White Chicks

I'm pretty sure everyone has seen the movie White Chicks, and most people recall the scene somewhat in the beginning after they were woman and they went shopping and someone stole one of the Wayans brother's purse which had his badge in it, so he, acting as a she, ran after the robber. I remember everyone else on the street looking at her (him) in awe, and after she (he) caught the robber, I believe he asked about her being a track star or something, obviously surprised that she (he) was able to catch him. This movie is full of subtle notations about what is expected of women. Yet, these are covered up by the "race factor," and even though the main characters learn that the girls aren't how they thought they were and they actually become friends with them, the movie leads the audience to believe that it is a black/white issue. This takes us away from the male/female roles that the movie encourages. By having two men dress up as women and be accepted by them with certain behaviors, the movie is saying "this is what women do, and this is what women want to be." The worst part is, that I believe women watch it and change themselves to fit the women that are praised in the movie. Yet another example, of our media making us, rather than us making it.

Family Matters.

Most people are familiar with the show Family Matter staring Jaleel White as Steve Urkel, the annoying nerd that lives next door to the Winslows. Recently, I saw an episode where Carl, the father of the household who is also a police officer, had a special assignment for his job. There was a mugger who was attacking women on the streets, so Carl had to dress up as one so that perhaps the mugger would come after him and he could catch him. After a night or two of walking the streets in a dress, a wig, high heels, and carrying a bag, Carl was having no luck. So, his wife, Harriet, showed him how to walk like a lady, so that he would seem more feminine and more appealing to the mugger. Of course, after his lesson, one night he came in the house screaming "I got mugged!!" There are many suggestions about gender in this episode. First of all, you are "introduced" to this mugger whose target is women. Why women? Yet, this question isn't really asked because its accepted. We would be concerned if the mugger was going after men. Women are supposedly more weak and easier to manipulate. You also have the traditional issue of what Carl wears to look like a "woman." This suggests what women are supposed to wear. Lastly, and my favorite because it is not obvious at first, but I find it interesting that Carl was mugged when he learned how to walk from his wife. This means that the mugger probably saw Carl but didn't go after him when he walked like a man in heels...but why? Is he not "woman" enough? But, when from behind Carl looks like a woman because his walk is more graceful and he is light on his feet, the mugger goes after him. Honestly, this whole episode is about what women and men are supposed to be like - but they would never admit that, would they?

You know you're old if you laugh at Tom & Jerry...

No, this blog is not about whether I find Tom & Jerry humorous or not, but I had the opportunity to see this show after a very very very long time over spring break, and it kind of got me thinking. With all of this talk about gender and portrayal of males and females in television and the media, it was no surprise that I have been noticing a lot more messages in the media than there appears to be. On this one particular episode of Tom & Jerry, Tom had the upperhand on Jerry and they had made a mess in the refrigerator, and Tom put Jerry in and closed the door and ran away just before the owner of the house came down. She opened the refrigerator, and much to her surprise, she found a mouse and screamed, jumped on a stool, and pulled up like 10 different undergarments before her whole skirt was up. She called on Tom to come and get the mouse and while he was chasing Jerry he knocked over the stool with her on it and she got up and said "This is no place for a lady!" and walked out of the room. There are more obvious messages about how this show views females and how they should behave with the owner's comment, suggesting that women shouldn't take part in man's business. Also, going back to the article "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast," before this particular scene in the episode, the owner is yelling at Tom that he better not be messing up anything or eating any food out of the refrigerator. Yet, when there is a mouse in the refrigerator (which Tom put there in the first place) all of this is forgiven and he is actually called on to help. In all of the Tom & Jerry episodes Tom is always threatened to get kicked out and a couple of times he actually does get kicked out...yet he always seems to be there in time for the next episode. Perhaps this "Beauty and the Beast" trend that the analysts found is not so new after all...

"Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast"...in Spongebob??

