Did you say male GAZE or male GAYS?

I know you probably came here for cute travel pictures, but sooner or later I had to force my feminist agenda onto you.

One of the best parts about Paris, and France, is there are literally SO many museums.  There physically isn’t time for them all.  Of the three I’ve visited so far, I had to go back to each a second time to finish seeing everything.  I haven’t even started working my way through the Louvre.

It’s inspiring to be surrounded by so much art.  Most museums here offer great descriptions as well, so if you are like me and don’t know a ton about art; different styles, movements, etc., everything is neatly explained for you in English and French.  AND if you’re a student with a visa admission is free!

But there is also something that has been sort of unsettling to me.  It’s a concept that I had heard of, but it took me until this trip to really understand, the male gaze.

It first hit me when I looked at this painting.

http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_98=AUTR&VALUE_98=HARRISON%20Thomas%20Alexander&DOM=All&REL_SPECIFIC=3

It’s beautiful.  The young girl looks serene, pure.  She is comfortable in nature, in her nudity, and in her solitude.  But she’s turned away, does she know that she is being watched?  The majority of the Musée d’Orsay contains art by male artists.  So who is watching her?  Would the girl look so peaceful if she knew a man had popped in on her moment of peace?

I realize this may seem ridiculous.  Who cares when she probably wasn’t even a real person? There are countless female nudes; lying on the bed, brushing one’s hair by the window, naked Venus frolicking with cherubs.  Many argue that these are celebrations of the female form, holding women in the highest regard of beauty.

But it still makes me uncomfortable.

As comedian Hannah Gadsby said, “Stop watching women having baths. Go away.”

The issue with the male gaze is that it frames women as objects in a way that is aimed at male pleasure and male pleasure only.  It is present in books, art, and talked about a ton in film.  If you want to learn about it from someone who is actually qualified to tell you, check out one of those hyperlinks or get academic here.

You could argue that canoe girl or Venus aren’t being sexualized… or can you?  Yes, these women are often in their “natural” state, but what about the picture do you really like? It’s the soft curves of the body, the porcelain skin.

If what we strived to portray was women in their natural state, in nature, wouldn’t she have matted hair, tanned and weatherworn skin, and muscles instead of soft pillow-y features?

But no the soft, blond images invoke not nature, but purity and virginity.  An object that no one has obtained, an object that you want.  And even if it is your most prized possession, she is a possession nonetheless.

So what am I supposed to do?  Stop going to museums?  Only look at the work by female artists?  Ignore 90% of historical art?  A lot of these paintings of naked women I also really like!

I’ve decided I just have to take it with a grain of salt.  The paintings can be beautiful and sexualized.  They don’t have to be absolutely perfect or absolutely discredited.

I will appreciate them with their pros and cons.

In the meantime, for my French literature class I will choose to read the book by the female author.

I will visit the Louvre and the Pompidou and everything in between to see art made by men and women.

I will read about all types of famous French women from Kiki de Montparnasse to Simone Weil.

I will try to celebrate all types of women their beauty brains and bravery, not just the boobs men love to paint.

I will strive to learn about women through their own eyes, not just men’s, even if those images seem to be far more frequent.  I will celebrate women writing their own narratives.

When it comes to the male gaze, I will be the one staring back.