There’s been a lot of talk about Amazon Prime Video’s adaptation of the classic fairytale Cinderella. Cinderella has been a tale that has captured the hearts of children and adults alike for 70 years since Walt Disney’s animated feature in 1950. But the character of Cinderella has always been vague. And the message that Prince Charming will find her, take her away and they lived happily ever after, isn’t without its plot holes. However, no one really questions it because of its status of being a classic timeless fairytale. 

But in recent years, the idea of the timeless classic princess has faded and audiences now want strong female leads that could be amazing role models for young children everywhere. So why is this new live-action Cinderella getting so much hate?

This new Cinderella challenges many patriarchal ideals that are portrayed in the original film. It shows the many different layers to women and men. The movie is packed with demonstrations of independence, ambition, ideas of marriage. We learn more about the context of women and the role they play in the story. 

The theme of women’s rights and independence is central in the film. We see many new female characters in the film like Queen Beatrice and Princess Gwen, the wife, and daughter of the King. And the film expands on the characters already known to us like Ella (Cinderella) and Vivian (Stepmother). Each woman leads such a different life than the next but they all share one common struggle, they are women. All the same basis and stereotypes about women that society has in the real world apply to this fairytale universe. 

Even though they are royalty the Queen and Princess are faced with the same challenges as the common women. I would dare to say that their struggles are exacerbated because of their royal status. Queen Beatrice is the wife of the King and for most of the movie, she struggles being heard on matters of any kind, even ones involving her children. But because she is the Queen she is the example that is set of all other women in her kingdom and in my opinion is the one most trapped by the standards and expectations of women. Princess Gwen wants to rule the kingdom and progress it for all people living there not just for royalty and nobility. But the King thinks she is unfit to rule because she’s a woman and for most of the film tries to force Prince Robert (Prince Charming) to marry and take the crown. The audience can clearly see that Princess Gwen is more fit to rule than her brother who even admits to Ella that the only qualification he has to be King is that his dad was King and it’s a terrible system.

Marriage is another huge theme in the film and once again is related to the real-world struggles of women. Marriage in the film, is more than a symbolic union of two people in love, in fact, it’s the opposite. Marriage is a means of survival for women because they are unable to provide for themselves in any other way. Vivian, the widowed stepmother of Ella, works tirelessly to prepare her daughters to become wives. A scene that drastically sticks out from the original movie is where Vivian is teaching her own daughters, Malvolia and Narissa, how to do housework in which they respond to “Why are we doing Cinderella work?” Vivian explains to her daughters that they too needed to learn how to do house courses in order to attract a husband wealthy enough to take care of them. This film provided more backstory to Vivian and her first marriage. I think most people assume that her first marriage ended because her first husband died but in fact, her first husband left her because she wasn’t acting like a good wife by pursuing her dreams in music. Which explains so much about Vivian’s character and the way she treats Ella.

Ella is so special in the ways that she is different from her classic counterpart. Ella is bold, daring, outspoken with dreams of being independent. Ella doesn’t want to marry but instead wants to start a seamstress business as a way of supporting herself and her stepfamily. Even when proposed to by the Prince she declines because she wants to do more than wave from a royalty box.

There are so many themes in the Cinderella film by Prime Video including toxic masculinity and queerness but none are as prominent as women’s rights and independence and marriage. This depiction of Cinderella shows her as assertive and bold. Varying differently from the classic domesticated housemaid. She’s an aspiring businesswoman whose endgame isn’t a marriage but happiness in doing what she loves and making a living off of it. This new Cinderella is a modern woman ready to lead her life on her terms without the influence of others. 

Gender is on one hand complicated, and on the other, quite simple. The norms of our world are what makes breaking with gender stereotypes a traumatic experience for many. Although we have heard the phrase “just be yourself,” if your version of your best self does not coincide with the norms of the time, then that advice is sure to lead to ostracization. All people want to feel included, especially in their most intimate communities. Judith Butler’s “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” the author delves deep into the history of societal gender norms; her paper, alongside contemporary examples from popular culture, can show readers how gender norms are not as set in stone as our culture proports them to be.

