Alex Vivian – How to Ride… Bitches (2016)

This .gif is hell of cute.

…as you can probably guess, however–it’s from a video that is flagrantly sexist in much the same way alt-right fuckers will say reprehensible shit that if they are called on it they claim was “only a joke, lighten up!”

I’m not suggesting it’s possible to shrug and dismiss what’s problematic with it. But, it did occur to me that this is probably as good an illustration as anything of the way the art historical male gaze gets imprinted on virtually everything.

Let’s not overly complicate it. Just consider the interplay between Ashley and Lana’s actions in combination with their facial expressions. Lana–with stiff upper lip willfulness with a trace of smug satisfaction–grabs Ashley’s boobs. Ashley remains inert until Lana squeezes her breasts; she then grins with an expression that I can only describe as halfway between coyly flirtatious and femme fatale malicious. (It’s a look intended to refer to an expectation of a feeling which she is expected to feel but does not–this would be fairly in-line with my understanding of Baudrillard’s notion of pure simulacrum.)

From here it’s possible to get even more microscopic. It’s possible to note that Lana is the stand-in or male surrogate. That both women are only allowed to experience feelings in relationship to sexualized touching. Also, the context of riding a motorcycle is not automatically something you’d view as sexual. Yet, Lana’s actions take it there and Ashley just seems OK with it. (This is pure cisthet male fantasy.)

It did occur to me that there may be a useful object lesson here–specifically with regard to the oft touted of late notion of the female gaze. And I think just about the best example of how the so-called female gaze is different than the male gaze is to while still focusing on the expressions and actions, swap the facial expressions between Ashley and Lana.

Now, with that in mind zoom back out and consider the expression swap in the context of the same scenario. The problematics are still the same but the align differently now. If you follow that analysis to it’s conclusion, you’ll have a much better understanding of why I am so skeptical of the whole push for a ‘female gaze’ instead of efforts to rebuild the politics and paradigms related to visual representation from the ground up.