Male Gaze is just

Male Gaze is just critical theory speak that both holds weight and doesn't (depending on how you're using it).

In terms of film storytelling (or photography for that matter) it has a place. In fact, many of my favorite photographers who objectify themselves or other women are in fact females. Is this Female Gaze or female-created art eliciting the gaze of [straight] males?

I'd have to read into the original literature to see if Male Gaze was posited as neutral term or a purely pejorative term. In either case, it has picked up a lot of baggage and, yet, a fresh look (pardon my pun) at the Male Gaze will reveal a not uncomplicated relationship between viewer, object, and creator.