Laura Mulvey is a film theorist who wrote the paper:
"Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Gaze"
Her work concludes that most media (inc. Films) is constructed through the eyes of a man. As a result all media products present women as objects to be desired - we are encouraged to take 'Visual Pleasure' from the representation of women.
Mulvey claims that film is a predominently male industry and as a result it's output is predominently male.
The slides below provide a detailed explanation of the theory and will show you how to apply the theory to Vertigo
http://www.slideshare.net/mattheworegan/spellbound-by-beauty#
Constructed by the Gaze
This short documentary explains the basic princicples of The Male Gaze Theory
