What is the male gaze?
Often the male gaze. The strategy in media where the default or desired audience, plus all the characters portrayed, consist of only hyper masculine heterosexual male qualities, and the suppression feminine qualities.
What is the female gaze?
The female gaze is the perspective of art, storytelling, and media, which revolves around and appreciates the feminine perspective, tailored to evoke emotions and sentiment within the viewer in a subtle way and not an overtly hyper-masculine/ aggressive way.
BTS, Tom Holland, and Timothy Chalamet are all examples of media personalities that fall under the female gaze. Anime, K-pop, K-dramas, Disney movies such as High School Musical/ Camp Rock, Romance novels, Fantasy Movies such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, Family shows such as America's Got Talent, all fall under the female gaze because of their digestible, friendly, educative nature that is compatible with all ages and genders.
The male gaze is only tailored to fit a certain audience - predominantly male - and leave everyone else out, having to force themselves to like what they see, even if they don't.
Despite the media's 100 year tyrannical promotion of hyper masculinity, women and girls today gather together in online communities to support what they actually like. Online communities are a result of the emergence of the meta verse, see below:
With the emergence of Internet 2.0 and Internet 3.0, paved the way for online communities to be created, where by people who share common interests come together to express their support for what they love.
The traditional norms of masculinity are rooted in being aggressive and rough towards others. As a Gen Z girl, I was born into a world where I was told "you'll have to adjust for men, because no one is going to adjust for you." I remember my big brother (a rugby player), was extremely aggressive and always left a bitter taste in my mouth as a young girl. And that's the distorted version of masculinity we were all introduced to. However, as I grew, I was introduced to a healthier form of masculinity. A form of masculinity that spoke "we're here to lead with empathy, not aggression." I was first introduced to this version of masculinity through BTS. The kind, empathetic and welcoming nature they exuded attracted me to them. They didn't scare me, they weren't aggressive, they smiled, they gave positive messages, they made me laugh, entertained me, made me feel safe, heard, and understood. Most of all, I saw how much they uplift others.
The female gaze, the existence of the feminine nature, is something that both BTS and Army's fight for, so that this generation can be known as the generation that fought for the existence of the feminine energy, that has been suppressed for so long. The modern day man is one that appreciates, supports and guards the feminine energy, leads with empathy instead of aggression, and does not succumb to toxic masculinity or the ideals of the patriarchy.
