Beauty, the male gaze, feminism, & my ovaries

Is being human at odds with being woman? As seen @ http://xoxoANP.com

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• beauty
• Lacan
• feminism
• dating
• loreal
• hair

[TokyoTraveller]

I am living in Tokyo right now, but whenever I am in the United States, I must admit that I actively avoid looking at a woman longer than it takes to know her position and momentum. Since this takes a split second, my gaze is actively avoided. I even do this with beautiful women. Honestly, I am worried that I will get my head bitten off, or looked at like I'm some kind of hedonistic, demon animal that needs to be put to sleep.

it sucks.

[xoxoANP]

How is your behavior different in Tokyo, and why (do you think)?

[TokyoTraveller]

Of course, I believe in equal rights (truly equal, for both sides), equal pay, and fair treatment (not equal per se, because men and women are somewhat different creatures, and the same treatment on one side may be condescending or brutal to the other side).

But women can work and climb the corporate ladder, or stay at home and take care of a family, both without shame.

That's what is missing in the U.S.

[xoxoANP]

Your observations are both deeply fascinating and profoundly reductive.  I appreciate you taking them time to share them.

[CourtneyAngele]

The male gaze is an issue I've been tackling a lot in classes and on my own lately. I tend to agree with a lot of your questions, we're always left with things to think about, aren't we? Thanks for this video.

[xoxoANP]

I know - so many questions! Ugh, my "pretty little head" hurts :P

[cannibalcountry]

I think the tragedy though is that women who are obsessed with the male gaze and getting it are actually not confident. If you are a truely confident person - you don't need attention. You don't need to feel attractive through the eyes of OTHER people. And besides, most of what is considered attractive these days is FAKE. I think it's sad because women deny how they actually look and their own comfort - for men.

[formassio71]

feminism has peverted the west man and woman are not equal they are different. womens libertion is a joke. Women are now goverment pawns in the work force and because she is not home to take care of her childern now the goverment can do this for her. Day care centers people trained by the goverment teaching your children up to 11 hrs a day. Larger workforce more money. Just look at the breakdown of american morals and the family system and this only touches the surface.

[365to173repubsPWNED]

I walk right up to women, stare creepily and masturbate. That is the most profound male gaze, yet women seem not to appreciate it. C'est la vie.

[imthepb]

pretension ain't pretty

[Albacorewing]

Many women, when they get older, will loose their attractiveness.

then they will no longer be gazed at. To men they will be invisible. Men will look right through them at younger women who still have beauty. These women then will know that their youth has passed, and they will regret rejecting the men who admired them, as those chances will be gone forever.

[vbritsi]

"male gaze"???? wtf???

who makes this shit up?

[jimmy27paul]

@cannibalcountry BULLSHIT!......WOMEN THESE DAYS ONLY DRESS TO IMPRESS OTHER WOMEN!

[jimmy27paul]

@cannibalcountry BULLSHIT ...women these days only dress to impress.........other women!

[shmiggen]

that's right, as it should be. Plus we like to fuck women like that.

[TokyoTraveller]

I automatically consider any response to be an insult. However, I respond in a sincere and positive way regardless, just in case the person is actually positive and sincere.

anything else?

[anemone9]

@ Denouement

From Wikipedia:

"In film, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body...The theory suggests that male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects. Hence, the woman reader and the woman viewer must experience the text's narrative secondarily, by identifying with a man's perspective."

Here, "object" refers to a person who lacks agency, as opposed to a subject