Anna E. Kaplan - Is the Gaze Male? (1983)

Anna E. Kaplan

In contrast to the argument that Berger and Mulvey make, Kaplan argues that “the gaze could be adopted by both male and female subjects: the male is not always the controlling subject nor is the female always the passive object” (Chandler, 2000: 41-2). She suggests that “to own and activate the gaze, given our language and the structure of the unconscious, is to be in the masculine position” (Kaplan, 1983: 8). Therefore, due to the constructs of a patriarchal society the language we use reflects that it is generally men who reflect control and take on the active role as oppose to passive. 

Kaplan suggests that due to a woman’s understanding of herself as an object of desire and her inherited narcissistic attitude towards her appearance she is prone to develop a “male” gaze upon herself by corresponding to the masochism revealed from the male perspective (Kaplan, 1983: 4). She does however, explain that women do lack some essential components in their gaze; these are the power of action and possession and until these attributes are injected men will always dominate control of the gaze. 

Teeth (2007)

 However, with regards to Mulvey’s suggestion on fear of   

 castration, Kaplan argues that men live in fear of the vagina 

 and “endeavour to find a penis” (Kaplan, 1983: 10). 

 However, with regards to Mulvey’s suggestion on fear of 

 castration, Kaplan argues that men live in fear of the vagina 

 and “endeavour to find a penis” (Kaplan, 1983: 10). The fear 

 of the vagina is still to this day a present threat and can be 

 identified in modern films, such as Teeth (2007), which 

 literally presents the vagina as a monster hungry for the 

 penis. As a result woman can be understood as a threat 

 against man, suggesting that women reflect power and 

 control; contradicting most theories on the gaze. Therefore, 

 woman can be understood as a threat against man, 

 suggesting that women reflect power and control; 

 contradicting most theories on the gaze. 

Furthermore Kaplan (1983) argues that evidence found in Friday’s book suggests that some “....men wish to be taken over by an aggressive woman” (p. 5), this suggests that some men would prefer the passive role in the relationship as appose to the active. It can therefore be argued that in obtaining these ‘feminine’ attributes they are placed in the position of the receiver of the male gaze. My question is, does this then indicate that there is a possibility of a ‘female’ gaze? This is something that I will further explore in my analysis of Carter’s work, particularly her suggested argument highlighted in ‘The Tiger’s Bride’.