The female gaze

“A female director will most likely shoot the same scene in an entirely different way and with a different perspective—one that takes into account female ambition, desire, fantasy, agency, not to mention realistic physiology,” says Grossman, noting that academic concepts such as the “male gaze,” once little discussed outside liberal arts campuses, are now part of mainstream cultural discourse in a way that seemed unlikely until very recently.

“Girlgaze,” a project by the English photographer, actress and television presenter Amanda de Cadenet launched in April, bills itself as “the first multimedia platform committed to supporting girls behind the camera.” The project aims to help women break into the photography industry by raising awareness of how women tell visual stories. In addition to de Cadenet, it features curators including supermodel Amber Valletta and photographer Inez van Lamsweerde. Contributors include actress and generation Z idol Yara Shahidi, dancer Maddie Ziegler, and TV host Alexa Chung, while a roster of lower-profile but mega-talented female-identifying photographers round out the group.