Feminist Critique

Bryant Allen

Feb 18th

History

Feminist Critique

Today in our society the way we construct gender came from many different places. It all started around the 1950’s, when women were forced into a box by society. Which was considered as domestic work in the house. This then became social, family, or cultural norms they had to conform to. Later on, these stereotypes of women were later put in the media. Magazines and television have played a big role in how we look at and construct gender roles for women and men. Also, popular music is starting to play a part as well. Being able to understand how we are affected by different stereotypes in media is very important because the media is becoming one of the things we are always using daily. Popular music plays an important role in our society because usually a popular song will be played over and over again on the radio and no one will care about the messages in the song, but only the quality of the song.

Many rap and hip hop songs are about men having control over women and viewing them as sex objects. Some songs use curse words toward women to show how much more men are dominant than women. Either way, there are very few rap songs that portray women in a respectful way. It is crazy because even though these songs say negative things about women, women will still listen to them and support the artist by buying their CDs. It is horrible that we are programmed to be okay with men referring to women in a negative way and acting like they are better than women. It's crazy but I can name over 20 songs that shows this but I will only name a one. This is a very popular song, the song “Gold Digger” by the famous iconic artist, Kanye West.

“Gold Digger” had a lot of sales when it came out. It was at number one on the charts in 2005, it stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 list for five weeks straight. Many people listened to this song and it was continuously played on the radio. This song was heard by many different people and actually a lot of people were affected by it in a different way. Since this song was so popular everyone who listened to it heard the way women were represented in this song. This song was dominantly for a male perspective and I believe that men will start to believe that it is alright to treat and view women in a negative way or as a sex object.

Popular songs like, “Gold Digger” has a huge impact on the way gender is constructed in our culture. If a song is played over and over and everybody likes it, then people will think its cool. Right? Since men they think the song is cool then they see the way women are being treated in the song must be cool too. For example, Kanye West used a word (derogatory term) to refer to a woman in his song, by basically saying all pretty women are trying to steal money and using men for things they don’t have. Also, he was calling women other names. But the chances of other people starting to use the same term to refer to women is very high. Also, in his music cover their is a woman wearing a tight dress. This has affected our society to because girls are starting to wear clothes like that just to get a male gaze. will think that they should be wearing the same kind of clothing. In most songs men are viewed as strong or and in charge while women are viewed as an object or submissive. There is rarely a song that talks about a woman having more power than a man. Most songs represent something in favor of the men. Usually, it will be a man with a lot of money has girls all over him and controls them like he owns them. The fact that a song can make person change their actions or how they feel about themselves shows us how the music industry and the media plays a big part in gender construction. Popular music today has the strength to construct the how people view each gender box that society puts us all in. The song, “Gold Digger” portrays women as submissive and men as the dominant figure.

Outdated Values in Modern Commercials

With the rise of the internet, television, radios, and any other form of media, commercials have become more and more incorporated into our lives to the extent that some of us think nothing of them anymore. Some commercials push new ideas and break stereotypes and fixed roles in our society, and others enforce them. Some people don’t even notice them. One particular commercial is Cascade’s Platinum Dishwashing Pods. This commercial does an arguably excellent job of hiding the gender role in plain sight, but it’s there. It enforces the gender roles of women, the “old maid” stereotype, and the outdated values of women and their domesticity. This commercial features a woman who is doing the dishes with her son helping out, but she’s disappointed with the results when she finds the dishes dirty. She then stacks the dirty ones on her son’s arms in a humorous sequence. This enforces the “old maid” stereotype that implied that it’s a woman’s job to wash the dishes and it’s up to a woman and only a woman to do it right.

This ad enforces the old stereotype that a woman’s place is to be cleaning the house, a stereotype common in the mid 1900’s. When she finds the dishes dirty, she stacks them up in the son’s arms while saying “No, no, no, nope”. The way that the woman shuns her son for not doing it right, implies the “never send a man to do a woman’s job stereotype”, which enforces the gender roles even more.

Along with this sequence of events, the commercial has a voice over as well. In the beginning, the voice over says “baked on alfredo?”, which is showing that this is what they had for dinner and why the dishes are dirty, but it also implies that the woman was the one that cooked the dinner, another gender role of the domesticity of women.