In Judith Butler’s essay “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory,” the author explains that despite the way gender has historically been linked with one’s birth sex, it has never been a steady identity in and of itself. Instead, gender and the cultural norms surrounding it are perpetuated and evolve through social agents. Butler names a number of these social agents as being language, gesture, and symbolic social signs (Butler, Judith, 519). Gender is not set in stone, but rather is a spectrum. Recently, I have been going through and watching the late Patrick Swayze’s filmography. I believe he was a good example of what Butler was talking about. As a horse rancher and chain-smoking stoic, he fits all of the stereotypical trademarks of manliness. However, he was also a classically trained dancer. During interviews, especially during the press run of the film Dirty Dancing, often talked about how people back home often didn’t understand how a man like him could be into ballet. Funnily enough, they accepted it because he was from such a tough family, and himself, from a very young age, showed a lot of grit and determination. Artists have always been generally progressive on subjects such as gender identity. To make art means breaking down one’s world and critically analyzing the norms in it. Throughout the years, there have been many artists who have exemplified Butler’s feminist theory.

Gender identity is kept rigid in our society because allowing full expression of one’s gender identity means breaking down the norms that govern our entire reality. Butler writes, “One may want to claim, but oh, this is really a girl or a woman, or this is really a boy or a man, and further that the appearance contradicts the reality of gender” (Butler, Judith,527). The musician Arca, who makes an experimental noise-pop and has collaborated with major figures in the music industry such as Kanye West and Lady Gaga, often portrays herself as a non-binary machine in her music videos. Arca said she identifies as a trans woman, going by she/her pronouns, yet in the music, she embraces technology as a metaphor for being off the binary of not only gender but the limits of what can be considered pop music. She plays with images of computers and wires, using them as cultural symbols for both the new age, yet also a sort of soullessness. However, she embraces that lack of emotion not as a hindrance, but rather as a way to transcend one’s humanity, including negative emotions, such as bigotry or self-hatred. Arca does not see herself as succumbing to technology, but rather as an organism adapting around it. This relates to the aforementioned section of Butler’s paper, where she mentions cultural symbols and how they can be picked up by individuals and internalized as part of their identities. Although Butler is specifically referencing gender expression specifically in her writing, I believe her theory could be easily re-contextualized to fit many aspects of one’s personality. The media we consume and our aesthetic interests often define us to one extent or another. For an artist as forward-thinking as Arca, for example, her futurist beliefs are directly intertwined with her gender identity. While for a man such as Patrick Swayze, dancing was his way of balancing out the rigid and traditionally macho lifestyle, as well as a way to connect to his mother; yet most people are still struck by how easily he was able to channel feminine energy during his romantic films, which is what made him such a star in Hollywood. This shows how gender expression, in addition to social variables such as language and symbols, can also be adopted simply through one’s relationship with technology, family, or any number of outside influences.

Butler concludes that deviations from the performance of gender often lead to ridicule. She compares gender to a theatrical stage here by mentioning how theatrical performances can be met with censorship, bad criticism, or even violence (Butler, Judith, 527). This definitely parallels the experience that many trans people have when coming out. Although the concept of being trans has been normalized a bit since it first hit the public discussion, there are still many places in the United States and abroad where stepping out in one’s desired gender expression can mean retaliation. This risk doubles for marginalized communities. Unlike artists like Arca, who have the privilege of wealth, people in a poor socioeconomic position are incredibly at severe risk of being victimized. Seeing gender as a performance and making that the norm would give a lot of people a lot of emotional freedom since it would allow them to try things they had always wanted to do, yet we’re afraid of being ridiculed over.

Gender should, by the end of this paper, feel much more complicated than it appears at first. For one, the intersections between race and gender are evident. Artists of a certain caliber are allowed to express themselves openly because they have the favor of the public behind them. Individuals without public support are always living in fear of whether to live authentically or to conform in order to avoid any backlash. Looking at Butler’s essay, in conjunction with how artists of an elite economic hierarchy express themselves, shows how economics, as with anything else in our hyper-capitalist society, is intertwined with gender.

WORK CITED

Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

Imagine being stuck in a time loop where you are persistently vouching for the rejection of old traditions pertaining to gender stereotypes and Western ideologies. But, always in the end the men with institutional power rise above your words and have an inconceivable amount of influence over society. No matter how much you chant, talk or fight, you always lose. Gender stereotypes have been deeply ingrained into human beings consciously and unconsciously. And to be honest, how do the men with institutional power even have this much control over society? The answer is with media and capitalism. We as a society consume mass amounts of media and live in a capitalistic economy that fuels off of our consumption and purchase of products. Of course it is fused with unconscious subliminals and a dash of the yearn to control women. Consequently, gender stereotypes are further encouraged by media and capitalism.

