Song- Run the World Girls by Beyonce

Run the World (Girls) is a song recorded by Beyonce Knowles and was released in 2011 as a single from her 4th studio album, 4. In the song Beyonce talks about women empowerment. In the video Beyonce portrays a feminine appearance but also shows masculine in personality as she states ” Girls we run this mother”. To indicate women run the world.Showing that women have power. In the song she states ” “My persuasion can build a nation.Endless power our love we  can devour. You’ll do anything for me.” Power is normally known as a masculine trait. But then she talks about women being able to have children and go right back to work when she says “strong enough to bear the children then get back to bidness”. That shows the utmost power and strength to me. Not only can woman do a man’s job we can also have our jobs as women to raise and provide for our families.

In this song she also shows the cutthroat ambition business women. When she states “I’m reping for the girls that’s Taking over the world Help me raise a glass for the college grads.” and “I work my nine to five, better cut my check! This goes out to all the women Getting it in you on your grind” and “This goes out to all my girls That’s in the club rocking the latest”. She is talking about how business women are dedicated and work hard to get what they want and how they care about their appearance.

Business Women also have to have masculine traits such as interruption and directness in this song Beyonce demands respect and is very straight forward about what she expects. If you listen to the song she states “Disrespect us, no they won’t.Boy, don’t even try to touch me.”, “To other men that respect What I do please accept my shine.” and “Boy you know you love it How we smart enough to make these millions.” In the business world if a woman is making more than a man they kinda feel shut down and get jealous of the woman. This is what she is talking about making millions and how men have to respect and accept her hustle.I think this is a great woman empowerment song. It shows that woman can play both roles and that they work very hard to get what they want.

 

blog post 4- children’s toy

How do sexism and gender socialization start? Well, let’s look at children’s toy and childhood in general. Gender socialization is the learned behavior and attitudes considered appropriate for a given sex. Toys teach us many things. It teaches us how: to play, to share, and how we’re supposed to act. So you can’t help but see the in the intersectionality between children’s toy, gender socialization and women being under represented. But there can negative backlash on how toys tell us how we’re supposed to act or be. Take a look at the giant toy seller’s sell’s ad’s boys get “building sets” and “learning”, while girls get “pretend play” and “beauty, bath and accessories.”

The essence of nearly every Disney film is that a woman needs saving from a troubled life preferably by a man from a superior social or economic class. Barbie is an unrealistic, unhealthy, insulting representation of the female appearance and what’. And even Lego’s default characters are male; its scientists are men, its lady scientists are no longer available, while a Lego line geared toward girls leans heavily on pet care and shopping malls.

So if you wonder why women are still surprisingly underrepresented in the U.S. Congress, on the boards of Fortune 500 companies, in science, math, engineering and technology in any area that could remotely be identified as “the upper echelons of power” in 2018. Well, it starts in the toy aisle.

 

Apparently, the creators of this toy think girls are better suited to sticking with hair and nails, while the boys should be left to the tougher job of figuring out the human body.

There’s nothing wrong with a girl who likes to do her nails or style her hair, but toys like this seem to be pushing girls toward those types of interests. Women and men can be in the same careers. I personally know more male hairstylists and most of the doctors I’ve had wereIf your little girl has aspirations of being a doctor, we say let your her perform as many check-ups as she wants.

Seinfeld Episode- ‘The Shoes’

Seinfeld was a 90’s sitcom that became a 90’s classic and a staple in pop culture. It literally a show about nothing. The episode ‘The Shoes’ is the 16th episode of the 4th season and was first aired on February 4, 1993.

In this episode Jerry and George struggle to keep NBC interested in their show (about nothing). Kramer tells Jerry that he met Jerry’s ex, Gail Cunningham (Anita Barone). Gail confronts Jerry at Monk’s Café over Kramer’s behavior. Elaine is wearing a pair of shoes from Botticelli, and feels embarrassed when Gail makes a big deal over it.

Kramer tells Jerry that he encountered Gail again, and ended up kissing her. After Kramer tells Elaine that Gail told him about Elaine’s shoes, she confronts Gail at the restaurant where she is a chef. Elaine, who is coming down with the flu, sneezes on a plate of pasta that is then served to NBC executive Russell Dalrymple (Bob Balaban).