The commercial ends with the woman smiling at the clean dishes as a result of the commercial’s product (the detergent pods). Yet again, enforcing the old maid stereotype, she remarks “Nice!” when she sees the clean dish, pushing the idea of “a job well done”.

In the end, this commercial although less than thirty seconds long, is full of these stereotypes, gender roles, and old values. In particular, the “old maid”, the domestic woman, and the gender roles of the woman being in charge of cleaning the house.

How Modern Music Brings Back The 1920's

The song “Be Together” by Major Lazer is old school. It expresses many different stereotypes, but there are a few prominent ones for men and women.  This work also expresses a few ideologies, one of those being “women in the roaring 20’s.” The gender stereotype expressed for men in the song are the gangster. For women the seductress / mistress stereotype is shown.

The group that made this song is called Major Lazer. They are a group of guys who use many different people to perform in their songs. They recently made album with many different singers, men and women. One of the songs in the album “Be Together” is performed by Natalie Bergman, and the song is from her point of view.

There are many examples of the “women in the roaring twenties” in this work. The first line of the song is a great example of the ideology of the twenties Natalie Bergman says: “Let me escape in your arms, baby I'm yours, baby I'm yours.” This supports the ideology of the twenties because in that decade women were expanding their ideas about how they were allowed to act and talk. They wanted it to be socially acceptable to be attracted to men. Women wanted to break the stereotype that they were supposed to be pure and chaste sexually. Another example of how this song expresses the ideologies of the 20’s is: “Maybe on the dark side we can be together, be together.” This expresses 20’s ideology because women in the 20’s wanted to show their, “dark side,” more. Women wanted to be more disobedient and more out of the home, and this line connects to the 20’s idea that women wanted to disobey their parents in order to be with men.

Beyond 20’s ideologies, “Be Together” expresses a lot of stereotypes of men and women. The first stereotype of women the song expresses is the seductress stereotype. A great example of this in the song is: “Maybe on the dark side we can be together, be together.” This quote shows that she is trying to seduce the man to the, “dark side”. This is part of the seductress stereotype. One of the stereotypes of men in the song is the gangster. This stereotype is expressed by this quote: “Tell me, is this freedom, baby? Chasing after danger, making my heart race.” This expresses the gangster stereotype because the guy is trying to impress the girl and win her over. This is also expressed by this quote because he is being a bad boy. Another quote that shows the same thing is this quote: “He was a dreamer at heart chasing the stars, chasing the stars wings spread to the sun I miss you so much, I miss you so much.”

The idea of women expressing themselves and still being accepted for it hasn’t been around for very long time. But popular culture and modern media are accepting it by leaps and bounds. This song isn’t the only piece of culture that expresses these ideologies and stereotypes.

Does Disney Stop Loving Little Girls Once They Hit Puberty?

Walt Disney’s The Story of Menstruation is an informative video sponsored by Kotex discussing periods to school age girls. It was made in 1946, a time between the first and second wave of feminism.Despite the good progress it does for reproductive education The Story of Menstruation is very patriarchal in nature. It it uses stereotypical images of women, features derogatory comments toward young girls, and sugar coats the process of menstruation.

Throughout the video, the girls shown are all fair skinned, wear lacy dresses and skirts, act air headed,and have makeup on. The film does not consider women of color, and does not let the characters speak for themselves. Real women of the time had much more brains and not all looked like housewives or innocent. Women have more personality than portrayed in the film.

The video also features a seemingly nice narrator, who makes comments toward the viewer that would not be acceptable now. At 7:36, the narrator says ”After all no matter how you feel, you have to live with people; You have to live with yourself too.And once you stop feeling sorry for yourself and take those days in your stride, you’ll find it’s easier to keep smiling and even tempered.” The narrator has failed to explain the reality of menstrual pain, minimizing it to something women feel sorry for themselves about.

Periods are made to sound like no big deal. For example, the video has a soft art style and ballroom type elegant music in the background playing. The narrator is also very motherly sounding. By putting on a sweet spirit to menstruation, the creators can make girls feel as though they should not complain or take menstruation as something to be too concerned about.

