Female Gaze

Female Gaze:

1) What is the article about? Summarise the article in 50 words.

Women as spectators and as consumers of media images of other women have often been overlooked in previous critical studies of representation. Yet, this female gaze is at the heart of the problems that A Perfect 14 is trying to address. The representation of false and unattainable images of the idealised female body is clearly linked to the idea of the gaze and to spectator-ship theory.


2) What is the name of the film that has sparked this recent debate on body image and female representation?


In Star Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship, feminist critic Jackie Stacey suggested that the female look works on different and multiple levels for ‘fascination and aspiration’. This campaign and the marketing campaign for A Perfect 14 aim to create engaging yet aspirational opportunities for the female gaze to flourish and be empowered.


3) How does the 'Female Gaze' in this article differ from the 'Male Gaze' of Laura Mulvey's theory?


In analysing female representation, you will invariably encounter theorist Laura Mulvey and her pioneering 1970s work on ‘The Male Gaze’. However her work has now been challenged, and you need to analyse how women themselves consume and decode images. Mulvey’s theory is now seen as very limited in its approach; it assumes there is only one kind of spectator (male) and one kind of masculinity (heterosexual). The apparent crisis in female body image that Dove/Unilever seized upon back in 2007 suggests that the female gaze is crucial for media and Film students. Mulvey’s original thesis, ground breaking in its day, neglected the pleasures of ‘the look’ afforded to female spectators, and the complex way that females look at, and are affected by looking at, other women. 


4) What is your own opinion of the representation of women in advertising? Should the media carry more representation of 'real' women? Why does the media not currently feature size 14 women if that is the average size of a British woman


The media currently show representation of 'real' women as the representation of women is shown for a mans pleasure. They show 'real' women because everyone wants to see real women, even though the average size of women is size 14.


5) Go to the website of A Perfect 14. Watch the trailer and read about the film. Write your own summary of the film and what it is trying to achieve

The trailer is trying to inform women to not be let down by their body, and to treat it likes it their temple. Women should not be labelled and they should learn to accept them for who they are.