, the influence of Ana Mendieta relies on her ideals and works against the male gaze and patriarchy. I decided to challenge the male gaze by showing how impossibly contradictory it requires women to be. 

Quotes and Comments:

"These questions would echo in her work, which explored themes that pushed ethnic, sexual, moral, religious and political boundaries"

    I picked this quote from the New York Times article about Ana Mendieta because I wanted to push myself into fully getting into character despite my normal boundaries. I would never dress up as a nun, because I grew up with a devout catholic family, but this art piece criticizes the patriarchal view using a character that happens to be a nun. 

"So is there such a thing as a “female gaze?” Ms. Vischer said that she ultimately concluded that there probably was no single way to define how women artists perceive their subjects. But she did concede: “The female artists’ gaze is shaped by their lived experiences, which are different for women and men.”"

    This quote resonates with my series because even though I strived to show how some of these stereotypes are seen under the male gaze, I am still a female artist, meaning that my gaze is unique to me even if I am trying to replicate the male gaze. A small trace of my own gaze can be seen in the picture titled "whore", who is ironically, the only of the represented woman who is genuinely smiling. The smile was genuine because, in my gaze, I do not consider the "whore" in a pejorative manner, but I see her as the one woman who is having fun at a party. 

“Cindy changed all women’s lives—she put names to the stereotypes associated with women by making pictures of them. When you can name something, you can laugh at it.”

    I chose this quote because much like Cindy Sherman, I chose to portray the stereotypes associated with women and step into them for criticism, much like Sherman did in her series of "old white ladies". It was quite funny living a Cindy Sherman experience and stepping into the characters I played.