Jerry and George finish writing their script and meet Russell at his apartment home, but Russell suddenly takes leave of them when he becomes violently ill with the stomach flu. Russell’s 15-year-old daughter (Denise Richards) arrives, and Russell catches George staring at the girl’s cleavage; he sends them away without providing any input on the script. Jerry and George decide that the best way to relieve Russell’s anger would be to demonstrate their point-of-view by setting him up to stare at Elaine’s cleavage. Gail agrees to inform Jerry when Russell dines at her restaurant again, on the condition that Elaine give her the Botticelli shoes. Elaine wears a low-cut dress to the restaurant and Russell stares at her cleavage; he confesses to Jerry and George that a man will stare at cleavage that enters his field of vision.

So before I get to the main point lets acknowledge Russel’s daughter, portrayed by Denise Richards. In the episode she’s supposed to be 15 years old. 15 years old. George not being able to ‘control’ himself and just has to stare and breasts/cleavage no matter who it is. And I guess for George, no matter the age. Sexualizing a 15 year old is just legally and morally wrong. Next this episode is a prime example of caveman masculinity. Caveman masculinity is the theory that men can control themselves around women and if a women is showing herself in any sexual or non-sexual way for some, then men almost have a right to stare or want to have sex with them. Caveman masculinity is a very disgusting way to view masculinity and within that masculinity is a disgusting way to view women. Women are not only good for their bodies and to think that way is just ignorant and misogynistic.

The Headless Woman

So I don’t know if anyone else has noticed but in a bunch of ads there is a woman who is not showing her face. Like at all or just her lips. You see it in: clothing ads, fast food ads, some beer ads and movie posters. Now why is this so? Before we think about just misogynistic men that feel that women aren’t worthy or pretty enough and feel that they have all the rights to sexualize and dehumanize them, lets discuss monetary reasons. Now in terms of  clothing ads, fast food ads and even some beer ads, modeling agencies charge less if the model isn’t recognizable. Which is wrong, many ways, women already get payed less. But doing this just increasing the pay gap. Now I’m already very aware of the pay gap between male and female actors, so I would imagine that the same ideology about paying women less fir not showing their face applies to But movie ads are even worse in almost all movie posters contain an almost naked front side or almost naked back side. It’s somewhat surprising how the standard practice of fragmenting, fetishizing and dehumanizing the images of women we see in film, TV, book covers, and advertisement is still a thing. My case in point the movie Confidence. The four main characters: Edward Burns, Andy Garcia, Dustin Hoffman, and Rachel Weisz.

 

Even in a movie about women’s baseball, A League of Their Own. Including Madonna, Lori Petty, and Rosie O’Donnell, you would think that the movie poster would include any of their faces but no, just some random woman (rumored to be Madonna’s legs but was never confirmed) legs in a sexy pose holding a baseball bat.

But at least a movie about a female superhero with a female director would show the main characters face at least? Right? Nope, manly body and half of a face.

The image of the headless women in Hollywood is not an single example is a conscious sexist act. But the casual dehumanisation of female characters is so socially deep seeded that this  could exist so long without comment. Until we see the end of the faceless female, Hollywood and everyone else needs to speak up about this issue.

Sexism in Fast and Furious franchise

The Fast and Furious series is Universal Studios biggest movie franchise of all time and currently the sixth-highest-grossing film series of all time, with a combined gross of over $5 billion. Despite grossing that much money and having rave reviews, the casting hasn’t had too many women in their total cast. The series itself has only had 11 total women in the entire cast for all 8 movie. Including: Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Eva Mendes, Devon Aoki, Nathalie Kelley, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky, Nathalie Emmanuel, Charlize Theron and Helen Mirren. The only females that haven’t been killed off, have their character retired or were outside of the main cast are Michelle Rodriguez and Nathalie Emmanuel. The lack of women, centralization of cars and sexualization of cars officially deems this series a ‘man’s movie, a movie showing the manliness of manliness. For example: Dirty Harry, The Outsiders and First Blood(Rambo) are deemed manly movies. (And these movies were deem by this site: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/100-must-see-movies/. In an article titled: 100 Must See Movies: The Essential Men’s Movie Library) The series has worked hard to keep the male gaze utilizing only 2 things: pretty women and fast cars. Working hard to ensure the male gaze is key to blockbuster film-making, and the only thing the films fetishize more than cars is women. They’re shot with the exact same suspicious lens, with close-ups lingering over the women body/car as male characters lick their lips in a awe of some sorts. Wether fast cars or fast women, it’s all the same to them. Every film ends with a near-identical montage of random bikini-clad woman displayed alongside or behind our heroes’ beloved cars. At the end of the day, they’re both just trophies.