This work is shrouded with patriarchal images, and expects to seed sugar coated sexism into young girls in the seemingly innocent disguise of an educational video. Do not be fooled, this Disney film reeks of sexism.

The Simpsons

Episode 590 of The Simpsons reinforces dominant ideologies about gender roles with exaggerated portrayal of society’s gender stereotypes shown through a comedic lense. This is apparent in the actions of the female characters, in private conversations about women between male characters and in interactions between male and female characters.

The Simpsons promotes dominant ideologies about gender and gender roles through the actions of female characters. When Homer finds he is too fat to sleep comfortably in his space pod, Marge adjusts it to fit obese people. Marge figures out how to be a scientist by relating the experiment procedures to household chores. She says,

“Mom’s spend their whole lives obsessing over unlikely catastrophes. In space, that’s what you’re supposed to do”. This rhetoric propagates the stereotype of the women as the nurturer. It depicts women working in STEM fields as a laughable concept and irrational as their proper place is in the private sphere.

The Simpsons promotes dominant ideologies about gender and gender roles in private conversations about women between male characters. The men are stupid and clumsy, but ultimately, they are in control. Homer and Bart “support” the women in their lives through the same robotic support scheme despite the differences in their relationships (wife and sister). As they are alone throwing a ball in the backyard together, Bart says to Homer, “That listening to women junk you taught me really works!”, Homer responds by saying, “The trick is in the nodding”. Bart then delivers a more explicit commentary on gender roles and gender stereotypes. He says to his father, “Dad, after seeing mom and Lisa go at it, I’m glad our relationship is about physical abuse, not psychological”. While this line does outline one of society’s gender stereotypes, it presents the stereotype through a sarcastic and comedic lense framing it as something that it laughable and insignificant.

The Simpsons promotes dominant ideologies about gender and gender roles through interactions between male and female characters. During the scene on the Martian colony, the men in charge compliment Marge because she can do chores more efficiently that the robotic arm. This is an example of comedy being used to promote gender roles and gender stereotypes. It perpetuates the notion of the woman’s proper place being the private sphere. Portraying a woman as being able to do household chores more reliably and more effectively than a robot not only reinforces the dominant ideology of the woman belonging in the private sphere, it also objectifies women. Later, during the rocket launch, Homer and Bart freak out over the idea Marge and Lisa going to Mars because they don’t know how to survive on Earth without a woman to go grocery shopping, cook and wash dishes for them. This joke, while at the surface appears to present the importance of women in the lives of men and how stupid and useless men can be, the fact that the men are worried about tasks as simple as dish washing and grocery shopping demeans women and asserts that they are inferior to men.



These are examples of dominant ideologies about gender being reinforces through comedy. While The Simpsons appears at the surface to be an innocent comedic cartoon, underlying the comedy is a more sinister system of reinforcement of society’s dominant ideologies of gender and gender roles.

Part Of Me

American culture is dominated by gender stereotypes and ‘ideal’ gender roles.  These gender roles, pressured onto Americans through the media prevent people from living their life they want to.  One of the most common and widespread gender stereotypes is that of the domesticity of women.  This gender role can be portrayed in many different ways, but the main idea is the same; Women are expected to be dependent on their boyfriend or husband.In the past few decades, women have been trying to disprove this ideology and show that women can be just as strong and independent as men.  In her song and music video “Part Of Me”, Katy Perry uses a female gaze and defies female stereotypes to show that women can be just as strong and independent as their male counterparts.

Katy Perry’s “Part Of Me” is all about becoming independent from a man.  In the chorus of “Part Of Me”, Katy sings “This is the part of me that you’re never gonna ever take away from me”.  This is in reference to her independence.  She is saying that no matter what her ex boyfriend does, he can’t take away her agency.  Agency is an important part of feminism because it allows women to be independent and to take control of their own lives.  The song lyrics and the music video project the same message.  In the music video for “Part Of Me” Katy joins the Marines after breaking up with her boyfriend.  This defies female gender roles because the military is a predominantly male thing.  The sticker she sees in the gas station reads “All women are created equal, then some join the Marines”.  Putting a female in a male dominated position is a bold way of promoting equality.  It shows that if a man can do it, than a woman can do it as well.  In the music video Katy also burns a letter that her ex boyfriend sent her, again promoting agency.

