Go Off the Beaten Track

If media that centres male pleasure is starting to feel, frankly, old, you’re certainly not alone. Across many industries, media producers and creators are pursuing bolder, more thoughtful and consciously intersectional representations of womanhood—all waiting to be discovered.

When I was younger, I made an effort not to shoot women the way some men do. I made an effort to photograph my girlfriends not the way I was used to seeing my favourite actresses represented on posters. After a while, you find your own point of departure and it becomes less about not shooting like others and more about how you see the woman in front of your lens.”

Shreya Dube

Cinematographer, India

See men cry

Sit up! It’s Chloe Zhao —director of The Eternals and first woman of colour to win the Oscar —on why the female gaze can empower both men and women.

Raise the call for visibility

Featuring images for and by young women, Girl Gaze is an international digital platform that connects audiences with more diverse content. Their Instagram page regularly spotlights the women and non-binary artists, photographers and designers — and images that feel less tired and more resonant.

Read Girl Gaze

Turn to the margins

Often, the most urgent voices and the most creative work never makes it to our social feeds.

Another Screen is a streaming platform that is helping to make innovative feminist films accessible and free. Discover filmmakers operating from a vast array of traditions, languages and places, alongside write-ups and interviews that set the films in context. Their programme changes regularly, so you always have new content to watch out for.

Watch Another Screen

Collaboration is all about fair exchange and respect. A lot of men are intrusive when they photograph their models, they have this vision, and get frustrated if women refuse to comply. The female gaze unravels something that is powerful and unique, women feel like they are enough without exerting themselves in a way that is rigid or contrived. It is what I think about for sure – as it makes me feel like I am making progress as a storyteller as well as a feminist and a practitioner.

Yasmine Akim

Fashion Photographer, London

Explore Being and Becoming: Of Femininities in the Malay World through 50 Images

Rethink the influence of images

Images are powerful artefacts. Left unexamined, the iconic images of our past can prop up racial, cultural and gender stereotypes. But looking at archival images from an analytical approach can reveal hierarchies of power — between male and female, photographer and subject, coloniser and colonised

This online exhibition focuses our attention on a series of historic photographs, featuring women from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Interact with the images and discover guiding questions that prompt you to rethink the presentation of women in our region.

There is so much out there that could make you feel seen, or get you to see the world in a whole new light. Seek out the content that feels fresh, or even liberating. Then get excited — engage with it, reflect on it and rave about it to anyone who will listen.

Anyone can champion an alternative gaze. It’s as easy as being a fan.