Male Gaze

The theorist Laura Mulvey argued that most media reflect the male gaze. The camera acts as a 'male' eye where women are looked at and men are the 'lookers'. Women are often objectified. She wrote a report called 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. Within this she suggested that Hollywood cameras would film the women in a males perspective and this influenced other women to try and present themselves in the same way.

The Rolling Stone magazine displayed above reflects the 'male gaze' theory by showing Taylor Swift (who is usually portrayed as a teenage girls role model) in a seductive pose. The white background makes the photo stand out and her legs are one of the first things seen when the reader glances at the cover. This has nothing to do with her music and is purely for the 'male gaze' that helps more copies of the magazine to be bought. This technique could attract attention from both genders as men are fascinated by how the woman in the photo looks and women want to be like the woman. This is a positive point for the magazine as more copies are going to be sold. However, it could change some peoples views on the artist displayed and could have a negative effect on their career or possibly the magazine for putting them on the cover. This is because it might make other females uncomfortable because of how a woman's body is being used to sell editions of a magazine and not just simply the music inside.