Ogling is antisocial

O Prophet! Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them.—Al-Quran: (24:30)

 

Ogling and staring at women is an undeniable telltale of a diseased society. Intentional or unintentional, the male gaze originates from the objectification of women in the society. Unintentional ogling is more dangerous than the intentional one as the former points out that we are obsessed down to the subconscious level with physical appearance. At shopping malls, workplaces, public transport, and co-educational institutions, men consider body gazing their entitlement. Such a sordid mentality doesn't grant human status to women. Staring, indeed, is an act of aggression. No civilised society condones it as a 'harmless pastime' or 'a spectator sport' as claimed by male chauvinists.

Even teenage boys are brazen enough to dart their ugly glance at girls. They race up their bikes and overtake from the left lane if a girl pillions a motorcycle with her father or brother. A girl walking alone along the road or travelling on a rickshaw falls an easy prey to male leering. Orphan and/or brotherless solo female motorcyclists defying social patriarchal mores complain of harassment by male motorcyclists and lewdness of "uncles" along the road. At shopping malls, male workers eye indecorously their female customers from head to toe. 'Boys-will-be-boys' exoneration of body gazing originates from gender power dynamics.

Tracing out its causative factors, one is unrestrained and needless display of obscenity on media. Advertisers commodifying feminine beauty has turned this repulsive habit of leering into male second nature. The term 'male gaze' itself, coined by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975, encapsulates the idea that women are often portrayed in visual media as objects of heterosexual male desire, with their bodies serving as the focal point of erotic attention.

Religious scholars put the whole blame on women for not properly covering their body. But the reality is that the intrusive male gaze doesn't spare even the women clad in pardah. Rather, the gaze goes prolonged and intense. In the Christian tradition, self-blinding is morally preferable to leering. Jesus exhorts his disciples in Matthew 5:28: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Social psychologists adduce that when women at home talk to their male family members about women appearance, men would develop probing gaze roving unbitted in society. It must be taught at home to respect the existential boundaries of both genders. Psychologists differentiate between personality-focused men and appearance-focused men: the latter are more likely to exhibit piercingly sharp lascivious stares.

In the absence of any circumstantial evidence to hold anyone culpable of such an unethical and reprobate act, all it requires is moral education and behavioural discipline administered at character nurturing places. However, the more media spotlights and questions this self-claimed male prerogative, the more discouraged it stands. Voices ought to be raised from the pulpit to warn people of the shrinking space for women in society.

Men ought to put a leash on their roving eyes as they themselves do not wish their own women to be leered at. Shopping malls management must sensitise their male staff that their penetrating gaze can make their customers feel uncomfortable and that the lack of respect for customers is the worst dampener for a business. Parents and teachers must discipline our wayward youth. Gervais writes in Psychology Today: "... if you notice your eyes meandering to places they shouldn't be, remind yourself that you are interacting with another human being with a personality, and hopefully, your roving eyes will follow suit."

The Last Prophet of Allah, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him and his progeny) pronounces:

"None would respect women except the magnanimous ones, and none would insult them except the ignoble ones."