Spongebob Squarepants on Nickelodeon is probably the last place you would expect to find an example of the article we just read, "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast." Yet there was one episode in particular that focused on a familiar family situation. Now that I've actually thought about it, the main characters in the cartoon do not have significant others or spouses or anything so normally, one doesn't consider how the cartoon portrays dominance in the household. There is one episode, however, where Patrick and Spongebob find a baby clam and decide to raise it. Spongebob takes on the "mom," and patrick the "dad." When they first start out, everything is all fine and dandy. Patrick goes to "work" and Spongebob stays home with the baby. Yet, Patrick starts to come in from work and Spongebob is tired from working at home all day and Patrick goes straight to the TV to watch this coconut falling on someone's head. Spongebob whimpers for help around the house, while he has about 8 arms doing different things around the house. Patrick continues to promise that he will help out the next day. Helping out never comes, until one day Spongebob gets fed up and yells at Patrick, who retreats to his job. Spongebob follows him and see that Patrick hasn't even been going to work, he has been going to his own home watching the same TV show!! To make it worse, his briefcase is full of desserts. In the end, they are arguing but Patrick is never reprimanded for his actions because they both stop arguing to save the baby. It is just like the article almost, where the man of the household is not worth much but nothing is truly done about. It took Spongebob till his breaking point to even yell at Patrick about it. This shows that even in cartoons you can find the "Beauty and the Beast trend" and perhaps these only help to subtly encourage a home with male dominance.

The value of a man

Why is it that people generally value men more than women?? Without women where are men be??? Where would we be?? It always amazed me reading stories and seeing on TV shows and movies about the Japanese or Chinese or some people that would throw away little girls, or about men that would get upset with women when they didn't bear male children. Not only is it stupid because men are genetically the ones that decide the sex of the child, but beating your wife or switching from woman to woman isn't going to change much. The point of all this is...how did we get to the point where women and men are unequal in the first place? Yes, the Lord did take a rib from Adam to form Eve, but does this make her a lesser person? Or is it because she convinced Adam to eat fruit they shouldn't have that no one trusts women? Or, perhaps they were seen as a little bit lesser when they began to reproduce. Reproduction is not an easy process to go through, so maybe men got used to working while women were going through this. Still, this is no reason to assume women are weaker, to go through something like that should make them stronger than others. I guess stereotypes were generated from ways of life that just happened to be created naturally from the way men and women behave. Once again, feminism, which should only be the fact that one is a female, became to mean so much more and to incorporate characteristics that vary from person to person. Also, creating a model of the typical female for other females to adjust themselves to.

From G's to Gents

"He's tough, tough pink."

I was watching From G's to Gents the other night, and on this particular episode their challenge was about how they dressed. Before their challenge, they went through the suitcases of all of the G's, telling them what was acceptable and what wasn't. One of the guys said that he had a unique and fashionable style, but everyone else was laughing at a pair of pink sunglasses he had. Someone actually asked him: "Do they sell these for men too?" Thats when another G said the quote above - "He's tough, tough pink." It was funny to me how one color represents so much to everyone. There is even another character that had some oddly striped man capris and pink, orange, and green in his cornrows. Another G said referring to him that he was scared for him to to pick out his outfit for the challenge since he only wore black, red, and blue and this other guy wore all these strange colors. Especially for these supposedly tough, rough men, color means a lot. Just wearing the color pink in even something small like a pair of shades undermines their masculinity. My mother's fiance would die before he put an ounce of pink on him, and this was even when men had their little phase where they actually wore pink in button up shirts, t-shirts, and ties. Pink is so strongly tied to women that men cringe at the thought of it. Its funny though, how blue and black may not be a woman's favorite colors but she isn't ridiculed for liking them. However, looking around my room which is drowned in the color pink, if I were to go into a female's room that had the same item as I but in a navy blue or something, I would assume she was a tomboy. The association of color with gender is just a minor representation of how we associate other characteristics with gender, simply categorizing everyone.

Sadie Hawkins dances...ugh.

For some reason, the memory of "Sadie Hawkins" dances just came up in my head. Who has this person anyway?? What did they do?? Why is it that only on this rare occasion do the girls ask the guys to the dance? It's amazing to think about the gender stereotypes and expectations that we as a society have. Who ever said what it meant to be a gentleman? Why do many of this associate it with holding open doors and putting jackets in mud so you don't have to step in it, and letting you get your Lil' Wayne concert tickets first? The truth is, no one knows where all of this originated from. Even reading history you can see that though women do not have the social standing that we currently have, there was still a certain courtship that men had to provide to them. Perhaps if you take the "Adam and Eve" way of thinking, you could say that maybe God whispered in Adam's ear for him to be nice to Eve. Or maybe even, men noticed that women reproduce better and more effectively when they are in a good mood, so they just got used to treating them nicely. As for the domestic abusers, there are always those that think its easier to get what you want by fear, but that is entirely a different subject. Anyhow, it is very difficult to determine where all of this originated from as society is changing as we speak. In America, there are less moms at home and more on the job. So, maybe this means that there was not one thing or person that decided how men and women would act, but it is simply a product of our natural selves, interactions with each other, our assumptions, stereotypes, and expectations.

