Must-See TV Gender Stereotyping

Image credit: tvline.com

While Jenny Korn problematizes the gender stereotypes rampant in 30 Rock's series finale this past Thursday, it is emblematic of a host of television shows that were once promising sites of subversion (or at least a more nuanced conversation) of gender roles, yet have spectacularly failed to live up to those expectations. NBC's Up All Night, Parks & Rec, and even CBS's How I Met Your Mother have all rearranged character's personalities and lives, walking back any semblance of alternative gender performances. 

While television often appears to be a leader in alternative representations of gender roles and relations, those appearances are often misleading. By presenting a family-friendly, de-clawed version of feminism to audiences that ultimately ends in fairy tale romance, the goals of feminism are subtly undercut. Keeping these messages covert prevents healthy conversations about those messages; featuring Leslie Knope fighting for workplace equality allows the networks to present, simultaneously, traditional, oppressive, and subjugating notions of womanhood under the guise of "popular feminism." 

My First Feminist Role Model

I had an epiphany the other day. My boyfriend and I were enjoying some classic Simpson episodes and I was reminiscing about how much I loved Lisa when I was little. I identified so closely with her—she was the middle child, she was precociously intelligent, she was musical, political, and self-conscious about her nerdiness but never afraid to let her freak flag fly. That's all stuff I already knew, though. This was the breakthrough—Lisa Simpson was one of my first and most influential role models, and I think she was one of the best I could have had. Lisa is outspoken, confident, and assertive. She questions authority and ideology, she makes broad connections between political, economic and cultural phenomena—she is essentially the voice of reason on the show and the mouthpiece through which the writers of The Simpsons convey many of their political and philosophical points.

Most importantly, however, Lisa Simpson is a feminist. In the few instances that she shies away from displaying her intelligence or speaking her mind and instead tries to conform to society's standards, she always regrets it and eventually goes on a passionate tirade against those very conformities. In one particularly telling episode, Lisa is disturbed when she realizes the sexist and mysogynistic forces behind her beloved Malibu Stacy doll. In an effort to combat her family and friends' apathy, as well as the negative messages of the doll itself, Lisa finds the original Malibu Stacy creator and they release a feminist, progressive doll, “Lisa Lionheart,” whose sales fail miserably when the newest Malibu Stacy is simultaneously released. “Lisa Lionheart” gets sold to one little girl, however, who ignores the new Malibu Stacy advertising and is, presumably, drawn to and influenced by the empowered and autonomous Lisa Lionheart.

There are hundreds of more ways that Lisa Simpson embodies various feminist ideals, as well as hundreds of way that The Simpsons very much reinforces detrimental notions of gender. Overall, however, Lisa Simpson was incredibly influential in shaping not only the person that I am, but the person that I strive to be. This may sound rather trivial, considering I am talking about a cartoon character, but media influences can greatly shape one's understanding of society, culture, and one's self. And in my life, particularly, The Simpsons was a huge part of my childhood. While only now can I truly observe, understand and articulate the political and cultural messages of such a progressive show, those messages were no doubt at work on my young mind. Personally, I think I was very lucky to have Lisa in my life growing up. She is one of the few truly empowered female figures available to young girls today. We should all be a little bit more like Lisa.

Dream Job

Recently I've been coming across a lot of articles and information about women and the economy, women in the work force, gender and career, etc. This, paired with my own imminent expulsion into adulthood and the job market, has prompted a lot of thought about my ultimate career. Teaching at the college level, doing research and writing, giving time and energy to the development of women's organizations, even becoming a professional blogger appealed to me. But what if I was financially secure, somehow set for life and supporting a family (i.e., money) was not the object of a career? If that were the case, I would certainly be a femivore.

I stole the term from a recent New York Times Magazine article about a subculture of women in the Berkeley area that maintain vegetable gardens, raise small livestock such as chickens and rabbits, make their family's soap and sew their family's clothes. They make all of their meals from scratch and learn about herbal remedies for their family's ailments. They provide a holistic life of healthy, sustainable habits for their families, their communities, and themselves.

The femivore uses her autonomy and intelligence to refuse specific commodities, whether they are unhealthy, unethical, or unfulfilling, and to rely on her own strenghts and capabilities to provide for her family. She reduces her family's carbon footprint and increases their health and well-being. She shows her love for her family, whatever form that family takes, through her nurturing, careful, and conscious actions.

