Representation of women – male gaze, fashion advertising and the pose

There are many pieces of literature and studies which show the representation of women in the media and western art.

• John Berger’s book ways of seeing provides an accessible introduction.
• Laura Mulvey’s famous essay on the male gaze launched an important literature in the field of cinema.
• Bechelel test – pass have one scene where 2 women (no men) were talking to each other about something other than men.
• Erving Goffman’s somewhat lesser- known study called Gender Advertisements is useful here because he focused on, among other things.

Commercial photographs involved carefully performed poses presented in a style of only natural.

Women are pictured often than men in what Goffman calls the ‘recumbent position’. Goffman points out that omen often pose bending their head at an angle or their bodies, which gives a submissive role as they are positioned lower.


‘Cant’ is often combined with putting a finger in the mouth or otherwise touching the face in a childlike way.

Male gaze

Berger says “women watch themselves being looked at”

Women learn to look at themselves through the eyes of an imaginary man because the ideal spectator is always assumed to be male.

As a result, “female models in ads addressed to women ‘treat the lens as a substitute for the eye of an imaginary male onlooker”.

Cameras always linger on the curves if the female body in media especially films.