In conclusion, Katy Perry uses visual and auditory statements in “Part Of Me” to show agency and power on her own and away from her boyfriend.  This is just one of many modern day examples of female artists trying to break gender role stereotypes that have been deeply rooted in American culture.

The music video for "Part Of Me" is blocked on the OPRF servers and chromebooks, however the lyrics are posted below.

Katy Perry - Part Of Me

Days like this I want to drive away

Pack my bags and watch your shadow fade

[Standard version:] 'Cause you chewed me up and spit me out

["Complete Confection" version:] You chewed me up and spit me out

Like I was poison in your mouth

You took my light, you drained me down

But that was then and this is now

Now look at me

[Chorus:]

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

Throw your sticks and your stones,

Throw your bombs and your blows

But you’re not gonna break my soul

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

I just wanna throw my phone away

Find out who is really there for me

[Standard version:] 'Cause you ripped me off, your love was cheap

["Complete Confection" version:] You ripped me off, your love was cheap

Was always tearing at the seams

[Standard version:] I fell deep, and you let me down

["Complete Confection" version:] I fell deep, you let me down

But that was then and this is now

Now look at me

[Chorus]

Now look at me I’m sparkling

A firework, a dancing flame

You won't ever put me out again

I’m glowin’, oh, whoa

[Standard version:] You can keep the dog from me

["Complete Confection" version:] So you can keep the diamond ring

[Standard version:] I never liked it anyway

["Complete Confection" version:] It don't mean nothing anyway

In fact you can keep everything, yeah, yeah,

Except for me

[Chorus]

[Standard ending:]

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

Throw your sticks and your stones,

Throw your bombs and your blows

But you’re not gonna break my soul

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

["Complete Confection" ending:]

This is the part of me, no

Away from me, no

This is the part of me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me..., no

Throw your sticks and your stones,

Throw your bombs and your blows

But you’re not gonna break my soul

This is the part of me

That you’re never gonna ever take away from me, no

Role Models vs. Mirrors

Hillary Clinton's new campaign advertisement, Mirrors should have succeeded where Role Models failed to show the detrimental effects that Donald Trump could have on the future and the youth of America because of his poor character and the dangers of having a leader who does not lead by setting a positive example. The Mirrors advertisement ultimately failed because it did not show that Clinton is the positive role model that America needs.

The new advertisement, Mirrors might as well be a revised edition of the Role Models advertisement that she released in July. Role Models did not succeed because it portrayed Hillary Clinton as a positive role model in contrast to Donald Trump. This was not received well because in July, when the Role Models ad was released, only 28%-50% of the population had a favorable view of Hillary Clinton. Mirrors makes the same arguments as Role Models did, and follows the same format except that it shows only young girls, they are looking at themselves rather than Trump and Clinton does not appear in the ad. The most significant difference between the two advertisements is that Hillary Clinton is not included in the Mirrors ad. The most prominent complaint about the Role Models video was that it attempted to portray Clinton as a positive alternative to Trump in the last few seconds of the ad. This part of the video is somewhat hypocritical in that it is saying Clinton is a positive role model and a strong character-ed alternative to Trump at the end of an attack ad. The Clinton campaign's solution to this problem was to make a new ad in the same format but without mentioning Clinton at all. This decision only led to another failed advertisement. The Mirrors ad has no positive alternative to Trump's rhetoric which will draw unfavorable response not only from Republicans and independents but from Democrats and Clinton supporters as well.

