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Is the Female Gaze the direct opposite of the Male Gaze or something else entirely?

We all know about the male gaze, the term coined by Laura Mulvey; it is the perspective of the male viewer. Women are often depicted as sexual objects. The female gaze serves as the opposite and is the perspective of the female viewer. Jill Soloway, a television director, argues that the female gaze is not the opposite because that would insinuate men will be depicted as sexual objects. From what I have seen, films in the ‘female gaze’ don’t show male characters like this. Is the female gaze the opposite of the male or something completely different?

  • maybe discuss films like 'the hurt locker' which is directed by a woman but chronicles a male experience and deeply explores male relationships – lizawood 2 years ago
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  • I feel like this is just an idea that was thrown out there without consideration to the fact that there is actual academic knowledge on this topic. You can just read papers by academics who research this. Just guessing if the female gaze is the opposite of male gaze (it isn't) doesn't really serve any purpose. What's happening here is a problem of language where one assumes everything has an opposite and that isn't always the case. If you wanted to describe something as the opposite of male gaze you don't have to call it "female gaze" you can just call it something like 'inverted male gaze" or "negative" and any number of prefixes that DO mean opposite. – wolfkin 2 years ago
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