Media Represents Women in Law Enforcement Two Ways: Hypersexualized or Hypermasculine

For many of us before our Gender and Women’s Studies class, anytime a woman was featured in a movie or TV show as a kick-ass law enforcement officer, we would feel a sense of pride and “girl power.” However, after this class, I have learned to see the way the media misrepresents these once perceived powerful, girl power-inspired women by representing women in law enforcement as either hypersexualized and/or hypermasculine.

In the movie, One For The Money, starring Katherine Heigl as a female bounty hunter, Heigl’s character is feminizied and hypersexualized from her overly sexual appearance to her feminine ways and perceived abilities as a result and, even worse, to the way the movie actually sexualizes her in her own behavior and the behavior toward her by her male costars. For starters, look at the way Heigl is positioned on the cover for the movie:

Heigl is seen with her hands behind her back, handcuffed together by her butt while looking back at the camera with a sultry look on her face, her hair blowing around her. If you look closer, you will see text stating, “She’s looking for a few not-so-good men” which implies the sexualized context of Heigl looking for a “bad boy” for sexual, kinky and/or dominative purposes. The way Heigl’s body is highly sexualized in this advertisment for the movie, reinforces Jean Kilbourne’s statement made in her article “Two Ways That Women Get Hurt” that “the way ads portray bodies – especially women’s bodies – as sexual objects conditions us to see each other in dehumanizing ways, thus normalizing attitudes and behaviors that can lead to sexual aggression.” In this movie advertisment, Heigl is certainly depicted as a sex object meant to be sexually interacted with.

          The way she is sexualized on the cover and throughout the movie also contributes to the misconception that because she is a beautiful, sexy female she can’t reasonably be a good bounty hunter.  

This picture shows Heigl’s character dressed in a business suit, looking terrified of the big gun her male costar is holding. Her very feminine attire and expression in this picture depict her as a “girly girl” who is not cut out to handle guns and crime. The over feminized representation of Heigl in this scene connects with Michael Kimmel’s idea presented in his article “Masculinity as Homophobia” that masculinity claims that in order to maintain the view of males as masculine individuals, we need to “lessen women’s image by feminizing them in ways that prove men are more masculine, powerful, and dominant than women.”

The movie follows her through her job and she is seen struggling with her job and being harassed by men who call her “cupcake” and “sugar” and express doubt in her ability to perform her duties as a bounty hunter. To take matters a step further, one of the criminals she is after happens to be the man she lost her virginity to. This sexualizes Heigl’s character by pointing out her loss of virginity and creating sexual tension and attraction between the two characters. In one of her efforts to track him down, he actually seduces her to get away by acting like he is going to kiss her and then running away. This scene depicts her as a sexual, gullible, and vulnerable woman, which endorses Kilbourne’s idea that women being represented as sexual objects increases sexual harassment, abuse, and violence.

If the media is not hypersexualizing women law enforcement officers as in One For The Money, then the media chooses to hypermasculinze women law enforcement officers. A perfect example of this is the popular law enforcement based movie, End of Watch, which features two women who serve as law enforcement officers for the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the movie, these two women are highly masculinized in their appearance, but especially in the way they act on the job. In terms of appearance, the two women officers are represented as very butch and masculine with little to no feminine characteristics.

Their actions and behavior while on the job as officers is even more masculine than their appearance as they are depicted as very tough, cruel, and insensitive. They participate in mean put-downs with their male coworkers and they represent themselves as masculine and tough, which reminds me of the way Lindsey Feitz in her article“Deploying Gender, Sexuality, and Race in the Iraq War” associates female soldiers as “chicks with guns” who are “deployed in the military as dominatrixes intended for torture and abuse.” In this article, Feitz talks about Lynndie England’s role as a female soldier who tortured and abused Muslim men through sexual harassment and abuse. While the female officers in End of Watch do not sexually harass or abuse their fellow male officers in a physical way, they do partake in verbal sexual harassment through their crude jokes and by referring to their male officers as “bitches.”

Even more masculine than the harassment these two female officers partake in is the way they push back any forms of emotional expression. In fact, in a scene where a female partner gets nearly beaten to death, they act like it is nothing and say “She was asking for it by not being experienced or good enough at her job.” To this, the male officer on scene asks why they are so insensitive and questions what they have done to their emotional, sympathetic side, to which they reply, “We left it at home.” This response confirms the idea that women believe they must act and appear masculine in order to work in a male-dominated field. The perceived expectation that women must masculinize themselves by blocking out their emotional and sensitive side in order to make it in a male-dominated field reinforces Michael Kimmel’s idea that “masculinity is a sign of power and dominance in the workforce, the home, and society” whereas “being sensitive and empathetic is seen as feminine,” which is associated with a lack of power and dominance.

