“The introduction of the camera traps extended the male gaze, if you like, beyond the village boundaries and out into the forest.”
sputnikintelligence.com
Sandbrook was describing a camera-trap project in an Indian national park set up to monitor tigers. Women from a nearby village, who used the forest for firewood and as a place to relax, began to act as though men were watching them.
…to relax. They could change the way they dressed. They could unveil their hair and they were laughing and singing together. But then after the cameras were introduced, that completely changed. They effectively behaved as if there were men present watching them, which made their lives less fun.
The women were aware of the cameras, and in turn, they became more aware of themselves.
The introduction of the camera traps extended the male gaze, if you like, beyond the village boundaries and out into the forest.
And those changes in behavior aren't just taking away their community and their personal space. It actually endangered the women.
It also actually made them more vulnerable to things like tiger attack because the songs that they were singing would actually help to kind of keep the tigers away.
And there was also an incident.