There are various forms of media used to control the influence of gender stereotypes but film is a visual story-teller that encourages unconscious ideologies like no other. Naomi Wolf explains it best in her text “The Beauty Myth”. It states, “The resulting hallucination materializes, for women, as something all too real. No longer just an idea, it becomes three-dimensional, incorporating within itself how women live and how they do not live: It becomes the Iron Maiden. The original Iron Maiden was a medieval German instrument of torture, a body-shaped casket painted with the limbs and features of a lovely, smiling young woman” (Wolf 3). The women that do not meet the standards of what it means to be a woman are subject to punishment. They will not find love because no one wants them to bear their child and they will be shunned from society. It is exactly like being placed in the Iron Maiden forced to conform to what society wants you to be while you live unhappily. A perfect example of this is in the feminist horror film Jennifer’s Body which challenges the false ideologies set in place for what categorizes as femininity and addresses women’s rights in a frightening way. 

Jennifer defies the gender stereotypes set in stone for femininity or I would say, uses it to her advantage. As the monstrous feminine Jennifer lures in her male victims through oozing sex appeal, scares them and disembowels them. She feeds on their organs but is fueled by their fear. Jennifer is the complete opposite of what would be categorized as feminine traits, she is aggressive, dominant and independent and as a result she is rejected. This film takes the ideologies set in stone for female sexual identity and the generic stereotypes with the goal to encourage women to realize mens fears is women that can inflict the pain they do. 

Although Jennifer was visibly not conforming to the ideologies set in stone for women and was rejected, the women that strived to be the perfect housewives were also rejected and and even unseen. For example it states in the text “Women, Race and Class” written by Angel Davis, “(The woman) has been isolated in the home, forced to carry out work that is considered unskilled…Her role in the cycle of production remained invisible because only the product of her labor, the laborer, was visible” (Davis 233). It is clear that the women will always deal with the short end of the stick because nothing we do is ever perfect. Even being the perfect housewife that fends off the fear that she is letting life escape her while she is chained to her home is not enough. Being a full time parent is not enough. But women are still influenced by these stereotypes and forced to fulfill them.

In addition, gender stereotypes are further controlled by capitalism. For example in the text, “Women, Race and Class” by Angela Davis, states, “The “housewife” reflected a partial reality, for she was really a symbol of the economic prosperity enjoyed by the emerging working classes” (Davis 229). As a result of the house wife being the symbol of economic prosperity it added another layer of what it meant to be the perfect housewife and that was spending money excessively. Although women were forced to fit the mold of what it meant to be a housewife or else their motherhood was at stake, they were now seen as what Seccombe states “the housewife has tremendous ‘purchasing power’ and that her ‘changing tastes’ affect the market place dramatically, they portray housewives as superficial social parasites, consuming but never producing” (Seccombe 1).

I have come to the conclusion that it is not about us women being enough. We can conform to gender stereotypes and blindly abide to Western ideologies unconsciously or consciously. But men will still yearn to have control and I am willing to fight for a change. Overall, gender stereotypes are further controlled by media and capitalism.

References:

¹1. Angela Y. Davis. “Women, Race and Class”.²

³2. Wally Seccombe. “The Housewife and Her Labour Under Capitalism”.⁴

⁵2. Naomi Wolf. “The Beauty Myth”.⁶

What do you define self love to be ? When you go on social media, do you see any forms of self-love in women? Self-love is defined as regard for one’s own well-being and happiness. When I am on social media, I see women who are appreciating their self time which is a form of self love because they are taking the time out to reflect on themselves. Reflection is important because one can see how they have changed, which could be a good thing. Change brings about growth which brings happiness. You are now in tune with your inner-self and you have a positive mindset. Picture yourself taking a day off to just relax. You are reading a book and you have on your face masks. How did that make you feel? Were you calm and relaxed? If yes, you have just done a form of self-care. This self-care ties into self-love because you are taking time to love yourself with no distractions. You are able to take a breath and just relax. 

