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Impact Of Media
Societal norms and gender stereotypes
The importance of media representation
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“When I was young I never needed anyone/ And making love was just for fun/ Those days are gone/ Living alone/ I think of all the friends I’ve known/ When I dial the telephone/ Nobody’s home/ All by myself/ Don’t wanna be/ All by myself/ Anymore.” As Eric Carmen spoke out the monologue of the Bridget Jones in the film Bridget Jones’s Dairy, unmarried 30s women, no matter how good they perform in their jobs, how successful they are, how comfortable and enjoyable their life are, feel insecure and obscure as they don’t have male spouses to rely on. In addition, Japanese writer Sakai Junko’s novel The Lost Lady, television series My Queen in Taiwan, and Women Should Get Married on Coming of Age in China, all focus on the unmarried 30s women’s life situation and dilemma, attracting concerns as well as attentions from society; moreover, mainstream media overreact and keep emphasizing the negative consequence of being single. However, I am in favor of the hot television series in America Sexy and City which motivates the women around the world never give in and limit personal choices due to age and surroundings but seek for true love and independence by showing the life adventure of heroines in their 40s in New York city. Even though this series also had a cliché ending that all characters harbor a warm family life, neither getting married or stay in stable relationship, which bring deep thoughts. How could the classic pop culture masterpiece final give in to the mainstream social values? I am arguing this kind of ideology that use “lost lady” or “leftover women” to describe educated unmarried females over 30 years old presenting on the media is narrow and stand for the masculine-dominated ideas. More or less, however, this phenomenon ref...
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... annoyed them to great degree. They used 3S women to describe the first generation of the modern women: Single, Seventies (the first group of lost lady were born in 1970s), Stuck (to laugh at them being stuck in relationship). It is totally unfair and unreasonable to use this label underplaying the independent feminist only due to females threaten to masculinity-dominated world. Being jealous and uneven to evaluate the huge leap made by female is a reflection of snobbish masculinity and has no positive impact on the development process of human being. On the other hand, this negative and unfair label can be considered as compliments or rewards of women’s efforts in the last few decades of fighting for a better life. But the ridiculous expressions in this book show the dominant idea is deep-rooted in people’s mind and female still have a long way to go in the future.
It amazes me how a few decades ago can seem like a whole different world. A course of time can impact our lives more than we know it. In the article, A Day Without Feminism by Jennifer Boumgoidnei and Amy Richntds, both of these authors created this piece to inform their audience that although women have gained more rights over time, there was still more progress to be made. These authors gave many examples of how life for women had been, the obstacles they had to overcome, and the laws women had to break for equality.
Of all the literary lenses, one would not think that feminism would be a prevalent topic in a war novel. In Tim O’Brien’s iconic book, The Things They Carried, the idea that women were just as important as men acts an important theme, however from a different perspective. Movies and epic war stories tell of the heroic actions of the World’s finest: bulky men with an appetite for battle. Yet, there always lied a backbone. Comfort, inspiration, ease, all things that women provided to soldiers during any war. Yet, sometimes things did not go as planned and rash actions were made. O’Brien’s masterful use of lenses creates an interesting novel, one that will stand the test of time, however, the aspects of the feminist lens provides much insight into the inner lying meanings of the book, mostly in the areas of characters, objects of importance, and the role of gender in the Vietnam War.
The growth of one woman interferes with one man’s idea of being able to conquer Woman. The two main characters of the book Ladies’ Paradise named Denise and Mouret have a unique sense of love, if it really even is “love.” She is very shy and unattainable while he is charismatic and lives a greatly successful life. Her unordinary attitude creeps into Mouret’s mind, causing him to desire her at an extreme amount. Mouret is not able to conquer Denise in the same way that he does women in his department store which defeats his conquest of Woman. The idea of feminism is prominent throughout the novel since Denise is such an independent character and does not give into Mouret’s power immediately. She briefly gives Mouret a new set of eyes, allowing
The origins of Third Wave feminism are highly debated, as there is no clear commonality that this wave uses to differentiate between the First and Second waves that occurred prior. Emerging during the 1990’s, Third Wave feminism sought to build upon the achievements and ideas that were accomplished during First and Second wave’s, by increasing the significance and accessibility of its ideas to a greater spectrum of people.
Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone With the Wind, a classic that gives insight into the Confederate lifestyle before and after the Civil War, is known as one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story centers around a former Southern belle named Scarlett O’Hara who grows up in the heart of Georgia on her plantation named Tara. Scarlett doesn’t care about anything or anyone except for her lover, Ashley Wilkes, and finds herself heartbroken when he marries his plain Jane cousin, Melanie Hamilton. As the Yankees get closer and closer to her beloved home, destroying everything she’s ever known and forcing her to flee to Atlanta, Scarlett finds herself forced to fight for what she loves. Though
Today, love, sex and romance are three main topics that presented in media as main themes discuss in contemporary popular culture. Social media is important in shaping audience value about feminism through the framework of contemporary media like films, magazines, plays, advertisements, TV shows, graphic novels, etc. The television show “Sex and the City” incorporates “pop feminism” that influences many lives of women. Sex and the City is originally talking about four single thirty-something women living in Manhattan. They are coming to New York in order to seek “love and labels” (Sex and the City). The main theme of Sex and the City is concentrating on contemporary American woman’s conception of sex, love, and romance. As we learned from lecture, sex, love, and romance have a history; they are different in different cultures; they are shaped by gender, class, race, ethnicity, nation, ability, and other differences (Lecture Notes). Sex and the City is focusing on modern American woman’s experiences and their thinks with sex, love, and romance. The four main women characters in Sex and the City represent diversity of gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, age, able-bodiedness through their different experience and expectations of their life (Lecture Notes). Sex and the City represents that the feminism notions of sex, love, and romance are socially constructed, and this social construction of sex, love and romance are featured in these female characters’ personalities.