The failures of these two advertisements to convince voters to support Hillary Clinton is evidenced by the viewer's responses on YouTube. The Role Models video has 1,283,781 views 11,424 likes and 13,322 dislikes. This puts percentage of viewers who liked the video at 0.890%, almost five times lower than that of the average YouTube video. The video's 46 to 54 likes to dislikes ratio means that it is in the most unpopular 4% of YouTube videos and is about 11 times more unpopular than the average YouTube video. Contrary to the intentions of the Clinton campaign, Mirrors performed even worse. The Mirrors video has 4,717,092 views, 27,042 likes and 45,156 dislikes. While Mirrors has bring in about four times the viewership of Role Models and therefore more likes and dislikes, its percentage of viewers who liked the video is 0.573%, about 1.5 times lower than Role Models and almost seven times lower than the average YouTube video. The video's 37 to 63 likes to dislikes ratio means that this video is also in the most unpopular 4% of YouTube videos and is about 15 times more unpopular than the average YouTube video. Therefore, Mirrors has had an audience response about 1.5 times more unfavorable than that of Role Models. This contributed to making Mirrors an even less effective advertisement than Role Models. Role Models gained 575 new subscribers for the Hillary Clinton YouTube Channel while Mirrors gained only 394 new subscribers. About 0.048% of unsubscribed viewers subscribed to the Hillary Clinton YouTube because of the Role Models video while only 0.0085% of unsubscribed viewers subscribed to the Hillary Clinton YouTube because of the Mirrors video. This means that Mirrors was about 5.6 times less effective at bringing in support to the Clinton campaign than Role Models.

Lose to Win

“Lose to Win” by Fantasia Barrino from the album Side Effects of You that was released in the year of 2013.




Lose to Win by Fantasia Barrino is one of my favorite and most powerful songs she has ever written. This songs tell you about the way women lose their self dealing with a man. Not only dealing with a man but dealing with life within itself such as people losing homes , jobs , loved ones, their self esteem and whatever life throws at them. Sometimes you have to lose yourself in order for a great blessing to come. In the process of losing your self and everything else around you ,you notice who’s there for you and who is not. Sometimes it takes to hit a bump in the road just so you can be at peace again. Sometimes in the process of hitting this bump and wrecking your car you lose yourself. You have to learn how to pick up the pieces and learn to love yourself all over again. Fantasia states “ Never felt so ugly, Pretending that he loves me” meaning that the man she thought that loved her made her feel as if she was less than a woman. She knew that deep down inside that he loved her at one point or at least she thought he did. The love begin to fade away once he started getting the sexual things he wanted, gifts , or money , which was the reason of him seeking after her from the very beginning . Many women has been in the same predicament Fantasia has been in or even close to where she was and she’s trying to warn them before the storm decide to arrive and wash everything away. When you love a man and a man doesn't love you back it tears you apart , from the inside out , you let yourself go and feel like you're not worth more than anything but a pile of dog poo. It could be a man that you're in a relationship with , your father or a male that meant something very special to you. Fantasia continues on and says “ Now I'm sick and tired of , You, just taken right off , Know when I forgive you” meaning every time she forgives an individual person in her life or a situation that occurred it comes right back up but hits her ten times harder. Fantasia goes through many of hurts and she’s human like everyone else and she is very much human and when she loves she loves hard not for the appearance or how much that person has but she “loved you for your inner, inner, inner”. It’s a lot of things that need to take a step back out of her life and others “But you won't dare, 'cause you're too scared” , explains how something that she knows and people know can eat them alive won't change anything about it , because they're afraid of the outcome of it all without that person or thing non-existent. Even “If it makes you cry, cry, cry And all you do is fight, Can't get no sleep at night? Sometimes you gotta lose to win again. That's the only way in life to ever survive through the rough times that people and herself go through. Its a disciplinary action that you have placed on yourself and your emotions. Your emotions feel like they're in the ring fighting against the situation that you're going through. the blood , sweat , and tears represent the crying at night . the matt that you're fighting on represent the sleepless night that she has occurred. but every brick that was thrown at her she took it and stood on it just to prove that you “Needed someone so bad? To make it last does not always exist and you can “Lose , To win again.

Mean School, Mean Girls, Mean Life

The film Mean Girls presents stereotypes of high schoolers, especially in terms of gender. The girls within the film seem to be fake and rude to each other based on what the girl’s outer beauty looks like. Males within the movie are held to the jock stereotype. The movie’s ideology is both promoting and resisting those stereotypes. Promoting with girls and women being prissy and only caring about gossip and looks. It’s resisting when Cady, the lead character, doesn’t really care when she wins the crown at the dance and actually offers the crown to the crowd. The men that are resisting are a moc (man of color) that is very bright and Damian who is the gay character.