What is your perception of female law enforcement officers and/or FBI/CIA agents? How would you characterize your own perception and description of them? Do you see them as hypersexualized or hypermasculine more often in your consumption of the media? 

Passionate Sex or Rape?

As college students, we are all at risk of experiencing sexual assault in one form or another. The setting is perfect for miscommunication on what an individual is comfortable with and what they are willing to consent to. According to Shaw and Lee, “Consensual sex is negotiated through communication where individuals express their feelings and desires and are able to listen to and respect others’ feelings and desires”. Rachel Kramer Bussell takes it a step further and says that consenting adults should have a “yes, no, maybe” chart in which they clearly lay out the things that they are comfortable and uncomfortable with.

Although people generally think of rapists as a stranger, waiting in the bushes to attack, seven out of ten female rape victims state that they know their attacker. This “acquaintance rape”, more commonly called “date rape”, is what most of us have been impacted by as college students.

We all see images of forceful sex in the media. This is not limited to porn. A “strong man” picking up a woman and having his way with her is seen as passion, not rape. I do think that media portrayal of sex contributes to mistaken ideas about sexuality but I also think that there are other ways that the understanding of the lines between passionate sex and rape are being blurred.

I recently downloaded the application “whisper” where people can anonymously post their secrets to a public domain. The things that people choose to post have surprised me. I am also concerned about the implications of these posts because although the sentiments may be true for one woman, they may be generalized to all women, furthering the issue with the idea that women mean yes when they say no.

                         

(I apologize for the language)

An individual’s sexual preferences are there own and in my opinion, they are free to do whatever they please. If an individual is interested in rough sex, gang bangs, or S&M, that is fine as long as every person involved is actively consenting to the situation. The issue of individual preference is not the real issue here. The problem comes in when the preferences of individuals are looked at as universal  preferences of an entire group.

Women are commonly the victims of sexual assault and although a quick fix might seem be telling women not to present themselves in a sexual way, this is insulting to both men and women. It seems unfair to tell one group that they are not allowed to share their sexual preferences because another party may be confused and unable to comprehend that one person does not represent the preferences of an entire population.  Women's actions are generally scrutinized if something does go wrong in a sexual experience. If I were a male, I think that I would be insulted by society's portrayal of me as a purely sexual being that cannot control my urges or restrain myself from acting on impulse. It seems as though there needs to be a societal change but I dont think that this change should be in women. I think that men need to actively seek consent from sexual partners and not make assumptions about another individual's preferences.

I think that in an ideal world, consenting adults WOULD discuss each thing that they are comfortable with, every step of the way. Unfortunately, it seems as though the way sex is presented and the way females are portrayed get in the way of this. Young people are getting messages that are clearly anti-rape but at the same time they are being presented images of women enjoying the struggle and not meaning stop when they say it. 

How do you all think that this problem can be minimized? Where do you think the responsibility lies in terms of gaining consent? How does the idea of consent fit into the college scene we are all actively a part of?

Country Music: A Community Rooted and Frozen in Tradition

As a Country music fan myself, I wouldn’t begin to generalize an entire genre, but it is interesting to examine reoccurring themes within some of this year’s past hits within the Country community.

Many women sing of heartbreak at the hands of men, and some even take to singing about their unhappiness in their marriages. Most often, we hear of infidelity, tired housewives left with domestic duties, dishonesty, and betrayal. I pulled up a “Top Country Hits” playlist on Spotify (a music player that bases popularity on the number of plays). Immediately I notice these songs: “Tornado” by Little Big Town, “Two Black Cadillacs” by Carrie Underwood, “Merry Go ‘Round” by Kacey Musgraves, and “Mama’s Broken Heart “by Miranda Lambert. While the lyrics of each song would be lengthy, I can tell you that each contains themes that speak to a life filled with struggles similar to that of a 1950’s housewife. Unhappiness. Stress. “Mama’s Broken Heart” even touches on the taboo of revealing these feelings to the public. It alludes to the importance Lambert’s mother places on a woman’s composure when upset rather than her own frustrations about the situation.

Miranda Lambert entered the music scene singing about an abusive significant other. It’s not new to Country, the Dixie Chicks crooned a similar tune entitled “Goodbye Earl”. Within the past two years, Miranda Lambert joined up with some other female artists to form the Pistol Annies. These girls released an especially interesting song (on an album with songs similar to it) that seems to take a time machine right back to the 1950’s—the only difference is, this song was written about one of the member’s experiences in recent times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDMYDBbVsU0

The link is to the Pistol Annies’ song, “Housewife’s Prayer”

“Can't see a way out of the mess I'm in
And the bills keep getting higher
All I need is a gallon of gas
God I'm getting tired
Gonna set this house on fire

I've been thinking about
Going off the deep end

My man can't get no overtime
And the baby ain't been sleeping
All I need is a washing machine

Well I've been thinking about
All the pills I'm taking
I wash them down with an ice cold beer
And a love I ain't been making

Oh I feel like I'm burning up
Wih words I ain't been saying
And all these pills I'm taking”

It’s a short song, so I’ve included most of the lyrics. It includes a model similar to what we read about in Coontz’ What We Really Miss About the 1950’s. They sing of a tired housewife who feels she cannot advocate for herself, is neglected by her husband, medicating herself, worrying about her husband’s job as breadwinner, and completely worn out by her situation.

