Laura Mulvey’s description of the woman’s role within society became a stimulus for our performance idea being based around challenging the male gaze.
“In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness” (Mulvey, 1975).
This idea that the female is simply there to be looked at by others is something we wish to focus on. Self-image is prominent in the media in particular advertisement that constantly slate the female physique and appearance. Mulvey discusses the role of women within cinema during the 20th Century, which I believe is still apparent today. Taking from this idea of the the women being an object upon which to gaze, Mulvey explains that within cinema women have always been portrayed as “signifier for the male other” (Mulvey, 1975). It is featured in many genres of films, whereby the main male character seeks his prize (the leading women role) and typically wins and thus lives out “his phantasies and obsessions through linguistic command” (Mulvey, 1975) of the woman.
The subjective portrayal of women within cinema can also be seen within art. The female body has been a focal point within artworks for centuries and have more than likely been produced and published by male artists. Sigmund Freud’s initial thoughts about scropophilia can be identified within our study of the female representation seen within the Usher. This notion of “taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze” (Mulvey, 1975) best describes the objectification of women within society.
Taking influence from Freud’s idea of the mirror phase within child development we discussed the influence of media on society, not only women but men too. It is an interest of ours to explore the male influence as well, as the perception and expectation of women regarding appearance, physique and mannerisms are highly influenced from media forms. After participating in a group task of exploring the image of women within several genres of magazines, it soon became apparent that women are still subjected to being sexual objects for men to gaze and for women to idolize. From ages groups as young as three years and above, girls and woman alike are pushed into seeing the ‘ideal woman’ by the media’s influence. What was interesting to us was the use of models within men’s health magazine. It came as an odd appearance within the magazine which is initially thought to focus on men’s physicality; yet women are still featured for the obvious reason which is to be gazed at, as if it’s there for the man during his boredom. Exploring this gave us an insight into the possibility of subjecting ourselves in our performance in order to create a clear message; to exploit this notion of being the ideal woman or their perfect self-image to adhere to the male gaze. This links into Freud’s explanation of the mirror phase being the phase upon which a child recognizes themselves in the mirror; upon which he describes the occurrence as “the birth of the long love affair/despair between image and self-image. His exploration of this phase provides meaning for the media’s use of image and the importance of appearing to others in a certain way.

Mulvey, L. (1975). 1st ed. [ebook] pp.6-18. Available at: http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf [Accessed 20 Apr. 2015].