G'wan then, obligatory female response.
I'd say the male gaze is totally a thing. I think, but CBA looking it up, that the concept of a "X's gaze" comes from one of the Foucoults (not the pendulum one, another one).
It can be a useful model to think about how you/others/society view others and behave. I've seen the concept expanded thoughtfully in the white gaze, abled (non disabled) gaze and so on. It can be a useful way for a marginalised group to point out how they feel they are perceived by people who 'as a group' have tendencies to be oppressive towards them.
I wrote about the abled-gaze being turned back on itself last year when attending a friend's Judicial Review case last January. We had a group of ~15 disabled people, 8 or 9 using wheelchairs. As we walked (and in some cases wheeled) down the corridors we could see the reactions of the other court users (mostly legal types) to our presence in numbers. Wheelchair users are used to being stared at, but this time there was enough of 'us to stare back with a sense of power and not being outnumbered for a change. Upon describing the visuals of the stares as doors were held open for our "procession" (narrow corridors necessitated a bit of a procession) a blind companion, she started humming Chariots of Fire which merged into the Imperial March, which was highly entertaining (Even little old deaf me got those references).
More seriously, having enough visibly disabled people materially changed the way the government argued their case against my friend. One of their proposed arguments was "Only the claimant cares, this is not a wider issue for disabled people", they never used it.
At the time I wrote:
Supporters travelled <to London> from as far as South Wales and North Yorkshire on a sunny weekday January morning. Being part of this large group turned the abled-gaze back upon itself as we proudly and quietly took up space in the court room and corridors and made our presence felt.
One of the government’s proposed legal arguments was that the claimant was only taking the claim because she is excessively litigious. After seeing over 8 different wheelchair users, people with other visible impairments and non-disabled allies in court; this argument was never even raised. I think our point was made – through solidarity.
So yeah. I like it. It's a useful model/tool both as someone on the receiving end, and someone who can be on the 'gazing end' where say I as a white person 'gaze' at people of colour and what I can do to be a better ally/supporter and aware of those things that I don't experience, but are very real.