     In the documentary “Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson”, Marsha P. Johnson’s form of self-love was her being a drag queen. She dressed up in her fancy outfits who made her unique while making thousands of people laugh at the shows. It made her happy to see her put a smile on others faces. She has also made progress in this world by herself because her showing her true self made others show their true selves as well. It’s like she made them fall in love with themselves over again. Marsha P.Johnson had a positive outlook on life and that happened because of the self- love she had for herself. Yes, people would be cruel and call her names for that matter but what did she do? She continued to be amazing. To accept self- love, you have to let go of what people think of you whether it’s good or bad, don’t compare yourself to others, trust in yourself when it comes to decision making, etc. Once you do these things, you’re on the right journey to self-love. If someone tells you something about you that hurts your feelings, turn it into a positive statement. If you find yourself comparing yourself to other people, think about how wonderful you are. If you have a hard time making a decision, just trust that the decision you make is one that will be a positive outlook for you. 

    There was one day I decided to have a self-care day. I put my phone down and watched the show I was binge watching at the time. The whole day I went without texting my friends or going on social media. The night came and I did my skincare routine and I felt so relaxed. For me, that was my form of self-love because I tuned out  all distractions to focus on me. I was happy I did so because I got to reflect on myself and while I was reflecting, I noticed that I am someone that always wanted things to be done how I want them to but I came to the conclusion that it’s not possible. I have to wait my turn for when things happen in my life and not rush it. I say this because there was in time I would see all these relationships on social media and I wanted it to be me so badly. I wanted that to be me the same time it was for everyone else. I had to sit back and think “their timing right now,  doesn’t mean it’s yours”. I had to focus on loving myself more because how can I want a relationship with love without loving myself first ? Self-love always starts within yourself is what I’ve learned from this experience. My mom also told me to pray for things that I want to happen and she taught me that God will make it happen when my time is ready for it. This for me was progress and a change I saw happening for myself.

 I hope from this you take that self-love is important for us women because it allows us to bring in the new us. We have to want to do this for ourselves so we can stay connected and not feel like the world is caving in on us. 

The concept of a gender binary, the notion that you are either man or woman, has been thrown into public discourse enough times that it is now considered to be debunked in many respected academic circles. Many parts of society have already started moving past the notion of fixed roles and expectations based on your sex at birth, which is supposedly determined by your chromosome combination. This is seen in the slow acceptance of the existence of transgender people, with life and identity-affirming accommodations becoming more commonplace. These include the gradual embracement of concepts such as someone choosing to undergo hormone replacement therapy, bottom and top surgeries, and asking for preferred name and pronouns, regardless of how it may appear in identification documents. However, what is far less discussed is the falsity of the sex binary, the idea that you are either a biological male or female. Even within trans circles, there exists the misconception that your biological sex not only exists, but it cannot be changed. It is said that XX chromosomes mean you are female, and XY mean you are male. This concept is not as rooted in biology as some people may think it is. The very existence of intersex people debunk this construct; their very existence showing how sex is far too nuanced to be arbitrarily grouped into just two categories.

Intersexuality, as defined by the Intersex Society of North America, “is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.” It is estimated that “approximately 1 or 2 percent of children are born with mixed or ambiguous sex characteristics.” This means that anywhere between 79 to 158 million people on this planet do not squeeze into this archaic binary that we know as sex. The notion of the sex binary implies that you are either biologically male or female. If you are male, you must have XY chromosomes, a penis, testicles, and an Adam’s apple. If female, you must have XX chromosomes, a vagina, a set of breasts, and ovaries. Intersex people may have some combination of the above-mentioned traits, or just entirely different traits altogether. One such example of this is the existence of people with XXY chromosomes, known as Klinefelter Syndrome. The fact that people can have a different combination of chromosomes than that which the gender binary mandates the arbitrary grouping of is enough in of itself to debunk this myth altogether. Additionally, it is important to note that referring to people with XXY chromosomes as a syndrome is stigmatizing and it is only seen as such in the context of a gender binary, being perceived as a sort of sickness, rather than a valid form of identity.

People whose biological makeup does not conform to the sex binary continue to be mutilated as newborns without the ability to consent. Hubbard writes, “In the last few decades, in conformity with the binary paradigm, medical interventions have been developed to try to
‘correct’ the genitals of infants who manifest any form of sex ambiguity.” These operations are, admittedly, sometimes necessary for health reasons, such as to surgically create a urethral opening, as some intersex newborns are not capable of passing waste on their own. Despite often having a physical makeup that poses no immediate risk to the infant in question, their genitals are operated on in order to conform to the sex binary, meaning that they will be shaped into either a penis or vagina. Such operations are done without the consent of the patient, as newborns cannot consent. These procedures are more for the sake of appeasing the society around the patient than it is for the patient’s own wellbeing. The notion of a sex binary justifies the mutilation of vulnerable people, leaving them with more questions than answers as they grow up.

