Male Gaze

If you write from the viewpoint of a male character, is it by definition male gaze? How do you make such a story enjoyable for both sexes, rather than just men?

No. It is not automatically Male Gaze if it is being told from a male's point of view.

I think it is possible to write anything from any gender's point of view without alienating the opposite gender from it. Male Gaze is about focusing more on stuff that appeals to men, such as fanservice-y shots of women and observations of how hot/sexy/cute/whatever women are. If your story has nothing to do with those things, you should avert the trope easily. Check Male Gaze for more.

A male gaze has the author focusing on women — their jiggling breasts, their asses and their sensuous curves. If you want for more depth from the male viewpoint, to make it appeal for the ladies too, I suppose you can add a degree of sensitivity to what they say. A bit of romanticism. I find it dull if this male character is all testosterone-pumping MANLINESS. These dudes are made for action movies.

But you also want to appeal to the men also, and so I would suggest showing what the men do, as truthfully as you can. Remember that men can be as diverse as pencils. Some like pursuing after ladies. Some like video games and cars more than anything else.. (c.f. Crysis ).

Some have this cold, hardened wall they project, if only because they're so soft on the inside. Trust your imagination.

edited 26th Mar '11 9:45:11 AM by QQQQQ

I thought male gaze is when the camera angle is waaay more interested in T&A ?

I don't think a male viewpoint character would be particularly obnoxious unless the character really does describe the world like the sort of person who can't comprehend women are anything besides tits and ass (or conquests...) and it's played for serious. Or something like that.

I wouldn't hate on a guy for finding women pretty and subsequently mentioning it once in a while. :-/

And others are just soft little squishy pillows of cuteness, like many of the guys I write.

Well, it's romance/erotica. I need to write about the male lead's sexual attraction to the female lead. But I just want to make sure that the male lead is equally gazed at/sexualized. I don't want the male lead to be just a blank in terms of appearance, nor do I want the female lead to be a barbie doll.

To subvert it, equal amounts of attention should be given to both the girl and the guy. And you want to know how to do it?

One obvious way off the top of my head is switching viewpoints between the two.

I think Male Gaze is exclusively meta. When you have a character focus on another characters features it's either Distracted by the Sexy or Eating the Eye Candy.

I've found that I am sexually attracted to personality as well as physical appearance. Have your character do the same thing?

Agreed with Deboss here. Male Gaze is about the creator's relationship with their work and their assumptions about their audience.