“female gaze” convos are always gonna be lacking to me bc the male gaze as a concept isn’t even meant to be a genre of media or something…. it’s a lens through which to critique media. the same can’t be said for a “female gaze” bc it would imply that there’s somehow a universal standard of womanhood which like. there’s not. there’s not even a universal standard of manhood we just all live under a white cishet patriarchy which is what we usually understand as the “male gaze” when deconstructing media.
also whenever u see “female gaze” talk, the media trend being referenced is just a random unrelated media trope, usually tied into a person’s own ideas about what womanhood is. like that white girl on tiktok that was talking about how “hands” and “hand touching” is somehow the “female gaze” when almost all movie examples she cited were directed by men…. hand touches and intimacy shown through hands is definitely a trope and you may like it a lot. but that doesnt mean it’s the female gaze.
the hand touching one specifically was also so reflective of the person’s own idea of womanhood. it implies that the female gaze wouldn’t be sexual or overt, probably because their idea of womanhood reflect their experience as a white woman (aka, the pure, virginal, sensitive emotional white woman who would only think of expressing desire in a small subtle way like hand touching and holding)
Hope this isn’t hijacking but another really common theme I’ve noticed with what was classified as “female gaze” is just stuff that sexualizes men in a way that is “”appealing to women””, completely ignoring the many women who are just not attracted to men period. I suppose it’s just another example of how the female gaze concept ends up being incredibly exclusive to many types of women.
THIS THIS THIS I just love it. It’s so true. The same as “Defiling” a woman or girl when it’s your own hands so who is really the “dirty” one? Ugh, chauvinists.
