THATS WHAT GIRLS DO

The Female Gaze in Adolescent Literature and in Todays Culture

MAY 2, 2015
RADFORD UNIVERSITY

Thats what girls do, they keep you guessing the whole day through, play your

emotions, push all your buttons its true, thats what girls do (Secrets). This quote is confident
and authoritative in stating a few of the intentions of women in a passive way. The intentions of
the all-girl-group is to inform the patriarchal society know that there are some behaviors that
woman do that men do not understand, such as female gaze. The female gaze is one of the
behaviors that women perform, in the passive voice but implies instructions to the patriarchal
society to not mind this behavior. The passive voice in a text is being seen as a less active or
obvious voice. Passive is defined as something that is not obvious, or readily active (Passive,
2012). The quote presents the gaze and other behaviors of women, in such a way that it can be
easily missed, like in other texts in the patriarchal society that are meant for the female audience.
All the aspects of our lives are described to us using a male gaze, Dr. Amy Sorensen stated and
continued to describe how history, gender perspectives and other entities are written in a
patriarchal view. So, we learn to understand our world through this male dominating gaze. If the
male gaze, as we understand it, subordinates all other gazes, it objectifies all others that are not
it (Sorensen, 2015) One other that is subordinated by the male gaze is the female gaze
which exists in a concealed and passive tone.
The female gaze is women looking upon men finding pleasure visually in what she is
viewing and having desire. The female gaze in adolescent literature will focus on the
heterosexual perspective of the female gaze, like women enjoying men. There are two types of
gazes that exist but the male gaze is addressed more than the female gaze, so some may say that
the female gaze doesnt even exist. Ignoring the existence of the female gaze would be accepting

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male gaze is commonly seen negatively as objectifying woman when they are visually appealing

that females do not look upon a man as visually appealing or have desire towards a man. The

to men. In todays culture, critics focus on the objectification of women through the male gaze
using all sorts of media. For instance Killing Us Softly, is a documentary about the objectification
of women in advertising media. The speaker of the documentary, Jean Kilbourne, demonstrates a
billboard of a womans figure turned into a Michelo beer bottle laying horizontal, concluding in
the woman being the bottle of beer -- an object. (Jhally, 2010) . The gazes do not just appear in
the media and advertising but in adolescent literature where men and women learn of these
gazes. The existence of the female gaze will be studied in adolescent literature with confirmation
through the feminist theory, cultural studies of American modern pop culture and
deconstructionism by using a selection of adolescent books, The Hunger Games, To the Boys I
have Loved Before and Twilight and will continue to understand how it remains in womens lives
today. In todays patriarchal society there is a male gaze that is studied in every aspect of our
lives, but within this society there is a gaze that is not as acknowledged; the female gaze.
Before we can fully understand the female gaze in literature we must contemplate the
female gaze as a single entity, or an existing thing (Entity, 2015). The female gaze is not a
common ideology but with effective research understanding its presence, or its lack of being
acknowledged can result in a critical and accurate definition of what the female gaze is. An
article, Looks Maketh the Man, written by Kevin Goddard argues that the female gaze comes
with the consequences of shaping what men do and what they wear to be appealing to women.
It attempts to show masculine identity that cannot be interpreted separate from the image of
men projected by, or perceived to be projected by, women (Goodard, 2000). Goddard is stating
the female gaze is a powerful presence that shapes and can control a man. In The Hunger Games,

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Peeta is controlled by Katniss, the main female character in The Hunger Games, to help Katniss

survive. This discovery adds more credibility and clarity to defining what the female gaze is,
which would include a sense of power that is in the female gaze itself.
Goddard, being a man, shows an awareness of the female perspective and respects it
existence. Therefore, his article is credible to use for the female gaze in adolescent literature, pop
culture. He also gives examples of how the female gaze is reveals itself in reality, like getting a
man to complete a certain task. The gaze controlling another person is similar to a young girls
magazine that tells her how to look, all the while and unknowingly being shaped to please the
male gaze. The young girl is being controlled by the male gaze, like the male is being controlled
to do a task. Godard clarifies the female gaze as it stands in heterosexual relationships, between a
male and a female. He explains that the gaze instructs the significant other to perform certain
gender stereotype tasks; like working out, get dirty, bringing home the bacon or becoming a
handy man. The female gaze defined in this article, is similar to how Dr. Cosmato, a
heterosexual married male describes it. Ironically of our culture is to see the lighter side of
things and submerge the true meaning of situations. Concluding that our choices are not our own
but based on gaining approval from the gaze (Cosmato, 2015). Dr. Cosmato is a highly
educated male that takes part in the creation of the male gaze and in the patriarchal society which
provides a better comprehension of the patriarchal society. Comprehension of the male gaze and
patriarchal society is an objective in the feminist theory and ultimately creates a better
understanding of the female gaze. The female gaze is a powerful ideology that can control a man
whether he is in a relationship or not. Katniss, in The Hunger Games, is not in a relationship with

