The Female Gaze Emergent

i recently came across an interesting article in a mainstream right-wing newspaper arguing that Women’s objectification of men's bodies has become mainstream and socially acceptable, sometimes to the discomfort of those ‘poor’ objectified males.

How times change and further proof of the emerging Female Future. To quote the article:

“Itʼs not easy being a hot piece of beautiful man these days.”

“Take poor Ryan Gosling, for instance. The actor will forever be haunted by viral photos of his chiseled six-pack. And then thereʼs Channing Tatum. The Magic Mike star may never recover from the degradation he experienced playing a drool-worthy stripper in not just one, but two films.”

“Actors are increasingly expected to pose topless, get ripped in the gym to secure much-coveted superhero roles and stand idly by while women ruthlessly compile Tumblr accounts documenting the bulge in their pants.”

About time i’d say. Forever under the fading patriarchy, Women have been sexually objectified and commodified, Their sexuality and desires treated as secondary, irrelevant or even non-existent.

So it shouldn’t come as any surprise that today, Women’s newfound power, education, wealth and success is unleashing the latent Female desire to sexually objectify and admire the male physique. It’s a beautiful thing to behold, a confident Woman expressing Her desires, tastes and fantasies openly.

It’s long overdue and something males need to get used to, though i suspect many men enjoy the thought of being the subject of Women’s fantasies.

On the other hand with sexual objectification comes the pressure for men to be found worthy of Female desire and the sudden realization that they have to work at being found desirable. That means long hours in the gym / exercising, caring about how they look and dress. No longer can any male assume his simple maleness endows him with the qualities desired by the Superior Sex.

An attitude adjustment also seems in order. males should show genuine appreciation at being the subject of the New Female Gaze. That and showing proper respect and deference.

The author also makes a point that i have made before. That the traditional male gaze and the New Female Gaze are in no way equivalent. In fact She argues that the sexual objectification of Women is becoming socially unacceptable even as the objectification of males becomes ever more popular and accepted. The reasoning behind this rings true;

“The reason why thereʼs no equivalent to the “male gaze” – even while women sexualize men – is that men havenʼt been subjected to the sexual harassment, pay disparity and mental anguish over coerced sexualization followed by cold rejection after a certain age that women have over the years”

 The New Female Gaze is playful, sexy, and fun. It doesn’t overtly threaten males or suggest violence towards them. It simply means that men can be judged based on their physical attributes and that Women are free to do so openly.

Is this a new double standard? Sure, but one long overdue.

“The fact that women can even be accused of objectifying men is actually a huge progressive step forward. Until recently, the female sex drive was forcibly kept in the closet. Women couldnʼt openly express desire or attraction without being shamed. They, ironically, were expected to be sexual objects without any inkling of sexuality (unless given permission by men)”

The open expression of Female Sexuality is, i believe, what actually frightens many males. For as i’ve said before, Female Sexuality is a force of nature for which the male has no answer. It renders the male dazed. It is something to which he is incapable of not responding to and being aroused by. It gives the Female enormous, natural, power over the male and is the very life force itself. Deep inside, all men know this. Real men acknowledge and submit to it while those who still cling to the patriarchy are terrified by this open display of Female Power, reacting irrationally and often violently to it. In the end however, resistance is futile, all men know this whether they openly admit it or not.

Society is changing and the New Female Gaze is yet another manifestation of this.

As the author concludes;

“Many men still feel the need to control womenʼs sexuality because it frightens them. This isnʼt a statement about the character of individual men as much as it is about centuries of fear-mongering that dates as far back as depictions of Eve and Jezebel in the Bible. Itʼs been taught over and over again that female sexuality is manipulative and dangerous. As it becomes less OK to objectify women and more normalized to sexualize men, males often feel an impending sense of doom.
The long history of the male gaze and menʼs freedom to sexualize women without repercussions makes “doing the right thing” more complicated than simply applying the same rules to everyone. Men and women have such vastly different historical experiences with objectification that equality canʼt be achieved by treating everyone equally. While men catcalling women on the street further distorts the gender imbalance, women sexualizing men actually evens the gender playing field.”