Through their bravery and hope, Mariam and Laila demonstrated what little rights women had in Afghanistan, between the 1960s and 2000s. Men in Afghanistan treated women horribly and showed them absolutely no respect. Mariam and Laila were two great examples of the many women that were fighting for their rights. They were fed up with the constant abuse. They could not stand being treated like dogs anymore. So one day they stood up to their husband and fought back for once. This is great example of two strong female roles. The book A Thousand Splendid Suns demonstrates the courage and strength some women gained from the harsh treatment. This book might encourage other women to stand up for what they believe in and not just sit around and watch. Mariam and Laila were not going to let people stomp on their faces. They stood up for themselves in hope for freedom and equality. After all that they had fought for, it soon paid off when they killed Rasheed, the husband, and were finally free from him.
HBO's Sex and the City has become a cultural icon in its 6 seasons of running. Based on Candace Bushnell's racy book Sex and the City, the show exhibits an unprecedented example of the sexual prowess of women over the age of 35. The result is an immense viewing audience and an evolving view on the "old maid" stigma that a woman's chances of finding love are significantly reduced after thirty-five. In this paper, we will closely analyze the characters and themes of Sex and the City to explain the significance of what the show represents in American culture.
Pretty Woman is a modern take on the classic Cinderella story where a poor misguided girl meets her prince and her life is dramatically changed. This film has fairy tale elements, but the biggest element in the movie is the use of sex; Vivian, the main character, is a prostitute. She meets her “prince” and is swept off of her feet, but what this really means is that she is bought for an entire week by a handsome, wealthy business man. One would assume that he was buying her for sex, but this is not your average prostitute transaction. This movie has a lot of third wave feminism ideals. Third wave feminism deals with using the female gender and sexuality to further the cause and portray their views. The ultimate goal of this paper is to show that Vivian Ward (portrayed by Julia Roberts), is the poster girl for third wave feminism.
Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, explains the mind set of society in the 1960s. She writes that the women of the ‘60s were identified only as creatures looking for “sex, babies, and home” (Friedan 36). She goes on to say “The only passion, the only pursuit, the only goal a woman [was] permitted [was] the pursuit of a man” (Friedan 36). This mind set, this “feminine mystique,” is clearly shown throughout the show Mad Men. The side effect of the feminine mystique hurt all the women of this time. Matthew Weiner shows how this conception of the “ideal woman” hurt all of his lead women. The consequences are shown in the two women who bought into the idea, Betty and Joan, and the one who re...
The Scarlet Letter can easily be seen as an early feminist piece of work. Nathaniel Hawthorne created a story that exemplifies Hester as a strong female character living with her choices, whether they were good or bad, and also as the protagonist. He also presents the daughter of Hester, Pearl, as an intelligent female, especially for her age. He goes on to prove man as imperfect through both the characters of Dimmesdale and of Chillingworth. With the situation that all the characters face, Hawthorne establishes the female as the triumphant one, accomplishing something that, during Nathaniel Hawthorne’s time, authors did not attempt.
The Broke Female The 60’s was certainly a time of women’s curiosity and venture outside of the norm “homemaker” role. Women not only found pleasure in the world, but in themselves as a whole and as a woman. Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown played an important role here as her intent was to guide women - or more specifically the single woman - in her pursuit of independence and pleasure. Sex and the Single Girl most definitely lead the readers on to believe that it was to empower women; even to break away from the norm and advocate the unattached female. My response will focus on the contradictory nature the guidebook, and other literature like Cosmopolitan, create when advising a woman to do and be something on the one hand while having an underlying message on the other.
Women embedded with the Sisterhood wave revolted against their once confined roles to embrace themselves as intelligent, sexual, and powerful creatures of God. These were the warriors of femininity: the ones willing to lay it all on the line to feel a sense of liberation as a female community. Theses women become so frustrating with the conditioning of their bodies to be docile they ended up dooming themselves to their own inwardness. Third wave feminism is rooted in the variety of women as equals to all genders. I identify this as the Coequal wave. Woman are not placing themselves on a higher elevated scale than men but to simply be accepted as equals no matter what race, nationality, or gender differences (149-150). These three waves are still alive and thriving in our world today, however, they are far from working in a cohesive manner in a patriarchal society. Theorist Simone De Beauvoir writes in her manifesto “The Second Sex”, “Men need not bother themselves with alleviating the pains and the burdens that physiologically are women’s lot, since these are “intended by Nature”
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.
In just a few decades The Women’s Liberation Movement has changed typical gender roles that once were never challenged or questioned. As women, those of us who identified as feminist have rebelled against the status quo and redefined what it means to be a strong and powerful woman. But at...