adolescent female mind, which can bring an understanding of the female gaze in adolescent

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The Hunger Games is now a popular film and modern pop culture is part of the

Peeta, but he is still controlled by her to help her survive.

females and literature that they read. Another popular phenomenon in American pop culture are
the DC and Marvel Comics, which are adapted into films, like the Twilight series. The article,
Does the Marvel Cinematic Universe Play to the Female Gaze? by Carli Velocci clarifies that
the company, Marvel shows some scenes that appeal to the female gaze and defines the gaze as a
visual pleasure for heterosexual women (2014). She addresses a scene appealing to the female
gaze because all the viewer witnesses is a naked man being displayed and that has no connection
to the films plot in any way.
The camera follows Thor, panning up his biceps and his abs, lingering for a solid minute
while you can imagine he contemplates the events that have occurred in the film thus far.
I mean, this is a thought process you can infer, but in reality its just there for the view of
audience members who would find that attractive You watch Thor wash his muscles
and it breaks up the action for little reason besides eye candy (Velocci, 2014).
As the superhero thinks about the earlier events the camera is panning over his body. In
comparison to the genre of action-packed super hero films, this moment is discreet, subtle and
provides visual appeal for the heterosexual female gaze. The female gaze exists in many places
that is not just literature but the media, like movies, advertisement, news and music, like it is
passively used in the song by No Secrets.
The female gaze that is described by Velocci creates a set of standards for male beauty to
gain approval from the female gaze. The standards of beauty for the heterosexual female gaze is
a large muscular man with abs, biceps, good hygiene, critical thinking skills. Thor is objectified

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who is a woman, has more insight into the female psyche which is an objective of the feminist

by the female gaze and the females who see him as visually appealing is subjectifiers. Velocci,

theory. The information is credibility because it is from a woman, references pop culture and
clarifies the physical standards of the female gaze.
The female gaze researched in commonly used sources is necessary, because of their part
in American modern pop culture and most of their demographics are adolescents. The sources
can build a concrete and credible definition of what the female gaze is based on what the
adolescent mind is exposed to, for example Wikipedia and the Urban Dictionary. Wikipedia does
not have a page for the female gaze but states that females are aware of the male gaze, but clearly
defines gaze. Gaze is a term popularized by psychologist Jacques Lacan for the anxious state
that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect, Lacan argues, is
that the subject loses a degree of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object
(Kencfo618, 2014). On the other hand, the Urban Dictionary has no definition about gaze,
female or male gaze at all and requests that you define it (Urban Dictionary , 2015).
The female gaze is a heterosexual female pleasure that views a masculine image in a
passive way which is not commonly acknowledged by the patriarchal society or pop culture but
is a thriving entity. The female gaze begins at a young age discreetly and grows in adulthood that
control and sometimes objectify men. The men are sometimes aware that they are being admired
and viewed with approval by the female gaze. Since the female gaze is clearly understood and
defined then it becomes easier to identify the female gaze in adolescent literature with the
feminist, deconstructive and pop cultural studies criticism. The adolescent literature selected for
this study has different functions and characteristics, controlling the men or having standards to

character of each book will be the focal point to the female gaze in the literature because

