Analysis of Gender Roles and Feminism through an Episode of the Big Bang Theory

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Speaking of a media text that has made a significantly negative impression on me, it would spontaneously have let me think of the scenarios occurred in the famous comedy series - “The Big Bang Theory” - episode twenty in Season Six (see “The Big Bang Theory - The Tenure Turbulence”, 2013) . The episode tells the story about Sheldon, Leonard and Rajesh in order to gain competitive advantages for winning the tenure position, spare no effort to schmooze with committee members who make the decision. Leonard expects his girlfriend Penny to flirting with the male members in the committee to further his own cause, while Penny voluntarily decided to seduce the committee men for assisting her boyfriend. Sheldon asks Amy - his girlfriend - for to show breasts out to seduce the committee members as well. Rajesh criticizes them should be ashamed of using women to advance their cause with sexuality, meanwhile insinuates Amy has no sexuality to exploit. Sheldon humiliates Rajesh back by taking dirty jokes of Rajesh’s mother like a prostitute. Not surprisingly Rajesh then looks enraged about Sheldon's words and deeds, Leonard at this time decides to quit the competition to avoid losing their friendship of years over the tenure (“The Big Bang Theory - The Tenure Turbulence”, 2013). Understandably, in the eyes of men, the women who use their seductive flesh and beauty to obtain material benefits will be treated as cheap and lacking of self-respect, even most men might satisfy their sexual desires from those women. However, if turn attention to Penny and Amy, two ladies both want to support their boyfriends - Penny voluntarily decided to show her sexy body to seduce the men in the committee, she doesn't feel ashamed about her seduction behavior... ... middle of paper ... ...”, in Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis, edited by Lia Litosseliti and Jane Sunderland, 2002, John Benjamins Publishing Company, UK. Ruggerone, L 2008, “Bodies between genders: in search of new forms of identity”, in Gender Identities In A Globalized World, 2008, edited by Ana Marta Gonazález and Victor J. Seidler, Seidman, S 1991, “The sexualisation of love”, Romantic Longings, New York: Routledge. Sunderland, J & Litosseliti, L 2002, “Gender identity and discourse analysis: theoretical and empirical considerations”, in Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis, edited by Lia Litosseliti and Jane Sunderland, 2002, John Benjamins Publishing Company, UK. “The Big Bang Theory - The Tenure Turbulence”, The Big Bang Theory Season 6 episode 20, YouTube, published on April 6, 2013, viewed on September 9, 2013, retrieved from .

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