Monday, September 13, 2010
Warrior Women
Both chapters 2 and 3 in Enlightened Sexism explain different perspectives of women "who refuse to take on the masquerade of contemporary femininity" in the media (74). Chapter 2 (Castration Anxiety) displays these women as being "scary" and "a threat to male dominance" (57) while chapter 3 (Warrior Women In Thongs) shows these women as being "accomplished and powerful, but always, always, slim and beautiful" (77). The news media portrayed female achievement as being dangerous while emasculating their male counterparts when they went crazy on their husbands. They played female sexuality as being "exploited and stoked (especially to sell products)" and "policed and punished (to keep girls and women in their place)" (57). In the cases of Amy Fisher and Lorena Bobbitt, they were interesting because they transgressed from the "roles" of femininity. They posed a threat to men and proved that women could be predators. Yet we see shows like Xena and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like Charlie's Angels and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and see women in these predator roles and react differently. We don't see them as a threat to masculinity; we see them as satisfying. This is partially because they are "unrealistic fantasies of power" (77). They are depicted in an exaggerated female manner as well while sending the message that "true killer power comes from hyperfeminity" (93). Men were seen in all of these as being "destructive, inhumane, heartless" (98). So it is interesting to see the differences in the medias. When hyperfemininity is seen (and known) as being fake or unrealistic, society is ok with it. But once it enters the realm of real life, then we start to freak out since that isn't supposed to happen.
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I enjoyed Erica analysis of the 2 chapter in
ReplyDeleteEnlightened Sexism by Douglas. I appreciate how she quoted parts from the chapter to help emphasize her points. The shows that they talk about in the book like Xena and Buffy I watched growing up and I felt powerful and that women could do anything but this is not the case in reality.
I definitely agree with Erica in the sense that the way that women choose to present themselves has a lot to do with how much slack men are willing to give them. As with most things in society, the media has a huge impact on what society deems acceptable. It was so interesting to me that in the first chapter, Douglas was able to relate part of Beverley Hill 90210 to the recession that the United States was experiencing at the time (29). What stuck out to me was that regardless of the situation, Douglas made a point to emphasize that for most of the women that Erica mentioned above, success came at a price. Additionally, another key theme that I kept noticing was the change in what it meant to be feminist. It started with the rise of "girl power," which was headed by Health and Human Services secretary Donna Shalala (45). Feminism was no longer about rebelling against societal norms, but more about being a strong woman while promoting a positive self image of yourself. But don't be fooled, as we saw by all of the press surrounding Lorena Bobbitt and Amy Fisher, society was unwilling to let this "Girl Power" spread too far. Which helped lead us to more unrealistic media role models such as Buffy and Xena. Rather than embracing the "traditional" female roles, it was as though roles were reversed. They set out to save their communities, including the men. Which leads to the message that "Women weren't the only ones trapped by out-of-date gender roles; men were, too" (78). I think that this was a strong message for women especially teens to take away from the media. Rather than all of the negative media surrounding Reno, girls now had female models who they felt they could look up to.
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