The girlfriend group “The Plastics” reinforce superficial stereotypes, since they are the most popular and the most beautiful and the most important. It reinforces that women only care about their looks and that school and a healthy social life is irrelevant. The parents that are within the movie showed why the characters were like that. Regina, who is dominant mean girl, when we first meet her mother you see how loose her parental ways are. She offers the girls alcohol and you see that the mother lives vicariously through her daughter experiences. It shows that girls not only learn their ways from the media but also the important women that are in their lives.

“Mean Girls” also reinforces the ideals of what a real male is suppose to be like.
The handsome main character Aaron Samuel; the stereotypical high school popular jock that attracts the ladies, but without being a ladies man. His character seems to only reinforce how high school works but he still resists the womanizing ways. It reinforces the stereotype that gay males only hangout with women with the character Damien. He is only seen with Janis and Cady and has banter with Janis about his sexuality. Also in the main girlfriend group,there are the stereotypes of the dumb blond(Karen), the rich one(Gretchen),and the queen bee(Regina). These stereotypes tell us there are only three ways girls can be popular in high school. These stereotypes not only reinforce but they are also damaging. Telling girls, especially girls that are in high school that they only deserve attention if they are rich, white, pretty or dumb creates a precedent for girls who do fit the label and girls who don't.

“Mean Girls” has inspired new generations since it’s release in the early 2000s.
This generation has watched Mean Girls since they were little, thinking that high school would be like it is in the movie. As we grew up; the behavior within the movie seem to be over childish and something that people would more likely do in middle school. High School nowadays seems to be just stressful and anxiety filled, not filled with people going out there way to embarrasses you or make you small. Are there people like this in high school? Yes, but people normally shut them down or don't listen to them. Mean Girls has also taught this generation to be themselves and not to pretend so you can fit in a group of people who you don't even like.

Lastly, in most teenagers eyes the movie is seen as a satire, while some of the plots do have truths the way that high school works now has change drastically. The film has taught me that high school stories are only important when they are told in a suburban atmosphere and have barely any people of color and doesn’t include real issues and the importance of speaking about them. Mean Girls has both good qualities and bad qualities. The good qualities is the importance of having a strong female lead character, a gay character, and speaking on the issues of the younger generation that pretending to be something that you're not can ultimately change the person you are, good or bad. The bad qualities of the movie seem to be the lack of diversity, only showing the high school experience from a suburban point of view, and not having more great well rounded characters to balance out the characters that were mostly flat.

Blondes Prefer the Rich

The 1950s was an era of change, and new ideas were being introduced. Gender roles, for example, were changing. Marilyn Monroe supports the ideal body image of the era within her movies. In the 1950s, Marilyn Monroe was best known for the “dumb blonde character,” fulfilling the sex object stereotype. As time moved on, Marilyn Monroe became more of a seductress stereotype, seen by society as a sex icon and was part of the change in the era’s attitude towards sexuality in the 1950s.

One of Marilyn Monroe’s best movies was “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” The movie is based upon on a character “Lorelei Lee” (Marilyn Monroe), a beautiful showgirl who is engaged to a wealthy character named “Gus Esmond” (Tommy Noonan) who believes that Marilyn is only after his money and discovers later, she really was. As Gus gets deeper into the mystery to disqualify “Lorelei Lee” from marriage, and stopping her from receiving his money. 

As the movie continues Gus sends Ernie Malone, who is a private detective, to investigate what's going on. Lorelei says, “Don’t you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn’t marry a girl just because she's pretty, my goodness, doesn’t it help?” The character displays that she can be a seductress, Esmond Sr asks, “Then what do you want to marry him for?” Lorelei Lee says, “I want to marry him for YOUR money.” This is one of the many moments in the movie where the stereotypes still continue.

In the 1950s women were thought to be stupid since women didn’t go to school or didn’t finish college. “Gus” thought “Lorelei Lee” is stupid, and he was expecting her to sound stupid too. “Mr. Esmond Sr” (Gus) says, “Say, they told me you were stupid! You don’t sound stupid to me!” Lorelei Lee says, “I can be smart when it's important.” This reinforces a stereotype of women being dumb and mistreated. The only time when men wanted to listen to women, were only if they were sexy.

