JANET BLOOMFIELD: Criminalizing the male gaze: giving female narcissists the upper hand.

Men who cat-call women on the street are playing out the script that women continue to insist upon:  women draw attention to their appearances and highlight the features of their bodies that convey youth and fertility, and only object when the wrong man notices. . . .

The idea that women are somehow harmed by attention from men requires two assumptions:  that women, and only women, have the right to control the expression of sexuality, and that women are always, always victims. . . .

Indeed, there is a great deal of power in the “gaze”.  And despite the protestations to the contrary, organizations like Hollaback! are seeking to criminalize that gaze.  But only one side of it.  The male gaze.  And not just any male.  Low status men.