The Gender Identi-Tree
The present offers us new and more complicated issues to consider for establishing gender identity. We are living in a time that the term ‘girl power’ has been engraved in the minds of many girls my age. We have been taught about the first wave of feminism, the second wave, and now suddenly our textbooks end as if the story is finished. So, feminism is over, right? Not so much. We have been conditioned by society to believe this narrative- that we have arrived at our conclusion, that our story has a happy ending. But when we take a closer look, the media seems to be telling us this story but then secretly implying that not much has changed. This emphasis on women's independence and self-sufficiency is constantly intertwined by the ideas of domesticity, glamour and romantic love.
TRUNK
Cosmopolitan Magazine
Cosmopolitan magazine has always been my favorite since I started high school. It was the first magazine that made me feel like it was cool to be a woman. That may sound strange, but they talked about sex like it made women independent and fun, they had stories about kickass women in the workforce, and they always had funny stories about other girls who had relatable problems. I still read Cosmo and I appreciate the recent increase in articles and sections devoted to more serious issues, but the magazine still maintains a heavy emphasis on appearance. Stories about dealing with rape and sexual harassment are followed by advertisements of the stick thin model of Cara Delevigne posing for an expensive clothing or makeup brand. And don’t think we don’t notice that the “Look Better Naked” article follows directly after that advertisement. Cosmo is the leading magazine in its category; it ranks the highest in sales for the demographic of women ages 18-25. It has a profound influence over my generation of women, and yet it proclaims this message of strong independent woman who still needs to be worried about her looks. If the magazine could take some of an emphasis off body image and onto the more pressing issues of gender equality, would it's readers do the same?
Boys & Girls Toys
The distinction between boy and girls toys has always really bothered me. Maybe it was because I liked hot wheels, I owned a large collection of small army men and battle trucks and planes for them, and I liked playing football. But growing up liking these toys, I was always confused where I was represented in those advertisements. I never saw a girl on the hot wheels commercials growing up – it was always young boys with fire and cars and dark colors like black and red that flashed across the screen. I had Barbies too (the advertisements for girls did their job on me), but I never understood why I was supposed to only like pink or purple and girly things. My favorite color was green growing up, yet I remember struggling to find ‘girl’ things that were this color. For instance, my first bike without training wheels was nearly all green but the streamers on the handle bars, the seat, and other decorative pieces were all purple with flowers. So, I guess they were trying. I have seen now that there has been an active push to blur these lines a bit more, but I still grew up feeling weird. Girls didn’t want to play army men with me because that was ‘boy stuff’. Boys didn’t want to play army men with me because I was a girl. Where do girls like me fall into these very gendered boundaries? If we are forced to choose a side and we choose the wrong one, will we always be the weird ones?
Comericals
Click image for comercial
As this Tide commercial shows, there is a certain stereotype or understanding that women are in charge of the laundry and other household duties. For many years, Tide has used women in their television and magazine advertisements to sell and promote their products. Tide is not alone in this, and other products that are associated with domesticity have featured women. The constant images of women and these products not only encourages women to buy them but it also reinforces the role of housewife that is associated with performing tasks such as laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. In an effort to respond to this problem, Tide has been using men in their commercials more frequently in the past years. While this is a good step in the right direction, but the portrayal of this man as a ‘dad mom’ suggests that he needs to explain why he is doing these tasks and then overcompensating for his manhood at the end by stating “I’m going to go do some sit-ups and pushups”. If men are placed in these roles for comedic effect, how will we ever view men as primary caretakers as normal? How will we ever see women as the primary breadwinner as normal?
Movies
Bride Wars, starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway, contains some popular themes about women and marriage that suggest women are still bound by the confines of sexism. The main characters, Liv and Emma, are two best friends that have strongly contrasting personalities; however, the movie highlights the ways each woman must make sacrifices in their characters to become more desirable in their future marriages. Liv must be made more vulnerable from her controlling and emotionless personality in order to be seen as likeable. Her high status job as a lawyer suggests women can be just as successful as men, but the coldness she attains from this job is often highlighted to make her seem less desirable as a wife. Emma must break out of her shell of being passive and plain; her kind nature is seen as desirable for the role of a wife and mother, but her lack of confidence is often looked upon as negative in comparison to Liv’s bouncing personality. Both women strive to find this happy medium of not having too much power or being too passive. The idea that women must be the nurturing caregivers yet still represent the new ideal woman of independent and strong-willed continues in movies and in other media forms. How will women break out of stereotypical gendered roles if the image of the ‘perfect woman’ is unattainable? This movie, like others of its genre, portrays marriage as an essential part of a woman’s life; if women do not get married, they have failed. If movies continue with such themes, can a woman be considered normal in our society if she is not married?
Music
I grew up with Destiny’s child. They were a group of these beautiful women whose songs inspired many afternoons of singing and practiced choreography with my sisters. I will always remember when “Survivor” first came out because my sister insisted on a survivor themed birthday party where everyone wore camouflage and we played nothing but Destiny’s Child; I’m pretty sure there was a moment when we acted out the music video as well. That song felt like an anthem; it was Beyoncé in her early years telling us that she was not giving up and that women were strong and powerful and well, we were survivors. I remember Destiny’s Child playing in the movie Charley’s Angels – three kickass women who fought bad guys made me want to aspire to be a spy. This group embodied and inspired every part of ‘girl power’, and yet they sometime chose not to embody the opposite. The song “Cater 2 U” is a catchy song. If you asked me to sing it now, I would probably remember nearly all of the lyrics. But if you actually listen to the lyrics of the song, it’s talking about how Beyoncé and her girls want to cater to their man by taking off his shoes, cooking for him, running his bath, and did she just say “my life would be purposeless without you”? These girls were my inspiration for female empowerment, but they very slyly indicated that they were still embodying traditional gender stereotypes. How are we supposed to filter the messages that these famous musical groups are telling us? Are we supposed to believe that we can only ‘survive’ through men?
I will be forever grateful for the books that made my fantasies come alive. In my life, I have met heroines who sailed around the world, female witches who battled evil, little girls who time traveled in magic tree houses and outran polar bears and other wild animals, and women who were smart and intelligent and found happiness by following their dreams. These women were my inspiration and my saviors; they taught me to be brave and independent, but they also taught me that being different could be a good thing. I enjoyed love stories, but I found that my favorite characters were those women who were bossy and didn't always end up with the guy. Maybe they eventually did, but I liked that it ended without knowing. Why did I need to turn to books to find a world I could better relate to?
Books
