Miss Representation Gender Roles

When asking the question, “What are the differences between men and women?” what things come into mind? When asking friends what their thoughts were they stated things such as men are stronger, women are weaker, men are bigger, women are smaller, men make more money, etc. Due to the obvious assumptions that people have been making for centuries it is thought by some Americans that males are the dominant sex. Before watching Miss Representation I had always gotten so upset at certain men for the way they treated women or the things they would say to them. After this film I realized that their actions might have stemmed from “rules” that they were taught an early age; those rules being the rules of masculinity. After reviewing the rules it finally clicked to me why

Men who feel they have to follow these four rules have points to prove and expectations to fill. How often do we hear of young boys getting bullied for not being manly enough (Although I am not sure how manly a boy in first grade is suppose to be), or getting judged and hassled by others, even family members, for showing emotion. Although more accepted now than in the past because of boys that identify as gay or transgendered, it is still very rare that you see a male disobeying these so called rules.
It is no secret that there is an obvious difference of how women are portrayed in the media versus men. This movie discussed female characters never having lead roles and stated that when they did it ended in the women depending on, loving, or having to have a man. One young high school girl said, “Women never play the protagonist. The girls are