The femivore is also a political activist, but on the microlevel. Not only does she utilize her agency within the process of sustaining the family the unit, but through community outreach, including volunteer work, political service and any act that serves to produce a more safe, welcoming, and supportive community. Whether I end up performing this last function through contributing to scholarly articles, volunteering at a women's shelter, or providing free or low-cost child care in my neighborhood, I am still performing feminist works. And if I can perform these feminist works through the betterment of my husband's, my children's, and my own lives, then I would ultimately choose that route.

In the meantime, I still have to pay the bills, and I would like to pay those bills with money that I earn doing what I love. I'm in the midst of researching for graduate programs and I'm enjoying considering careers in development for a women's organizations or doing research for a book. Or maybe campaigning to put women's studies into high school curricula. While economic realities will more than likely force both my husband and myself into the work force, thwarting my hippie feminist homemaker daydream, at least I will be able to say that I'm doing as much good as possible.

PinkStinks

A friend sent me a link the other day, and I couldn't believe how closely this organization's goal is to my own in my own senior thesis. As I explored their site, read about the women that created it, their mission statement, their role model of the month, and spent way too much time perusing their list of press links about their cause, I completely fell in love with Pinkstinks. They describe themselves as " a campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls' lives."

You can read all about them on their own website--I don't need to do any more copying and pasting, I think. Anyways, I think it's wonderful that there is a real movement like this on behalf of girls everywhere. They highlight people, including kids, that are making a difference--like Ebba and Phillipe who promoted awareness of a sexist Toys "R" Us Christmas catalog and created a real discussion with the giant company that now plans to produce a more gender neutral catalog.

What a positive and inspiring group. I look forward to following their progress and doing my part to contribute to Pinkstinks and bring awareness of the group to the US.

Senior Thesis

I am currently a few weeks away from completing an undergraduate degree in Cultural Studies. I am knee-deep in my senior thesis, right now, entitled "Beneath the Backpack: Uncovering Sexism and Gender Reinforcement in Dora the Explorer". Here is the preliminary abstract:

This research project analyzes the popular preschool television program Dora the Explorer and its marketed brand, including toys and furniture, in order to better understand the gender roles that Dora reinforces. By using third wave feminist media theory as well as semiotic analysis, this project uncovers the contradictory representations of Dora as empowered female role model as well as subjugated feminine subject and examines how the marketed Dora brand resolves this contradiction by favoring the traditional, passive and subjugated feminine role, reinforcing sexist attitudes beneath the progressive, popular feminist appearance of the show.

Whew. I know that's a lot, and it needs to be ironed out. All in all, I want to show how the Dora the Explorer presents an apparently positive role model for active and empowered young girls, but actually undermines Dora's power and agency within the show and further reinforces this message of subjugated and passive Dora through the marketed brand of toys and furniture which is centered around glamour, beauty, popularity, sexuality and caregiving. I'm in the process of moving from rough to final drafts, so I'm going pretty crazy, as you can imagine. The messages that we send to young girls and boys, whether subtle and subliminal or overt and obnoxious, severely limit the scope of "appropriate" behaviors and experiences for children, stifling their creativity and individuality. Girls especially are prone to negative messages from their favorite television characters and their toys because they are the marginalized and oppressed gender. I think it is important to be aware of the messages, intended or otherwise, of children's media and how they shape notions of gender identity.

More to come as the paper gets closer to publication.

The Point

The goals of this blog:

1. Critically analyze cultural images and productions in order to reveal the underlying heirarchical and patriarchal tropes that marginalize and oppress women as well as other minority groups.

2. Celebrate femininity, while being aware of the ways society uses femininity to limit, silence, and oppress women, in order to more actively express our chosen gender in an empowered way.

3. Provide information and access to other women, men and organizations that promote feminist and humanist ideals.

4. Generally rage against, rave about and relish in the things that make us human.

I hope to provide my readers with opinions, thoughts, and information that is not only thought-provoking, but conversation-starting. I want to create dialogues that inspire people to act on their curiosity, to learn, to educate themselves, to make informed decisions, and to begin conversations with others. The Feminine Dialectic should be a comfortable, safe, inviting place to share open-minded thoughts and informed opinions with others on the subtleties (and not-so-subtleties) of our society as well as share personal stories, anecdotes and beliefs about what it means to be a woman.

Oh, and I have no aversions to making fun of ourselves at every possible chance.