"If I Were a Boy"

With Valentine's Day upon us, there has been some talk about plans and everything, and I am personally going home to see my boyfriend. Yet, my mother is not the "sit back and watch" type, she likes to know what is going on in my life, so of course I had to tell her. I got all of these "talks" and tips and everything that I started to wonder what it would be like if I were a boy. Would she go any easier on me? Would I be allowed to do more of what I wanted? (She disregards that legally, I am an adult) My godbrother is a freshman in high school and he has had this girl calling the house frequently and my mom told me about and said we would have to talk to him when I came home. I asked her what she wanted me to say and she said "Oh I don't know, I was just teasing him." Trust me, if I had someone calling the house that much or if I went to the movies with them while my mom was under the impression that I was with only friends (yes, my godbrother did that), then my mother wouldn't be "just teasing" me. With me, it would be in all seriousness that she would explain to me the consequences of sex and all that jazz, but she's just teasing him!!! On one occasion, her fiance even confessed to me that if he had a child, he would want a boy. This was after I had gotten in trouble concerning a boy, and he was trying to give me his "two cents." He said he wanted a boy because I guess he wouldn't have to worry about him being protected or taking care of himself or something along those lines. It really annoyed me because I have never personally been in the situation or even close to being taken advantage of, I actually fight pretty well if I may say so myself. It annoyed me that he assumed strength came packaged in the male gender, as if it had to do with genes or something. I do believe that men are naturally stronger than women but this doesn't mean that we are unable to protect and provide for ourselves, which he didn't and still doesn't seem to get. For instance, I saw on a TV show where a girl said she was going to give a boy the "3 day rule" for him to call her, and it made me wonder, why are the boys supposed to call? It gives the girl a bad reputation if she is calling or visiting all of the time, but to me it shouldn't matter - you should be able to call when you want to, regardless of gender. Gender stereotypes are truly mysterious.

Le Tennis!!!

This week is the second week of the Australian Open Tennis grand slam. I've been keeping up with one of my favorite players, Serena Williams, and while watching one night one of the commentators made a reference to her physique, and it just got me thinking about the sport and its players. Men and women do not play each other in singles, and only in mixed doubles - this already suggests a view of unequality among men and women. I must say, however, that I agree that men are physically different from women and ultimately, can play harder, longer, and better. What struck me as interesting though was Serena Williams herself. Many commentators and others thought that she, a very atheletically built woman, was too "beefy." They felt that she had too much muscle mass. I really don't understand why they would feel this, when Serena is currently ranked 2nd in the world in women's tennis and could possibly be 1st by the weekend. The funny thing is, the same amount of muscle on a man is...expected. So why is it a problem on a woman's body? I will admit, that I personally wouldn't want to be that cut but as a professional tennis player I would love it. Also with tennis and gender, there is a definite increase use of power on both the women and men's side. Yet, women and men are starting to play more and more like each other - almost as if the rise of women in society trickled over to the atheletic world too. Though there are significant differences among women and men, women are steadily able to do everything that men do.

1/23/09 - WODU

Last week and earlier this week WODU has been talking about various topics concering relationships and gender. The first was more like an argument or discussion about what girls really want from guys. The second was about sex, and the third about issues in relationships. The first and the third discussions were really interesting to me. When I tuned in to the third discussion, the DJ was saying that he felt that he was not obligated as a man to tell his girlfriend if he was going to the movies with another female friend. So, his female co-host and the female caller said that women would then start to do what they wanted to with no explanation, and he didn't like that idea. I think that this confrontation stemmed from two things: men think that women are naturally insecure; and women think that men are more likely than themselves to be unfaithful in a relationship. It was interesting to me because when you sit down and think about it, we all have the chance to be insecure or unfaithful - so why is it that we believe these stereotypes? Maybe women aren't insecure, they just (unfortunately) derive their security from others, rather than themselves. Thus, if you are in a relationship with a woman, you have to understand that there is a very good chance that more of how she feels about herself comes from how you treat her than you think, so you have to be careful. So, when your attention deviates from her to anyone else, even if your heart is with her, she becomes concerned. In this case, women need to get their empowerment from within - men must be born with it or something (save this topic for another blog). Men, on the other hand, probably are more likely to cheat because they naturally think about sex more often than women and because they can get immediate gratification, thanks to some women (yet another blog). All in all, we are wrapped up in each others mess I guess.