THE MALE GAZELaura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist and she developed the term ‘The Male Gaze’ in 1975 as she believed that the majority of films (if not all) are viewed from the perspective of a heterosexual male.

THE MALE GAZESome of the key features of the male gaze include:

•When the camera lingers on the curves of the female body and events which occur to women are presented in the context of a man’s reaction to these events.

•When women are portrayed and relegated as objects

•The female body is sexualized even when it is irrelevant to what’s going on in the scene or the product being advertised.

THE MALE GAZEControversial advertisements

Dolce and Gabbana

THE MALE GAZEControversial advertisements

Burger King

THE MALE GAZEControversial advertisements

THE MALE GAZEControversial advertisements

Durex Advert

THE MALE GAZEKey theorists beliefsJonathan Schroeder (1998)

“to gaze implies more than to look at – it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze.”

THE MALE GAZEA criticism of Mulvey’s Gaze theory is that:

Some women enjoy being ‘looked’ at e.g. beauty pageants. The gaze can also be directed toward members of the same gender for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.