For those of you wondering how CNN's brand has fallen so deep into the toilet, the strange attitudes divorced from reality of many who work at that network might offer one of the significant reasons.
An example comes in the form of CNN's Science and Wellness writer, Madeline Holcombe, who wrote an overlong boring rant about her neurotic hangup with the 'male gaze' on Saturday, "After years of progress on gender, the male gaze is back."
The "male gaze" is back? If you even knew it ever existed as a major problem in the first place, then YOU are probably the one with the problem for even noticing. And one who has definitely noticed and can't stop thinking about it is Holcombe who one could argue causes the male (and female) glaze -- as in their eyes glazing over in utter boredom while attempting to read a rant that seems like entering an unending wormhole into an alternate universe obsessively concerned about something that never appears as a problem on the radar screens of normal people.
...when my husband and I got married earlier this year, our vision of what our life could be included wide-ranging possibilities, influenced in part by the movies and shows we grew up with. We saw, read and listened to stories of involved fathers, successful mothers and well-matched partners who supported one another.
It seemed like women were taking a deeper breath without such heavy cultural restrictions.
Then there was a shift.
Uh-oh! Stand by for the tragic rip in the fabric of poor Holcombe's space/time continuum.
Was it around the 2024 presidential election? Or since the overturn of Roe v. Wade? Maybe when men’s rights activists pushed back against #MeToo? Whatever the catalyst, a change in the political environment seemed to connect with a social change that brought back narrow, and at times constrictive, ideas of womanhood depicted in media.
The recent rise of weight loss medications coincided with social media influencers sharing ways to get smaller and no longer celebrating bodies of all sizes. Advertisements followed suit, making men’s desire once again a dominating factor in how stories are told, and how women are portrayed.
How had these discarded ideas made their way back into circulation? Didn’t we all agree we were through with them?
So what is the nasty culprit in all this? Thoroughly BORED minds would like to know.
"The culprit, I have learned, is the male gaze. It was always there, but now it has stepped back into the spotlight."
EEEK! The male gaze!!! And it was always there even though almost nobody but neurotic CNN writers even think about this nonsense.
The male gaze came roaring back this summer.
American Eagle –– whose partner brand Aerie has been known for marketing underwear to women with imagery that celebrated stretch marks, cellulite and a range of body sizes — ran a controversial ad campaign starting in July. The ads sell jeans to women featuring actor Sydney Sweeney, who many men see as a sex symbol, insinuating the clothing would make men find them more attractive.
If you are still obsessing about that Sydney Sweeney ad, then maybe you are in dire need of a wellness check, Ms Science and Wellness writer.
And speaking of that CNN Science and Wellness writer, she continues gazing at her navel to conjure up the horror of the male gaze over the years:
The male gaze has always been around — art in the eye of the male beholder — but the term came into modern existence as a feminist theory coined by film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975. Although it started as a lens through which to view film, Mulvey specifically calling out Marilyn Monroe’s appearance in The River of No Return and movie director Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, it has expanded to encompass cultural perspectives that keep men’s stories, experiences and interest as the societal priority and treat women as objects rather than active participants.
Holcombe goes on and on and on with her male gaze obsession for thousands of more words and ends up pretty much nowhere. The one upside is that the male gaze tale of woe provided lots of entertainment on X (known as Twitter long before anyone even worried about "male gaze") in the form of hilarious mockery. Some examples:
The male gaze is literally the instinct responsible for the continuation of our entire species you moron
— Melissa Chen (@MsMelChen) October 12, 2025
Favoring ugly ambiguous forms of humanity isn’t “progress” pic.twitter.com/KvvJhl3yz4
Trying to curb the male gaze is like conversion therapy for straight guys. It was just never going to work.
— Max Powers (@MaxPowers198X) October 13, 2025
If you need a distinctly unbrief diversion from reality, check out more of Holcombe's treatise without end on the evils of the "male gaze." And say hello to Rod Serling on the way down that rabbit hole.