Essay

The Female Gaze in Western Art and Popular Culture

In John Berger’s book, ‘Ways of Seeing’ he states that women are still ‘depicted in different ways to men- because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him’. (p.64) He goes on to say that ‘Men act and women appear’ where men play the active role and the woman a passive one. This pattern, Berger writes, determines the relationship between men and women, and also the relationship of women to themselves. Women turn themselves into objects by surveying themselves from a male perspective. In Marina Warner’s book ‘Monuments and Maidens’ (1987) she agrees by saying that ‘the female form tends to be perceived as generic and universal, with symbolic overtones; the male as individual, even when it is being used to express a generalized idea.’ (1987, p. 12)

Berger writes that ‘in the average European oil painting of the nude the principal protagonist is never painted. He is the spectator in front of the picture and he is presumed to be a man.’ He makes the point that the woman in the painting is designed for the spectator or owner of the image. Even if the woman has her lover in the painting also, her attention is rarely directed at him because her ‘true’ lover is the assumed male viewer.

Edouard Manet, Olympia

In Manet’s 1863 painting, ‘Olympia’, he shows a prostitute lying on a bed- staring directly at the viewer. Although her pose is similar to that of previous paintings, for example, Titain’s ‘Venus of Urbino’ in 1538, there are slight differences. The way Manet has positioned the woman’s hand over herself is not a light caress, but a barrier. Manet’s use of a prostitute also makes the traditional ‘gaze’ a rather uncomfortable one, as there is no distance from reality- this is no Greek myth or biblical scene. ‘Olympia’ was concreted in a social situation that caused much controversy at the time as it was defacing the idea of the nude and attacking the conventions of traditional art discourse. John Berger writes on the subject that Manet represented a turning points, and, when compared to other ‘nudes’ of women, ‘one sees a woman, cast in the traditional role, beginning to question that role, somewhat defiantly.’ (1972, p. 57)

Artemisia Gentileschi, Susanne & the Elders

In Artemisia Gentileschi’s 1610 painting, ‘Susuanne and the Elders’ the subject of the painting is still a nude female, but one with a clear emotional struggle that shows her shame of being naked. The painting examines the reality of woman’s confined position in a society governed by men. In Richard E. Spear’s work called ‘Artemisia Gentileschi: Ten Years of Fact and Fiction’ he writes that Gentileschi’s naked Susanna is ‘more voluptuous. Her fully lit, generous breast is exposed to all’ which he then states is for ‘male voyeuristic pleasure’.

Gentileschi worked with mainly biblical or mythological subjects for her paintings- using themes where women had a starring role. As a female artist there were cultural barriers she struggled through, which included the belief that women were naturally ‘inferior’ to men. This belief could explain her painting. ‘Judith Slaying Holofernes’ which is a very dramatic portrayal of the beheading of Holofernes. What stood out from this painting was the realistic size of Judith- not some vulnerable woman cowering in the corner but a force to be reckoned with.  Gentileschi’s painting seems to revel in this depiction of female physical power, without the coy and averted gazes of traditional Western figures.  The history behind Gentileschi’s paintings makes her all the more interesting because, like Judith in her depiction, Artemisia had also been raped. Her work suddenly takes on more meaning when this is found out, the painting no longer a scene from a story, but an insight into the violence of rape. In Wendy Beckett’s book ‘Discovering Europe’s Great Art’, she writes that ‘there is a secret personal power that makes the story far more real to her- and to us- than it could have ever been for a male artist.’

These types of paintings were once hidden away in stately homes and private galleries but now the ‘nude’ woman has extended influence in contemporary advertising, photography and music videos. In ‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger, he argues the idea that tradition has dictated women to look at themselves from a masculine perspective. He writes that Western art creates a coded visual representation where a nude is always posing for the benefit of a male spectator. ‘In the art-form of the European nude the painters and spectator-owners were usually men and the persons treated as objects, usually women. This unequal relationship is so deeply embedded in our culture that it still structures the consciousness of many women. They do to themselves what men do to them. They survey, like men, their own femininity’. (Berger, 1972, p.63)

The 1994 Wonderbra Advert includes the ‘Or are you just pleased to see me?’ caption which is almost a direct quote from the actress Mae West. West, a sex symbol in the 1920’s taunted men in her films with ‘dirty’ one-liners to get them into her bed. In the book, ‘Representing Women’, the author, Myra Macdonald, states that this ‘extends the distance between ‘talking dirty’ and having sexual freedom’. She goes on to write, ‘While both Mae West and the Wonderbra model exude spirit and the enticement of pleasures to come, the game still revolves around pulling a man.’

Wonderbra Ad, 1999

In the 1999 Wonderbra advert, ‘I can’t cook. Who Cares?’ a woman’s curvy and sexy body is far more important than any other feminine skills she may or may not possess. This almost shows a shift in advertising women- once passive objects of a male gaze, now active, sexual objects. These ‘new’ women shift advertising from objectification, to sexual subjectification. Rosalind Gill in her book ‘Feminism and Psychology’ picks up on this point, saying, ‘women are presented as not seeking men’s approval but as pleasing themselves, and, in so doing, they ‘just happen’ to win men’s admiration’.

Kathy Myers 1982, argues that the objectification of women’s bodies for commercial purposes does not mean that objectification itself is always harmful. She writes that by taking over the codes already employed from male perspectives, and redeploying them, the power to encourage new ways of looking will follow.