Theorists- Mulvey

The Male Gaze

Mulvey has a theory that the music industry is focused on portraying women as objects so that it appeals to a male audience.  The concept of a gaze is that an individual will look at someone else/ something else in awe.  Feminists believe that the male gaze has three different ways of thinking:

1. how men look at women
2. how women look at themselves
3. how women look at other women

These three different ways of looking are all different from each other.  

The features of the male gaze are as follows:

• The camera lingers over the curves of a woman's body in a music video to draw attention to their womanly assets.  This regulates women to the status of objects according to Mulvey. 
• The woman is a secondary character in the narrative as she is usually chasing after a man or the man is obsessing over her.  Either way, the man is the main character.  
• Seductive clothing such as short skirts and low cut tops that draw attention to a woman's body and almost provoke the idea of the male gaze from happening.

Although this is not argued by Mulvey, another point that I believe in is that the lyrics in songs also objectify women.  The music industry is known for giving a negative outlook on women although I do believe women are starting to claim that back.