Society needs to undergo massive changes so that this notion of a harmful sex binary is abolished. It is not rooted in biology, as the very existence of intersex people disproves that. It is used as justification in order to violate the bodies of newborns. Schools should teach about sex as a spectrum rather than the black-and-white dichotomy of male and female. On the medical level, an intersex newborn should be operated on as minimally as possible, with procedures being decided upon as medically necessary.

References:

Hubbard, R. (1996). Gender and Genitals: Constructs of Sex and Gender. Social Text, 46/47, 157–165. https://doi.org/10.2307/466851

Klinefelter syndrome. Intersex Society of North America. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://isna.org/faq/conditions/klinefelter/.

What is intersex? Intersex Society of North America. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex/.

Cleaning, doing laundry, dishes, and watching the kids has always been seen as a “women’s job” . It doesn’t matter if they have another job and come home tired, they are expected to do everything in the house because the “man of the house” had a long day at work. Now, personally, I have nothing against men. It’s just the fact that why are certain things expected from a woman and not a man, even if they both put in the same amount of effort within the day. A man isn’t going to stop being a man if he helps do the dishes or fold a couple of shirts. After all, the dishes didn’t dirty themselves, the clothes weren’t only for the women’s and the kids didn’t make themselves. So why is it that society views it okay for a man to come home after work and “watch the game” but if a woman comes home and doesn’t have time to do certain things, then that woman is a slob and not a good wife. To most of society, a good wife has dinner ready, clothes done, and the house sparkling, and that’s just how it has to be, according to the majority of the world. 

In Angela Davis’s “Women, Race and Class” she discusses this issue, along with many others of course. (because this is definitely just one of many many differences/issues with women), and although this book was written quite some time ago, it’s sad to say that we haven’t come as far as we would like to think. In one of her chapters she discusses how a woman is never shown any appreciation and how everything is taken for granted. I, myself can say I am guilty of this, as I’m sure many of us are. We may not do it on purpose but we do it. Sometimes you come and you just see that everything is in its place and that the food is ready, but how many times do we stop to think about what went into the making of everything. Did your mom, wife, or partner put aside something else important to them just to get the house ready? Maybe they didn’t feel well but got up anyway because they didn’t want to get that look, the “wow you really stayed in bed all day while I went out look…” We have to learn to really appreciate what a housewife or any woman does for their home. Most of the time we don’t appreciate the actions until we are the ones doing it and then realize that it’s not all that easy. If a man were to perform these everyday tasks they would realize that it’s just as difficult as the job they go to everyday, and I’m not saying that all men are this way, but if more men were to put in the effort, they would realize that it’s okay if their wife comes home and doesn’t feel like cooking and maybe just wants to sit and watch a movie.it doesn’t make them a bad wife, it just means they are tired just like everyone else. Women are human just like men and would like to be appreciated for all that they do, and not put on a show when they don’t. 

The meaning behind a woman means so much more than what everyone thinks. we shouldn’t be assigned tasks just because of our body parts. We have to be looked at as a whole, women have so much potential that goes beyond cooking dinner and watching the kids. If society were to open up their minds just a little bit more, they would see that it’s okay if a man picks up a broom once in a while, they’re not going to lose their manhood if they cook dinner and the same for women, if they don’t clean one day, it’s not the end of the world. We are all equal, and should have the same expectations. Nobody is better than anybody, and if we all have hands we can all complete the same tasks without being all dramatic about the situation. 

With new advancements in technology, media has become an extremely integral part of today’s society, especially with the younger generations. Due to the prevalence of media and how much it is consumed daily, it has also become more important for representations of differing identities to be a greater part of what we see. It is thus important for everyone to feel represented no matter their race, age, body type, weight, gender, and sexuality. Moreover, because the media is such a big part of our lives, it can often dictate what people deem as normal and accepted. Films and TV shows are one of many ways in which we see people that embodied our traits portrayed.

