Why TikTok Trend on ‘male Gaze’ Is Overrated

You may or may not be familiar with the feminist theory on the ‘Male Gaze,’ for those of you who don’t know, it is about women feeling pressurized into dressing in a certain way to please men. The whole thing has blown up on TikTok, with some women sharing before and after shots of how they were dressing compared to now since their liberation from the male gaze.

So if there were no men youse women all around the world would wanna be ugly?

New York cab driver

Whilst it’s true that some ladies feel pressurized to dress a certain way, it’s probably both completely unfair and outdated to blame this on the male population. Apparently this craze could be a new-age intellectual way to facilitate slut-shaming – for reference some examples of ‘slut-shaming’ courtesy of Wikipedia says; ‘Examples of slut-shaming include being criticized or punished for: violating dress code policies by dressing in perceived sexually provocative ways; requesting access to birth control, having premarital, casual, or promiscuous sex; or engaging in prostitution. It can also include being victim-blamed for being raped or otherwise sexually assaulted’

Apparently according to 1950’s lore men preferred blondes and blondes preferred to be gazed at

For sure, we’re largely influenced by society we aren’t denying that, regular exposure to the same thing over and over can have even the most resistant of us relinquishing to new fashion trends. Women celebrating and owning their look, their sexuality and their freedom is a great thing, and it is completely worthy of celebration, but not at the cost of framing men as predators or villains. In this age of social freedom, it should be fair to assume that most people already feel that they can wear what they like. With the added benefit of a much wider availability for clothes online and in-store now, compared with years previous we’re spoilt for choice.

a woman observing a man in active gazing since it was more common to openly gaze back in the days

This theory also largely disregards or overlooks women who dress in a certain way for their own benefit and enjoyment. Sometimes the very pure attraction of the opposite sex is that they are different! ~The polarities of men and women doesn’t have to objectify women, it can empower them, why shouldn’t women be happy for all that they are and feel empowered by celebrating those differences.

When a woman talks to you, smile but do not listen.

Confusius 512 BC

There is the argument that in sexualizing women, they lose their autonomy whilst being objectified by male desire. Yet it seems quite one-sided here, does our history really still dictate how we feel about gender roles in the present day? Why is it that women viewing men as an object of desire isn’t magnified and portrayed in the seedy way that it is for men. Women going to ‘Magic Mike’ style shows and sharing topless male torso’s among friends on social media is mostly depicted as fun and harmless, whilst males get branded chauvinists. It seems odd somehow that in a bid for gender equality we’re incriminating the male population.

Clearly women only dressed nicely for men but in reality they crave more quality time in the kitchen and more time to clean the house

Jimmy Carr

It is wonderful to see women feeling comfortable in their own skin and dressing for them, which is how it should be anyway, isn’t it? This in itself is a positive, to encourage women to be dressing for their own enjoyment, regardless of what form that is. Of course there are dress codes for professional situations and certain occasions but those aside not only women but everyone should feel that they can express themselves in a way that makes them feel good