Our final stereotype is the character “Gus” in the movie. He is a wealthy man with lots of money and power. In the movie he is seen as an opportunity for Lorelei to get anything she wants. Also Lorelei Lee can keep all the money to herself after a divorce. This example is important because Lorelei is breaking the stereotype of a woman being dumb and only there to serve her husband. She thinks of a method to receive all the money to herself so that she can enjoy life without any worries at all. Lorelei Lee says, “I want to marry him for YOUR money.” 

Our pop culture slightly changes over the years, but can still support the stereotypes that are being presented today. Women today are still being mistreated more or less. Movies, music videos, television, radio, social media or any entertainment supports the stereotypes. The movie The Wolf of Wall Street, who is a wealthy man, constantly throwing parties. As well as having sexual relationships with women throughout the movie. The movie supports the universal idea that has been continuing since the 1950s. As opposing to women they’re only there for his sexual purposes and needs. In conclusion these stereotypes keep continuing no matter what year it is, and wondering if these kind of stereotypes will continue in the future.

Park and Recreation: Breaking Workplace Stereotypes

For sometime now, Parks and Recreation has been my favorite show. Leslie Knope, who is a main character played by Amy Poehler shows the true power a woman can have in the public sphere, such as the workplace. I went back to the first season to watch an episode that came off as feminist to me, which was episode 4, titled “Boy’s Club.” Throughout this episode many stereotypes of women in the workplace and home are broken. Women in the office are able to join in on the typical men activities in the workplace and the idea of a housewife does not exist. Although this episode and the show in general is pretty feminist, some of the men at the office say some sexist things. The sexist things they say feed into mocking the idea of stereotypes. 

As stated in the title, this episode was about a boy’s club that goes on at the office. The name is misleading though because women in the Parks and Recreation department are treated like one of the guys, equal. Every Tuesday night, the boys club, which is a group of coworkers, meets on the patio outside of the office. One night, Leslie decides to join them with one of her friends, Anne. They are welcomed by all the men and are even allowed to drink with them. By joining the men, Leslie and Anne broke the stereotype that just men drink after a long day of work. They also broke the rules of the boys club, where previously, no girls were allowed. After attending a few meetings, Leslie drops all the bottles of beer on the floor by tipping over the table and the men are cleaning up after her and she says “look at those B---s cleaning up after me.” This breaks the stereotypes that women are the ones who usually do the cleaning. Leslie is also speaking from the stereotypical male’s point of view by stating that the women should be doing the cleaning. 

While the boys cleaned up the beer Leslie spilled off the table, it became clear that the idea of a housewife does not exist. Typically in the past, women are expected to clean and stay at home to take care of the family. That stereotype was broken by Andy, Anne’s boyfriend. When she goes off to work, he cleans the house. This breaks the stereotype the women do the housekeeping. Another typical housewife stereotype is broken by Andy because he is trying to be successful in music but in the meantime, he stays at home and does nothing and doesn't have a job. Anne does. She is the one with the job in the relationship which breaks the housewife stereotype where the women usually stays home and prepare for the family while her husband is at work. Although those barriers are being broken, there is always going to be someone who tries to build those barriers back up.

One of the barriers is rebuilt in this episode because the men say and do sexist things. Ron says his idea of a government is only a man sitting in a room at a desk and have women brought to him when he desires him. This statement is sexist because he doesn’t think that just anyone could run the government, it would have to be a man. He also objectifies women by saying that they should be brought to the ruler of the government whenever. Another example is before Leslie and Anne came along, the men at the office had a boys club where no women are allowed to be in. They meet on Tuesday nights and drink beer. This is sexist against women in a way where they can’t enjoy a drink or 2 with their coworkers because only men are allowed. One last sexist scene in the episode is when Tom asks Leslie if she has every had a dream about their boss, Ron, sexually and she says no. This is the stereotype that workers are sexually attracted to their boss or vice versa. Despite all of the sexist comments that may go on, Leslie never seems to let it get to her and continues to hold her strong beliefs in women in the political world and her home town. The only sexist people in the workplace are the men, which is very relatable to my past work experiences. 

