Sauron’s gaze

If anyone has read or seen the Lord of the Rings films, they’ll know about the eye of Sauron.

“One moment only it stared out, but as from some great window immeasurably high there stabbed northward a flame of red, the flicker of a piercing Eye; and then the shadows were furled again and the terrible vision was removed.” – Tolkien

The gaze of Sauron’s eye is a terrifying concept: an eye that appears to be all-seeing, all-encompassing, and as evil as evil can be. Thankfully, this eye is purely fictional, yet there are equally oppressive gazes embedded in our society.

We have a male gaze: the viewing of women from a (creepy) heterosexual perspective. We have a teacher gaze, a medical gaze, an institutional gaze – or from any role that is tainted by a power imbalance – loaded with judgement, disappointment, disapproval and coupled with threat and menace. We also have the adult gaze, which looks down at children, seeing all that they are incapable of doing, since it’s so rigidly fixed in the adult world. And no doubt there are plenty of other gazes that are similarly hostile and adverse.

The antidote to this is to not have a (power) gaze at all, but to have a look that’s sensitive and responsive to each person it meets: one that can turn away if it becomes too intense; one that can be disarming, tentatively curious, forever respectful of the space between the two pairs of eyes.

If you’re unaware of what your eyes are doing when you’re engaging with people, perhaps now is a good time to explore and reflect on this theme.