The portrayal of women on television as a topic is seriously becoming tiresome. In today’s society we, as women, are far better off in the whole scheme of things than the generations before us. Men no longer have the ‘legal right’ to beat their wives (although some think they do), and yet women continue to put themselves in that subordinate position. They do this because the gender ideology has become so embedded in every society that the roles of women don’t really change even though we would like to think they do. Women are to be pretty, petite and quiet. Men are to be strong, intelligent, breadwinners. This has come to vary over time yet it is still what both men and women see as what is necessary to full-fill their roles. This is an ideology that has passed from generation to generation and has seeped into every aspect of our lives. Through the media especially, which dictates how we should live, we can ask how it can be so hard to swallow that women are being used as “sexual objects?” We allow ourselves to be, we willingly pose for pictures in porn magazines, we get paid to promote the idea that being skinny and beautiful is the way to “catch” a man. We submit to this for profit and then complain about the inequality and stereotyping. Every woman follows the “rules”, we all spend money on clothes and makeup and hair products that will make us more physically attractive. We downplay our intelligence to a certain degree in order to obtain what we want, we can be just as manipulative as men by using the exact qualities that we express disgust over being exploited. “Women are often represented as not being so intelligent as men, and having to rely on them. A woman is either intelligent or beautiful; but rarely both (Ingham).” Do you really think that Cameron Diaz is as dumb as she makes people think? It’s all about gender roles and the fact that women accept what has been thrown at them for all time. I am very glad that there have been advancements (thank you to the feminist movements) and I am all for equality in relationships and families, the fact remains though, that even when women are not depicted in the most ’modern’ light on TV and in ads there is a stigma attached that we all buy into. Women realize this stigma and that it labels us as objectively ignorant, this is what makes us so brilliant! We know that we know what we should not accept, yet we do. The constant complaining about it is unnecessary because we have proven we are in charge just by going along with it.
I know what you mean. I remember a couple years ago i did a paper on women and media. And i looked at how women are being portrayed in TV shows, Movies and Magazines. I looked into how these certain gender roles are affecting both males and females. I found that a number of women had said the usual things about feeling that they had to look like that which lead to eating disorders. But the part that made me even more worried is a number of studies showed that men treat women by media’s standards. In some examples a son wouldn’t listen to his mother because it was shown that the male is the boss. There was also alot of research on pornography. The pornography stuff was very interesting because some view said it was good for society and other views said it lead to violence towards women. Some thought it was good because it was a way to deal with the person’s (usually males) sexually desires and aggression without anyone getting harmed. Other people said that it gave men idea and made them think women want to be treated this way. Or that it was acceptable to degrade women. I cannot remember all the research but i remember it being completely shocking.
I must say I have bitter-sweet feelings about your post. You totally hit the issue right on the head about women acitively using their agency to take up patriarchy and use it to their advantage. I agree that women do the whole ‘let me show you how submissive I can be’ and where are they getting this idea? Well women didn’t create these gender norms, we just rigoriously perpetuate them.
The bitter part is that I want to say they are being ‘culturally duped’ into believing we are free agents and are therefor victims but I cannot say that because we activly take up patriarchy. But here is something to chew on: if 1 out of every 3 female children are being sexually abused, than maybe females aren’t in the position of power that we like to think we are.
(Note the 1/3 is stats on what has been reported in Canada, but keep in mind most abusers are known to the victim, which decreases the chance of a child coming forward or an adult believing the child when they do – the stats are potentially much higher but we really only know 1/3 right now)
What I mean by this is if 1 out of 3 little girls believes she is to be used for male pleasure (yes male b/c this issue is gendered) and is then brought up in a culture that confirms this via selling sex, why is she going to believe anything different on the basis of feminism and equality? (Note I am a feminist and I do advocate it so I don’t want you to think I dismiss equality) Why is she going to think her sexuality is the most important thing when it comes to men.
I think there are a lot of reasons for women using their sexuality as power and not always ones that are clear cut. Yes, we take up the gender ideologies but I don’t think women can be held responsibile for their own emanicpation in all arenas of life, I think there still needs to be accountability for everyone who harms others and not only expect women to see past trauma brought on by patriarchy.
Once again, fantastic post!
Female representation in the media makes me want to vomit all over myself.
And truthfully I am just angry that I allowed myself to watch that damn James Bond movie and enjoyed it…minus all that love bullshit in the middle. But, it’s James Bond, and if anyone can be a sexist piece of shit…it’s probably him. Loved the speedo.