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books, Twilight, Hunger Games and To All the Boys Ive Loved Before. The main female

represent diversity in the feminine world. Female authors in the female language write all the

comprehending the books that are written by women for younger women which will lead to a
deeper appreciation of the female psyche. The interest of many feminists is probing the unique
nature of the female personality and experience has led the critics and writers among them to try
to identify a specifically female tradition of literature (Dobie, 2012). The apprehension of main
female characters personality is a critical part of understanding the female gaze. The text and the
meaning that it provides will reveal the purpose of the gaze and exactly what the female is
gazing at. Deconstruction involves taking apart any meaning to reveal contradictory structures
hidden within. Neither meaning nor the text that seeks to express it has any privilege over the
other and extends to critical statements about the texts (Guerin, Labor, Morgan, Reesman, &
Willingham, Literature and Linguistics, 2011). Finally, the text will be compared to American
modern pop culture of today to unfold how the female gaze is used in a less passive way and its
presence in everyday life.
A fantasy romantic film and book is Twilight, written in the point of view of a young
adolescent girl, Bella. She moves to Washington State and soon discovers that her high school
lab partner in school is a vampire with whom she eventually falls in love. Because of its
reputation in pop culture media, constant reference to Edwards body, soft and passive voice of
the female character, Twilight has received praise and hate for the books and film because of its
lack of character development in Bella. She makes it clear throughout that she likes at gazing
Edward and provides detail of his body throughout the book. Adolescents are impressionable and
reading a text with little character development and lots of gawking clearly establishes that a
factor of the book is about the female gaze. Bella, throughout the film and book, is using the

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female gaze to admire Edward.

The series introduces the personality of, Bella, a young female adolescent teen that is
considered about what she sees in herself and how others perceive her. My skin could be pretty
it was very clear, almost translucent-looking but it all depended on color. I had no color here.
Facing my pallid reflection in the mirror, I was forced to admit that I was lying to myself. I
wasnt just physically that Id never fit in (Meyers 2005). Bellas looks and being social
accepted is a priority, so seeing Edwards dashing looks and social acceptance in his small group
of friend appeals to her female gaze. His appealing skin is part of what pleases her female gaze.
Bella yearning for social acceptance is the part of her female personality and experience. The
female personality and experience can influence what appeals to the female gaze, in Bellas case
her gaze is fulfilled with beautiful skin and muscular bodies.
Bella is constantly fixating her female gaze upon Edwards skin, which is no surprise.
He had the long sleeves of his sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his
forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his skin (Meyers, 2005). Edwards skin
and muscular shape is the focus but the way it is presented is very passive. The mention of his
clothes is a passive method of drawing away from the attention that the female gaze is being
utilized by Bella. Taking away the idea of the shirt, Bella is isolating Edwards muscular forearm
from the rest of his body and gawk at his muscular features. The desire of skin and the fixation of
his muscles is the focus of this quote which satisfies her particular likes with the general standard
the female gaze brings muscular shape. This teaches the reader to add extra things to deter the
reader away from the idea that the female gaze is being committed.

sparkling body, the sparkle is just a passive way to deter from the female gaze. The sparkle

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Edwards skin in the woods as his body faces the sunlight. When Bella glares at Edwards

The female gaze is more obvious, while it is in a passive tone when Bella admires

becomes a disguise for the utilization of the gaze to be completed. Removing the sparkle factor
we can see that Bella is clearly admiring Edwards chest and face. I couldnt get used to it,
though Id been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from
yesterdays hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in
the surface. He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest,
his scintillating arms bare (Meyers 2005). Bella admits that she has been staring at him all day.
The text guides our gaze from his skin, to the detail of his open chest and his bulging muscular
body. No doubt the female gaze is being utilized by Bella in Twilight. Removing the
unnecessary fluff that is presented in the book like, shirts, glitter, vampires and werewolves the
book is left with minimum character development the female gaze, becomes obvious in
adolescent literature. This type of literature teaches the young girls to be passive and add as
much unnecessary fluff as possible to use the female gaze in the patriarchal society.
Because not all adolescent girls connect with Bella, there are other alternatives that young
girls can connect with, like Katniss in The Hunger Games that fulfills a different need. Katniss
Everdeen about sixteen years old lives in a dystopian world supporting her family. Her character
carries responsibility, faces sacrifice and danger but she is strong and athletic. Katniss is placed
in the Annual Hunger Games that is shaped to decide which district gets fed by a contestant from
each district fighting to the death. She does whatever it takes to keep herself and her family safe
but even in her struggle to survive she still executes the female gaze. Unlike Twilight, some
adolescent girls do not see sparkles. They see and experience a harsh reality, like Katniss, so the

her female gaze. She only sees him more as a mere boy, an as enemy and decides to call him less

