I couldn’t quite follow Douglas’ logic on her point that thinness makes girls mean and that the two are linked. I agree that social pressures for thinness and meanness exist for girls, but I do not see the direct correlation.
In shows like Gossip Girls, women display both, but I do not think one leads to the other. One of the more damaging side effects Douglas points is the show's construction of female power. The power exaggerates traits women already are stereotyped to posses: pettiness, shallowness, and a cutthroat nature. In this way, a woman’s power is limited and villainified. Though I can see Douglas’ point, I think it is a tad unfair. The show critiques wealth more then women. Often Blair works with her male friend/lover Chuck to exact revenge and the two share a degree of respect for one another for their mutual craftiness. This shows the power of these wealthy teens and how they use that power for selfish reasons. Though the terms “Queen Bee” and “bitch” are reserved for the females, which is telling, I think the meanness extends to males as well.
Douglas’ examination of plastic surgery, beauty, and the prioritization of youth is displayed by this commercial which aired during this year’s super bowl. It shows a young woman’s body – or what we think is a young woman’s body – attached to Joan Rivers’ face. This commercial parodies the pressures our society puts on older women to retain their youthful bodies and sex appeal and therefore their worth.
This connects to Ann Fausto-Sterling’s “Hormonal Hurrcianes” which discusses how post-menopausal women are viewed as a diseased deviation from the normal. Fausto-Sterling drives home the important point that here again men are considered normal and women are judged against that standard. Since men are half of the population them being “normal” does not make any sense. In her conclusion my views differ slightly from Fausto-Sterling’s, her concept of the sex-continuum is echoed here when she fights against the “central role of biology in adult female development” (120). I think that biology is important. Women do have – in predominant cases – different hormonal interactions then men. This is important. The problem isn’t that biology is prized; it is that the data derived from biology – that women undergo menopause and have cyclical hormone flunctuations – is then viewed as deviant against the male model.
joan rivers superbowl commercial
I don't think that Douglas' argument was that thinness makes girls mean, but rather that the media portrays females as taking their frustration of the impossible standards that society sets for them out on each other. I think her argument is that females that adhere to the societal ideals turn on those who do not. I definitely agree with your assessment of Gossip Girl, in that meanness is not reserved for the girls on the show and that it is more a commentary on wealth. I also agree with your assessment of Fausto-Sterling's argument where you point out that females do have important biological differences compared to males and that this must be recognized, while not being viewed as "deviant."
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa, that was actually really helpful. I agree, somehow I missed Douglas' point, but what you are saying makes a lot more sense.
ReplyDeleteI was also quite confused about Douglass’s point about women and meanness. Lisa does a great job of explaining this point and I can’t help but to think about the movie “Mean Girls” when I read the Douglass chapter. Like “Gossip Girl”, “Mean Girls” is a movie that is based off of impossible standards that exist in our culture. It is about groupings within high schools and society in general. More importantly, it shows how brutal and mean, girls can be when it comes to societal standards. The biggest difference between April’s assessment of “Gossip Girl” and the way that “Mean Girls” portrays women is that unlike in Gossip Girl, the “queen bee”, Regina, only works with other women when she plots against people. In Mean Girls, when Katie becomes the queen bee she begins to scheme against people who are not as popular as she is. However, unlike Gossip Girls, it is the man she is chasing, Aaron, who is the voice of reason. He is the one with morals. This gives an extremely poor portrayal of women and makes them the villain while the men in the film are seen as rational and nice.
ReplyDeleteI think that April does a great job in assessing Fausto-Sterling’s point about post-menopausal women. I completely agree that it is completely unfair to judge women on the standard that society see’s as “normal” (men). Women and men have different genetic makeup and since women make up half of the population, to consider how men age more normal than how women age is completely unfair. What caught my attention about April’s post, however, is the Go Daddy commercial that she posted. While unrelated to this particular reading, I would like to site another Go Daddy commercial that is extremely relevant to women’s studies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ManxJFR8c
This commercial, along with most Go Daddy commercials do not show the viewer anything about what the Go Daddy website even does. It simply flaunts sex appeal and ends with an enticing incentive to go to the website. This incentive is not based off of what the site is actually used for, instead, it is based off of what looks like a potential “flashing” by Danica Patrick that you would allegedly see if you visit the site. I have always had a particular issue with this because I see it as false advertising and it also objectifies women to a ridiculous degree.
April,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the Go Daddy commercial which brings up many of the topics we have discussed in class when assessing women in terms of men. In the commercial we see how the model posses all the traits that men desire in want as well as women aspire for (shown by the women in the background fanning herself). With all the qualities shown, it is implied that aging is not a pleasant trait that society admires, as we can see by the males reactions when Joan River's appears as the model. I really like how you, maybe not intentionally, connect how the media has both been luring females and males. As Douglas analyzes television shows and movies that creates this depiction of women, commercials--especially those aired during the Super Bowl--are also reemphasizing what men traits men should desire in women. Advertisers is aware that men are the majority of the population that watches the Super Bowl therefore they use what they know about their target group and incorporate that into various commercials. The media is both shaping the image of womenhood to women as well has implanting ideas of womenhood towards men. Media is a has a strong influence on how and what is viewed as "normal."