Looking at the Male Gaze

When I had the idea and was ready to start writing my latest novel, a crime thriller with a romantic subplot, I had to decide who would tell the story. I chose to have the guy be the protagonist. I'm a guy and I thought I could best tell the story through this fictional adult male. Thus, the "camera" is always on the man's shoulder as he goes through the scenes; it's what we call "close third-person" point of view. I made that choice because this character would be the one who is most affected by the circumstances of the story, hence the most interesting character. However, I knew my choice would leave me open to criticism of the so-called male gaze. 

In recent years a lot has been said about the "male gaze" in literature and film. The male gaze is the idea that every story is about a male gazing at a female; in essence seeing her as a sexualized object rather than a whole person. If you google "male gaze", you get this definition: "the perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterized by a tendency to objectify or sexualize women." In other words, all literature is represented by the male hero seeing all females as sexual objects. It is the standard format. This is gradually changing, fortunately.

You could also find articles such as one about Laura Mulvey which explains the theory: "The Male Gaze theory, in a nutshell, is where women in the media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man, and that these women are represented as passive objects of male desire." Examples in film "include medium close-up shots of women from over a man's shoulder, shots that pan and fixate on a woman's body, and scenes that frequently occur which show a man actively observing a passive woman." ...And especially thinking or commenting about the woman he sees.

The same would apply to a novel where the male character describes (or the author describes through his point of view) the appearance of the female character, which may be described neutrally or in terms which suggest to the reader how the male character is seeing and/or thinking of the female character. Writing descriptions of any character requires a lens through which the author wishes the reader to make determinations about the character being described - but also about the character doing the describing. This feature is plain to see when reading amateur erotica, where all descriptions focus on the sexuality of the person being described. In a mainstream novel, however, more subtlety is needed and better craft is employed.

You have to describe your characters - how they dress, how they stand, their facial expressions - and from that information the reader may get a sense of other aspects of the character. If the story involves, for example, a creepy guy staring at girls, well, of course he would see them as sexualized objects and describe them that way. A regular sort of fellow would probably recognize that he had the option to describe a female character in ways that would be objectifying, but he might refuse to think of her in that way. He would know it was wrong. Or he would simply keep his thoughts to himself, knowing they are inappropriate. That, too, would reveal the inner thoughts of the male character through his action of not describing a female character in an objectifying way.

In my latest novel, I tell the story from the male character's point of view. When I have him look at the principal female character, I let him be a man. He notes how she dresses, wears her hair, and so on, but he doesn't do so to objectify her - he merely thinks she looks pretty. He understands he should not look at her in a certain way, that it would not be appropriate. In fact, he spends much of the novel reminding himself of the rules imposed on himself by himself and by society. 

I wrote from the man's point of view even with the threat of potential readers lamenting yet another male gaze tale, because to write from the girl's point of view would set me up for accusations of not being able to understand a girl's point of view. "Write what you know" is the old admonition; I know the male gaze. Ha! Not really. It's an animal reflex tempered by social customs - and like any good story, the reality of the way people act and think brings a story to life, even if it may not reflect changing attitudes and updated norms or an ideal, perfect world we may wish for.

I believe an author should be able to craft a compelling story regardless who the protagonist is, regardless of the narrator, whether he saves the girl or something equally interesting happens. The trend now is for the girl to save herself or to save the boy, which is fine. I've done that in other books. I've read plenty of novels written by women and with female protagonists. But I felt I could not write her side of this story effectively; hence, the close third-person from his point of view. He is in every scene and what he sees and thinks gives us the story. What he sees of the female character is as a passive observer: she comes and goes through her day, acting as she normally would, and he merely sees her passage. That is, until the relationship changes and he sees her in a different way (no spoilers). Alternately, because I limited the story to his point of view, I cannot describe him through her point of view - employing the female gaze (think, for example, any movie where the camera scans over a male's body for the female viewer's enjoyment) - but only have him imagine what she must be thinking, like when she watches him mow the law with his shirt off.


EXCHANGE, my crime thriller, is meant to be a contemporary story and set in real places with real characters facing real situations, acting in "normal" ways which may be predicated on society's norms, flawed as they may be. I'm not writing a polemic on how the world should be but offering an illustration of how it is, for the purpose not of investigating social roles but of explicating, in this case, the many angles on gun violence and gun control laws in our society today. What can be done? What should be done? I let the characters act out a scenario to bring various issues to light. 

Not to advance the male gaze.


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