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Katnisss opponent and other in the Games is Peeta, an adolescent male is the object to

girls can connect with her female language and gaze.

human by addressing him as his occupation. And I cant let Peeta do this. Not where were
going. So I decide, form this moment on, to have as little as possible to do with the bakers son.
(Collins 2008) Katniss doesnt see him as a person. She still sees him as visually appealing and
uses the female gaze to her advantage to survive. The female gaze in this adolescent fiction
assists in her survival and pleasure. Peeta looks striking in a black suit with flame accents
(Collins 2008). This compliment to Peeta from Katniss makes the reader aware that Peeta in the
suit is Katnisss eye candy for her female gaze. Throughout the text, even in the dystopian world,
Katniss executes the female gaze and Peeta is the one that she is viewing.
The affirmation of Peeta being an object to her female gaze is more direct, for instance,
Peeta is actually charming (Collins 2008). She likes Peeta but knows that if she exaggerates
the female gaze it increases her chance of survival. The female gaze has the ability to objectify
the male, to a certain extent but then it doesnt necessarily have the power the action to
objectify itself (Sorensen 2015). Katniss isnt acting out her desire, but trading herself as an
object, so there is a tension between the patriarchal society, the objectified and subjectified. The
female gaze comes with a degree of control for the men and Katniss uses this part to survive. I
remember the importance of sustaining the star-crossed lover routine and I lean over and give
Peeta a long, lingering kiss. (Collins 2008) She understand that pretending to commit the female
gaze and act upon it by showing approval with a kiss can keep her alive. With the kiss Katniss
objectifies Peeta as a survival tool. Dr. Sorenson and Katniss proves that the female gaze has a
function to objectify men, so it comes as no surprise when adolescent girls in reality are

Before by Jenny Han. This text is about the stereotypical overprivileged adolescent girl, named

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The objectification of men is more apparent in the book, To All the Boys Ive Loved

objectifying men.

Lara Jean whose only concerns are boys, booze, pink, and family. She writes letters that will
never be sent to the boys that she has previously loved and saves the letters in a hatbox. The
book has a different type of girl in a more realistic setting, unlike The Hunger Games and
Twilight. The three books present a diverse mixture of adolescent girls that commits the female
gaze, to show that most girls do it. The book is written from Lara Jeans perspective so the
literature is true to the female personality, language and culture, just like the other books.
Adolescent girls learn that the female gaze allows them to objectify men, have multiple partners
and realize a sense of empowerment.
Lara Jean begins the female gaze with her sister, at a young age, by admiring her
neighbor Josh. Later, she collects another boy, Peter K., a few weeks later, who visually appeals
to her female gaze. Up, close your face wasnt so much handsome as beautiful. I think it had
a lot to do with your lashes. You have really long lashes. Unfairly long. (Han, 2014) She called
Peter beautiful, which is very direct. The Hunger Games and Twilight with detail that he was
visually appealing to her. Considering the detail of the lashes and other details provided in the
other texts, the female gaze pays attention to detail because whatever the detail is being view is
visually appealing to the female gaze. Therefore the fascination over lashes is no surprise and
Lara already called all of Peter beautiful. Adolescent girls understand that detail is important and
if the detail is visually appealing than the young girl is satisfied.
Later, like adolescent girls, we find out that Lara Jean and her sister share a few of the
boys like toys and use men for their own pleasure. Lara Jean, her sister and other adolescent girls

things. You may not be used to sharing us, but we are used to sharing you. (Han, 2014) She

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addresses this quote towards another past lover named, Josh. He is shared between Lara Jean

