Gender Studies
the social roles of men and women, their sexuality and representation
essentialism vs structuralism (nature vs nurture)
Gender as Performance (Judith Butler)
a construct
a performative act
socio-historical conditioning
culturally anchored
The Male Gaze - Laura Mulvey
the act of representing women in visual media from a heterosexual male point of view
reduces women to objects of male pleasure
women are depicted in the passive role of the observed
men are the active observers in viewing the female from their perspective