Female Gaze: A term coined by feminists in response to the claims made by Laura Mulvey that the conventions established in classical Hollywood films required all spectators, regardless of their sex, to identify with the male protagonist and to adopt the controlling male gaze around which such films were held to be structured. ‘The female gaze’ thus marked out neglected territory. For many, the term alludes to the right of women to adopt the active and objectifying gaze that has traditionally and stereotypically been associated with males, undermining the dominant cultural alignment of masculinity with activity and femininity with passivity.

Source: Oxford Reference, 2020 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095814800