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understand that they can act on their desire of the female gaze, feel empowered and use men as

who are being passive by letting the men believe what they want to believe and continuing her
behavior of seeing men as visually appealing and acting on their desires that they see on the
female gaze. Lara Jean and her sister break stereotypical roles and embrace the third wave of
feminism, which includes the right to be promiscuous, girlie and strong at the same time. These
type of females see it fit to utilize their female gaze and act upon their desire without regret and
with pride. Third-wavers would not separate sexual self-esteem and equality from a choice to be
girlie (Guerin, Labor, Morgan, Reesman, & Willingham, Feminisms and Gender Studies,
2011) Lara Jean is the typical girlie girl who likes pink but also likes men even more. Adolescent
girls are stereotyped as girlie when they wear pink, make-up, dresses with matching shoes but
can still be empowered through the female gaze.
The three books mentioned engulf part or all of the factors that define the female gaze
and prove that it exists in adolescent literature. The main female character in the books represent
different types of adolescent girls: Bella is timid and soft spoken, Katniss is strong,
underprivileged and break stereotypical female roles, Lara Jean is privileged, girlie and
promiscuous. The girls and women are diverse in culture class and behavior which is
gynocriticism, a movement that examines the distinctive characteristics of the female
experience (Dobie 2012). The books revealed an exact demonstration of the female gaze with
the use of deconstructionism; that goes beyond the passive voice and unravels the strength of the
female language.
Knowing that the female gaze is in adolescent literature it comes as no surprise that the

todays pop culture. In todays pop culture, we see the female gaze being demonstrated in more

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ways than one. Since females are seen as speaking in a passive voice, or something else draws

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adolescent girls who read these texts continue this behavior as they get older and it ends up in

attention away from act than it is not taken seriously. For instance, the song by No Secrets
mentioned in the beginning of the paper tells the patriarchal society that there are certain things
that girls do, like the female gaze. No Secrets declares the behavior with cute voices and a
passive tone and tells the patriarchal society not to be concerned with it. Adolescent girls in
literary texts whether it is in books or written works of any form are surrounded by the presence
of the female gaze, which is not limited to literature but in media.
The female gaze stays with the adolescent girl when she grows up into a woman and sees
the female gaze more prevalent in media. A more recent and famous figure, Beyonc,
demonstrates the female gaze by using the man as an object and turning men into toys and into a
sexual surfboard. Boy, I'm drinking, I'm singing on the mic to my boy toys (Beyonce, 2013)
She is just like Lara Jean, girlie, promiscuous, proud and that is her prerogative. She continues
the song with the sexual surfboard. Then I fill the tub up halfway then ride it with my surfboard,
surfboard, surfboard, Graining on that wood, graining, graining on that wood, I'm swerving on
that, swerving, swerving on that big body (Beyonce 2013) The surfboard is a man and the rest
of the lyrics is how she is performing on him. This is less passive than what we have seen before
but passive none the less because the music and voice deters the listener away from the gaze. Dr.
Sorensen suggests that the passive nature of the female gaze from adolescence to adulthood
fades, therefore Beyonc, and other adult female whom utilizes the female gaze comes to no
surprise.
The Gaze reaches more than just adolescent literature but in the female experience and

new film, Fifty Shades of Grey is about sex being enjoyed by a women in her perspective and

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providing visual pleasure to heterosexual female because the movie is about male strippers. The

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adulthood with music and movies like Magic Mike which appeals to the female gaze by

being visually pleased with her partner, which is the female gaze at work. The female gaze does
exist in, media, adolescent literature todays but the passive voice of the female language creates
a translucent shield from the patriarchal society that deters away from the gaze.
In conclusion and best spoken by No Secrets, there is certain things that girls do that is
not acknowledged by the patriarchal society. The feminist movement, the adolescent books in
this paper, Beyonc, Magic Mike, Marvel movies and much more attempt to explain the
behaviors of females in the patriarchal society but some men just dont get it. It is tinted by the
male gaze because thats how we see the whole worldIt is passive because that is how we keep
it safe. If we make the female desire less passive then we risk harm from the male gaze and
patriarchal society. (Sorensen, 2015) The patriarchal society pins the female gaze and desire to
an entity that is never considered but women or the rest of the population, but there is no denial
that the female gaze is present and has no need You want some kind of explanation I can give,
its just a chick thing that your messing with to me its black and white but its not getting
through to you, thats what girls do. (Secrets) The language of women in the adolescent
literature, in media, pop culture and later in adulthood woman continue the female gaze and it is
not something to be condemned, it is just something that girls do and there is no reason to
change. Why should I change? Im having too much fun to you its confusing to me its

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nothing new (Secrets)

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