so very well said!! wonderful reminder that instead of looking at gender neutrality as the only way to avoid the Male Gaze and its echoing consequences in the subconscious of women, we should also redefine the edges and nuances of desirability in places where the Male Gaze tells us it doesn’t exist, and find femininity where we are told it’s not desirable.
"It is the (white) cishet feminist tendency to instigate the subversion of the Male Gaze through the lens of defeminization and desexualization." And not only that, but they misinterpret the Male Gaze as something that you are able to escape in the first place, the Male Gaze was a term coined in order to critique the very inner surveillance women feel about how they're being perceived by men. Framing oneself as a defeminized or desexualized version does nothing but legitimize the Male Gaze. In the contemporary notion through the Male Gaze, it's almost like being androgynous (in a male leaning way, male generic and all) is what is supposed to signify that one is more respectable.
Sorry if my thoughts are a bit disjointed lol but I absolutely adore your work! P.S. Jawbreaker is one of my favorite movies ;)
Exactly!! That structural male surveillance won't change because you decide to only wear blazers and mom jeans or whatever. Lol. It's a circular, useless model that only leads to more erasure. And feminist "respectability" is definitely apart of it! There's a knee-jerk reaction to high-femme, sexy optics that needs a more critical eye. And thanks alot!!! :)
("I killed Liz, I killed the teen dream, deal with it")
so very well said!! wonderful reminder that instead of looking at gender neutrality as the only way to avoid the Male Gaze and its echoing consequences in the subconscious of women, we should also redefine the edges and nuances of desirability in places where the Male Gaze tells us it doesn’t exist, and find femininity where we are told it’s not desirable.
Exactly!! Thanks for reading!
You are the reason why we need femme voices!!!
"It is the (white) cishet feminist tendency to instigate the subversion of the Male Gaze through the lens of defeminization and desexualization." And not only that, but they misinterpret the Male Gaze as something that you are able to escape in the first place, the Male Gaze was a term coined in order to critique the very inner surveillance women feel about how they're being perceived by men. Framing oneself as a defeminized or desexualized version does nothing but legitimize the Male Gaze. In the contemporary notion through the Male Gaze, it's almost like being androgynous (in a male leaning way, male generic and all) is what is supposed to signify that one is more respectable.
Sorry if my thoughts are a bit disjointed lol but I absolutely adore your work! P.S. Jawbreaker is one of my favorite movies ;)
Exactly!! That structural male surveillance won't change because you decide to only wear blazers and mom jeans or whatever. Lol. It's a circular, useless model that only leads to more erasure. And feminist "respectability" is definitely apart of it! There's a knee-jerk reaction to high-femme, sexy optics that needs a more critical eye. And thanks alot!!! :)
("I killed Liz, I killed the teen dream, deal with it")