Even in the movie posters, the women, at least the ones in the main cast, aren’t in front or on top. (I know its blurry but I needed to enlarge it)

Now I can judge since this movie series is literally my favorite movies ever, but they definitely need to start adding more female characters with real story lines. Even Michelle Rodriguez, who has been the longest lasting female character spoke up about the lack of female characters and threatened to leave if they don’t at least plan to add more dynamic and strong female leads.

“F8 is out digitally today, I hope they decide to show some love to the women of the franchise on the next one, Or I just might have to say goodbye to a loved franchise. It’s been a good ride & Im grateful for the opportunity the fans & studio have provided over the years… One Love.” – Michelle Rodriguez Instagram post from June 27th, 2017.

“I’ve been making movies with Jordana [Brewster], who plays the sister of Dom Toretto for 16 years and I can count on one hand how many lines I’ve had to her,” said the actress. “I think that’s pathetic and it’s lack of creativity.” – Michelle Rodriguez in an interview with Entertainment Weekly

And because of my knowledge of the movies I can literally name each reason why each female character was not permanent in the franchise. (F1)- First movie in Fast and Furious franchise and so on….

Michelle Rodriguez (Letty) (F1, F4, F6-F8)- Still currently in movie franchise.

Jordana Brewster (Mia)(F1, F4, F6, F7)- Had her character retired after Paul Walker passed away (her character was dating Paul Walkers’ character (Brian)). But according to on of the producers, Vin Diesel, confirmed that her character will make a return in the 9th film.

Eva Mendes (Customs Agent Monica Fuentes)(F2, F5)- Her character was treated like a stereotypical Latina: having a curvy body, always some male characters trophy of some sort and wearing tight, revealing clothing. Not necessarily relevant to storyline since the Paul Walkers’ character (Brian) stopped cooperating the law enforcement after the second film.

Devon Aoki (Suki) (F2)- was a friend of the Brian’s friend Tej Parker (rapper Ludacris), but was a racer, so I don’t see why if Ludacris was in future films then why couldn’t she?

Nathalie Kelley (Neela)(F3, F7(cameo))- Her character was not featured as a driver or had anything to do with cars. Literally the main character and the protagonist were fighting over her.

Gal Gadot (Gisele)(F4-F6)- Also a racer, yet had her body compared to a car in just the second scene she was in with speaking lines. She was killed off/sacrificed herself in the 6th film to save her boyfriend.

Elsa Pataky (Elena)(F5, F6, F8)- Her character was a cop and ended up getting romantically involved with the protagonist, Vin Diesel’s character Dominic Toretto and had a child by him (who Vin Diesel character named Brian, as a tribute to Paul Walker and his character). Was killed by the antagonist (Charlize Theron) in the 8th film.

Nathalie Emmanuel (Ramsey)(F7, F8)- Still currently in movie franchise, but I don’t know why the ‘traditional Bond-girl bikini slow motion walk scene’ was needed for her character since she was supposed to be portrayed as a ‘hacker’ type.

Charlize Theron (Cipher) (F8)- Still currently in movie franchise. Because she’s the antagonist and she wasn’t killed in the 8th film we don’t know if she’ll make an appearance in the 9th film.

Helen Mirren (Magdalene)(F8)- Still currently in movie franchise. Plays the mother of the ex-antagonists from F6 and F7. (They’re brothers)

This just shows that most if not all had a strong input to this franchise and deserved more than a cameo or a killing off of their character. Despite my love for these movies, Michelle is right. There definitely needs to be more diversity in terms of adding more dynamic female characters with actual storylines.