Abstract
The expression ‘male gaze’ has been discussed both in visual arts and literature as a part of a feminist critique to suggest that the aesthetic standards are not universal and objective. It was first presented by film critic Laura Mulvey (1975), describing aesthetics designed to please the ‘eye’ of a male spectator. Music as a form of art, on the other hand, is still often regarded as independent of culture, gender and political positions. The low participation rates of women in the field of musical composition today are commonly explained by cultural habits, women and men still being socialised to different types of engagements in the society. As a response to this view, I suggest that music itself is not neutral either, but contains ’male gaze’. A central question for this chapter is how one could approach the field of musical composition without unknowingly reproducing existing ideologies. I suggest five strategies, all of which point in the direction of a composer becoming a socially aware artist rather than someone who merely organises musical material internally within a work. The aim is to discuss hidden assumptions concerning compositional practice itself.
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