Thinking about the gaze and media intended for men how could I not think of the humble 'Lads Mag'
I bought one for research, or tried to, what I actually bought was a straight up porn magazine rather than a softer 'lads mag' but the visual stylings are much the same, just slightly more sexually explicit rather than just playfully suggestive.
Striptease Culture by Brian McNair has some interesting points about lad culture and other ways in which men fit into this wacky world.
The basics are that at some point it became popular for men to pay attention to their grooming etc which meant images of men were bearing similarity to images of women. Masculinity had become feminised. Lad culture is a response to this, by overstepping the masculinity levels. "the new lad rediscovered the simple pleasures of football, beer and birds" (McNair, p159), which really highlights a point I made in my essay about the need to control women because masculinity is so fragile.
'Lad Culture is an acceptance of the triumph of feminism. The lads know their preoccupations are trivial and they wallow, like defiant children in that triviality' ( appleyard, b (1998) in mcnair year, p/160)
Male orientated culture views femininity as second class, when men themselves are feminised there is this violent backlash, in a need to protect their masculinity and remain dominant.
This still from Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines music video relates to the view that nudity makes a display of the body for people who are clothed. The intended audience is likely male, who look upon the woman as an object, along with the lyrics "I know you want it". The man is cast as dominant, via stripping the woman. The positive reinforcement of violence against women through popular media, perpetuates rape culture and male dominance.
I believe there is a parallel between this modern music video and ye olde paintings. One that springs to mind is this by Eduard Manet, depicting a nude woman with clothed men.
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