Surprise surprise, the predominantly male Reddit community tore these non-makeup-wearing women apart. Feel free to read some of the comments if you have the heart to. It's your garden variety degradation of women, which begins with some sort of insult (e.g. "...lips that look like they got stuck in a vacuum cleaner hose until they bled"), something about which ones are fuckable, and then concluding with more insult. The gentlest comment will probably forgo the fuckability part and just go with two solid insults in a row. Anyway, here is a much better article from Jezebel on why these men feel entitled to ridicule these supermodels (P.S. these are all the highest paid supermodels in the world).
The main point the writer stresses is that the fashion industry is one that 'belongs' to women. An industry that is predominantly female, doesn't rely on men's critiques, and certainly doesn't serve men's tastes. I never thought of it that way. Sure, the fashion industry has it's own messed up standards of thinness (cue Karl Lagerfeld), but I can't disagree that it is relatively dry of the mainstream male's gaze. We always talk about this 'gaze' in class.. Think about it. Almost everywhere you look, the world is framed in the eyes/opinions of a man. It's hard to see only because we've gotten so used to it, but this is a pretty damn good explanation of why women are only visible in public in the most stereotypical ways. Even with the so-called Ugly Betties of television (e.g. Ugly Betty herself, or the nerdy girl from Community, or even that other nerdy girl from Glee), what you're really seeing is a smokin' hot Maxim girl wearing glasses, braces, and a cardigan. Even when the character is somewhat quirky, television shows still feel the need to find a very stereotypically beautiful actress to "dumb down" her hotness for the role.
Click "read more" for the actresses' pictures side by side.
And don't even start with the whole, "Well, it's the magic of makeup and lighting." Sure, there is a lot of magic going on, but I bet you could find a huge population of women who won't look like that even with a team of professionals. The point is that the "male gaze" stops you from seeing possibilities outside of those that are created by the image of a big-boobed, sultry-eyed babe. EVEN when that image dresses itself up as Ugly Betty. P.S.: Here is an awesome article about pretending that the hot women of television aren't hot. The author calls it the "Liz Lemon" effect, haha.
This would also help to debunk the myth that having women on a production/casting/whatever team intervenes in the male gaze. The gaze is soooooooo ingrained in all of us that it's hard to be successful without surrendering to it. Even if you are ideologically against the male gaze, have fun trying to make it big in Hollywood. It's possible, thank god, but it will be a pain in the ass.
SOOOOOOOOOO. My question stands. Is the fashion industry reproducing a male gaze? Is it reproducing some mutated version of it? Or is it an exclusively "our's"? I still don't know if I can answer this one.
Click "read more" for the actresses' pictures side by side.
And don't even start with the whole, "Well, it's the magic of makeup and lighting." Sure, there is a lot of magic going on, but I bet you could find a huge population of women who won't look like that even with a team of professionals. The point is that the "male gaze" stops you from seeing possibilities outside of those that are created by the image of a big-boobed, sultry-eyed babe. EVEN when that image dresses itself up as Ugly Betty. P.S.: Here is an awesome article about pretending that the hot women of television aren't hot. The author calls it the "Liz Lemon" effect, haha.
This would also help to debunk the myth that having women on a production/casting/whatever team intervenes in the male gaze. The gaze is soooooooo ingrained in all of us that it's hard to be successful without surrendering to it. Even if you are ideologically against the male gaze, have fun trying to make it big in Hollywood. It's possible, thank god, but it will be a pain in the ass.
SOOOOOOOOOO. My question stands. Is the fashion industry reproducing a male gaze? Is it reproducing some mutated version of it? Or is it an exclusively "our's"? I still don't know if I can answer this one.
Allison Brie, as Annie Eddison from Community (top).
America Ferrera (bottom) as Ugly Betty (top).
Lea Michele as Rachel (top) from Glee.