These forms of visual media essentially tell us what’s normal and what’s not and because of this, everyone wants to feel represented in some way in order to feel like they have a place in our society. Not only does this validate and make one feel fulfilled, but it also aids in educating those who don’t occupy certain spaces. It raises awareness and helps promote the inclusivity of these diverse peoples within our communities, which is why social movements often focus on this topic so adamantly. Seeing yourself or aspects of yourself portrayed is important and this is especially true in the LGBTQ+ community. The impact that positive queer representation has had and will continue to have on society is huge and there needs to be more instances of this in the media to ensure that queer people benefit from their stories and experiences.

The portrayal of queer characters in TV shows and films, for example, has seen a huge influx in recent years and people that consider themselves LGBTQ+ are being represented more now than ever before. The “gay best friend” could be seen as one example of queer individuals being seen as normal in the media, but these types of portrayal are not enough. It is important to note that, the portrayal of queer people in the media hasn’t always been the most progressive and this impacts the ability for queer representation to be seen as normal.  In Queer written by Karen Tongson it states that, “At times “queer” has come to mean a particular set of sexual practices, positions, and proclivities. In the past fifteen years or so, scholars have vigorously debated whether or not queer constitutes any form of antinormativity” (2). Queer-identifying people have unique experiences in the world, but these experiences are more than the stereotypes that we may have been exposed to. Stereotypical queer roles should not be used to make queer portrayals in the media seen as normal.  Reducing queer people to harmful stereotypes in the media robs them of the opportunity to showcase their experiences and essentially reduces them to one-dimensional characters with little to no depth that does not accurately reflect their lived experiences.

Particularly, trans representation in the media has a long way to go to ensure that trans people are allowed progressive roles in the media. The YouTube video titled, AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure shines an important light on the topic of trans representation in film and TV.  In the video, one of the interviewees featured briefly at the start of the video makes an important point about trans depictions in TV and film. She states that, “There is a one-word solution to almost all the problems in trans media, we just need more. In that way, the occasional clumsy representation wouldn’t matter as much because that would be all that there is” (9:19 – 9:27). More trans representation would further promote the idea that queer identities – or more specifically Trans identities – are normative and that would benefit queer people as well as non-queer people that view and engage with media. There needs to be more portrayals of trans people navigating dating, for example. Dating is something that we all do, seeing a trans person do this on TV or film would help promote the more normative portrayals of queer people.

In addition, this increase in overall queer representation will ensure that the more impressionable members of the queer community, possibly young, closeted LGBTQ+ members, see people that they relate to in a positive light.  In AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure, one of the panelists Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton points out that LGBTQ+ people, particularly youth, often face issues like homelessness and the lack of true LGBTQ+ representation aids in these issues being overlooked and ignored by Hollywood and the media. She also points out that an increase in this representation could aid in actual LGBTQ+ getting access to resources that can improve their lives (26:00 – 27:30). With more LGBTQ+ films and TV shows being made, that opens up more opportunities for aspiring LGBTQ+ actors and creators to create media that reflect their own experiences. This would also provide economic opportunities for LGBTQ+ people both in and out of the media.

Furthermore, it is important to note that representation needs to be more than just “diversity hires”. Tongson states that, “Aren’t-we-GLAAD approaches to quantifying queer visibility—that is, measuring with exactness how many gay characters, shows, and actors are on TV or in films, and whether or not these portrayals are positive or negative—have created their own set of limitations around our encounters with all forms of media, not just explicitly queer representations with identifiable queer bodies, characters and ‘acts’” (2). I agree with this sentiment. LQBTQ+ representation needs to have some significant backing behind it. It simply isn’t enough to just add an LGBTQ+ character into a movie or TV show. There needs to be more to their stories than harmful stereotypes or biased and unbalanced portrayals. Diversity hires aren’t enough and at times can be disingenuous.

To conclude, LGBTQ+ portrayals and presentations have seen some inspirational and important milestones. There are movies like Moonlight and TV shows like Pose that are having huge cultural impacts on the media we watch. There are still some ways to go, but trans and queer representation will continue to grow and progress thanks to technology and younger generations.

