I contacted women of all ages from different industries to find out how they perceive the male gaze on social media and how it impacts them. Four people were interviewed separately, as follows
A: Postgraduate student in Transportation Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, Age 22
B:Restaurant Manager, Age 46
C: Ogilvy Shanghai, Account Executive, Age 25
D: Educationalist and Designer, age 38
The inescapable topics are body management, appearance, dressing and fertility rights. Under the male gaze, women are objectified as commodities that can be sold at any time. The value of women themselves is ignored. This is particularly evident for women who have just entered university or society. One interviewee told me that she considered young women to be more valuable reproductive tools, and that when the optimal reproductive age is passed and they lose their youthful appearance and body, they have no value in the eyes of men. This point made me want to try to target young women between the ages of 18-25 in the next intervention.