In many ways, Leslie and the other Parks and Recreation characters break the workplace and home stereotypes but of course there is always going to be those people who are sexist and try to break it down again. This occurred in my workplace as well over the summer. My boss would often make the girls clean the locker rooms, at the pool where I was a lifeguard, and always let the boys go home early if the chance came along where we didn’t need any more life guards than we already had. He also gave one of the guys a raise and a higher position but never gave the option to a girl. By the end of the summer all the girl lifeguards could tell that he was always in favor of the boys and was just all around sexist. My boss relates to Ron, the parks and recreation department head. Although there are sexist remarks that come from some of the male workers, Parks and Recreation is a show where women are treated like one of the guys in the office and aren’t seen as the typical housewife. Overall, society is always going to have those people who are sexist but Parks and Recreation makes a stand against it in a way where they mock the sexist and give power to the women in their town and in politics.

Here is Leslie and Anne attending a boys club meeting. 

You can also watch the episode here:

Feminist Critique

Throughout the world, stereotypes place men in category and men women in another. These stereotypical roles often limit abilities, that however is not the case in this episode of the Boondocks. The episode shows how men need women as much as women need men. It breaks the housewife stereotype because the woman in this episode is very independent and can take care of a man if she pleases. It’s also shows the typical male views of a female, which isn't always right. This is promoting the feminist ideology, by showing how men depend on women, women are as independent as men, and women aren't helpless.

In the beginning of the show, Robert was very upset at the fact he couldn't find a stable relationship. He even deleted his Facebook because he couldn't deal with not having a woman in his life. He really needed a woman’s presence to not only make him happy, but to be comfortable being a man. This shows how much he needed a woman, although men are seen as strong independent, financially stable people, he still needed her in order to feel needed in the world. Another example is when they were at the park and he was telling Uncle Ruckus and Tom, what type of woman he wants, and Ms. Ebony Brown came running by who was a perfect woman for him. This not only made him happy, but he had a new purpose and that was to get Ms.Brown. This shows how dependent a man can be on a woman even if he has everything, he still needs a woman’s love. Men aren't just dependent in women in this show, women are also very independent.

The women in the episode, Ms.Ebony Brown, was all alone and didn't need a man. She was financially stable, she even asked Robert out on a date, and she paid for a meal, which Robert himself thought was very expensive. This shows that women are independent and can do for themselves and don’t need men to do everything for them and the family, like it was stated in the old times. Ms. Brown also took a job in Africa at the end of the episode where she left and Robert came chasing after her. He felt so hurt that she was gone, and the entire time she wasn't thinking about him, but the job she had to perform. This really shows her being a working woman who prioritized her job before a man. Woman like this are usually portrayed as bitches, but Ms. Brown was kind a gentle. Woman aren't just independent, they are strong, not helpless as they are portrayed throughout the 20th century.

Throughout the episode it was thought that all the black women are crazy and Robert needed a stable white woman who is fragile and helpless in order to be happy. This shows the dominate male view on the episode which was obviously from a male gaze and doesn't show how strong the female race is not just the African American woman. Tom’s wife who was white, seemed to be the perfect woman, which wasn't true because throughout the episode Ms. Brown proved time and time again why she was not only an independent woman, but a strong one both physically and mentally in order to protect herself.

The world shows most things through a male gaze which is bad because you don’t get to realize how much men depend on the women in order to be happy. They may be sex objects, but the men always seems to be interested in them. You also wouldn't notice the growth of woman and how they are independent, and as strong as men, both physically and mentally. Not only is this a feminist critique, but it passes the feminist critique test.

Girls Run the World

Beyonce's song and video "Run the World" expresses that women should stand up and stop being secondary to men. In the song Beyonce says "This goes out to all the girls that's rocking the latest who will buy it for themselves and get more money later". This verse is basically shouting out the girls that basically pay for themselves and get it right back. Independently without help from a man. In the video Beyonce and a group of women behind her are like all sexy and sassy are like battling against the a group of men standing on the other side. This song is basically stereotyping that all women are leaning on men for things. Also saying that no women that has a man or is married is not independent. Which is not true at all.

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