Citations

“AVP Courageous Conversations – Disclosure” YouTube, uploaded by New York City Anti-Violence Project, 22 Feb. 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXWzGcxBW2E

Tongson, Karen. “Queer.” Keywords For Media Studies, 20 Mar. 2017, keywords.nyupress.org/media-studies/essay/queer/

What is a housewife? By definition, a housewife is a woman whose main job is caring for her family and managing household affairs while her partner goes out to work. This modern occupation is a modified version of the “traditional” responsibilities of women — cooking, cleaning, and nurturing for the family — that have persevered throughout history, though the duties involved have changed little. If anything, women are now expected to not only take on the role of a housewife but to also work to earn their keep. This diverges from the traditional belief that women ought to stay at home, thus many have proposed a modern solution for this modern problem. They affirmed that since women are increasingly becoming active members of the economic class, they should perform both duties expected of them — responsibilities pertaining to the family and economy. Such propositions generate unfair treatment of working women and give rise to a phenomenon called the “third shift”. Ultimately, in present-day society, women are subjected to the roles of being both their family’s primary care provider and active breadwinner. 

According to “The Feminine Mystique” written by Betty Friedan, in the past, a woman’s biggest ambition in life was to be the perfect wife to their husband and mother to their children. They gloried in their role as a housewife and longed to live life like the American suburban housewives depicted in pretty pictures. However, the feminine perspective has changed with time and fighting for their husbands was no longer a top priority. In stark comparison with the past, women now desire independence, and they have the means to do so. Throughout history, women have been shunned from the streets, and a working woman meant her husband was incapable, hence bringing shame to the family. Now, things are different. Unfortunately, despite the advancements in women’s rights, society doesn’t view things quite the same way. As noted by Davis, “Having stepped outside their ‘natural’ sphere, women were not to be treated as full-fledged wage workers. […] Their exploitation was even more intense than the exploitation suffered by their male counterparts” (p. 229). Someone has to cook the food, clean the house, and take care of the children. Capitalists ponder, why should it be the men who have always worked when we have women whose original jobs were to do these things anyway. If they want to work so badly, then they can just enact their “roles as women” and do work on the side if they must. This dangerous chain of thoughts works to exploit women; society would have the means to gain free housemakers while simultaneously increasing the working population. Women are on the losing side no matter how you look at it. 

The term “third shift” refers to the domestic chores women are held accountable for in addition to their daily work shift(s). They work during the day just like their male counterpart, but once home, women have to manage domestic affairs while men get to relax. Sadly, this vicious cycle of unfair treatment is not only reinforced by male members of society but also by fellow females, in the form of internalized misogyny. Through years of oppression, they have come to accept the sexist stereotypes and are in turn demeaning other women as a result. Distorted thinking is a tell-tale sign of this where they may think — “I’ve been through this too. If I can make it through then so can you”. Oftentimes, this sort of behavior is demonstrated by older members of society, by mothers or grandmothers, who are usually guiding figures in the eyes of children. This, inevitably, leads to a deformed self-image and sense of self at a young age for girls and faulty thinking in boys. 

To stop this trend of unjust between genders, some have suggested shifting the gender role so that men can become househusbands. At first glance, this may seem like a plausible solution, however, it has little effect on the issue in the long run. Having men become househusbands only changes the victim of the “domestic burden”. With the men in charge of the chores and childcare, and the women earning the wages, one might be dissatisfied with the type of responsibilities the other has. In the words of Davis, “Since housework does not generate profit, domestic labor [is] naturally defined as an inferior form of work as compared to capitalist wage labor” (p. 228). Put simply, there’s no way to compare the work of cleaning the house and the work of filing papers, and this can lead to bickerings over who did more work.   

More feasible solutions in combatting the issue at hand would be to compromise the workload between both parties and to eliminate internalized misogyny overall. First, labeling chores as a responsibility of both parties will significantly reduce thoughts regarding gender roles. Then, the work should be split to accommodate individual schedules and become a shared duty. This method involves a lot of compromises and acceptances since it won’t work if one side starts arguing over the amount of work done. Secondly, sexist stereotypes should not be reinforced by individuals deemed as model figures by children, such as parents and teachers. Just because you have been through the hardship brought about by male dominance and female misogyny does not mean you can assert dominance over another to ensure they suffer just as much as you did. 

We shouldn’t start struggling only when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but struggle so we can see the light before it’s too late. Giving in is not shameful; sometimes both sides need to take a step back and see the whole picture for a better future.

References:

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. 2006.

Davis, Angela Y. Women, Race & Class. Vintage Books, 1983.