The interesting thing to me about all of this is the current-nature of this song and many of the Country songs that have come out recently.  A time once idealized is still very much a reality within some realm that Country music touches. While I’d hate to perpetuate the stereotype that Country music is a genre that only produces songs about beer, horses, and infidelity—there is something to be taken away from the content of popular songs from female artists.

On a similar note, Carrie Underwood publicly stated her support of gay marriage last year. She received a lot of backlash within the Country community (similar to backlash received during the quest for interracial marriage which Pascoe discusses in Why the Ugly Rhetoric Against Gay Marriage Is Familiar to this Historian of Miscegenation). 

So what am I getting at?

By and large, Country music fans are rooted in tradition—for better or for worse. While it certainly doesn’t apply to every fan, each artist is met with fans who believe in marriage between a man and a woman as well as gender roles within a household that often lead to the discontent of the woman.

I’d be curious to see how these topics are communicated in other genres. While Carrie Underwood didn’t sing about marriage equality, is this a topic that other genres are exploring favorably/unfavorably? How are gender roles outlined in other musical communities?

Merida Makeover

         There are many other gendered institutions that people would think of before they think of Disney. Disney is supposed to be a kid friendly institution that helps to raise our kids “the right way”. We would all like to think that Disney is only influencing the children of our society it a good way.

            As of May 11^th Merida, from the Pixar Movie Brave, has been inducted into the group of Disney Princesses that so many young girls look up to.

Many people around the world were excited that there was finally a Disney Princess for the children in our world to admire that was not just about looking pretty, finding a prince charming, and living happy ever after. However before Merida was crowned as a princess she underwent a “makeover”. She became skinnier, her eyes wider, her hair less frizzy. Although she may have become what we consider in our society to be beautiful, it made her lose her inner beauty.

           

The fact that she was not what would be considered sexy and gorgeous, like the other Disney Princesses, was what most people liked about her. She was more of a realistic person compared to her other fellow Princesses. She embraced strength, courage, individualism and inner beauty. “She marches to the beat of her own drummer”.

(Here is the official trailer for Brave: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEHWDA_6e3M)

                  After Disney released the images of the “princess” Merida, there was an uproar. Not only were mothers in anguish but so was the writer and co-director of the movie. She said, “the redesign is a blatantly sexist marketing move based on money”. She had based the character Merida off of her own daughter. She purposefully made her the way she is. She did not want her to be like the other Disney princesses.

In the article “Two ways Woman Can Get Hurt”, Jean Kilbourne says that advertising and violence are these two ways. Merida’s makeover is a perfect example of this. By making her sexier and towards the ideal beauty standard of our society, Disney is in essence telling children that the original, realistic version of Merida is not good enough to be a princess. To be advertised as a princess, one thing which many little girls dream of, they must follow our societies narrow definitions and ideas of what beauty is, and nothing else.

            Many children look up to these princesses and are influenced by them. Think of all the little girls who love going to Disneyland and Disneyworld just to see the princesses. These princesses are not only there but also on TV, in movies on advertisements and much more. As Stephanie Coontz talks about in her article “What We Really Miss About the 1950’s”, the way things are on television affect our lives and become the norms of what we should do to lead the ideal life, whether it be family, or gender norms. These children see this princess as what they are supposed to be like, when in reality how these princesses look, and lead their lives is pretty much near impossible. So you can see why when Merida, the not so “perfect” princess was introduced many people were happy that there now was going to be a more realistic princess that their children could look up to.

This problem of a beauty ideal does not only affect the US but also the rest of the world. Merida, like the rest of the Disney princesses are seen across the whole world, influencing our children and teaching them that to become a princess or be considered beautiful, you must follow these narrow norms that our society has created.

                                                                                                                                 

The Help

Like any other typical weekend my Grandmother and I try to go out to Breakfast and as always she chooses Snooze. For many of you that are not aware of this restaurant it is a cool 1970's themed place where the line always extends way out the door. As we were sitting there waiting for our order to be taken a family walks in with two small children, a white women and man, and then an African American women holding each of the children's hands. This is something I had never seen before up north, but in Cherry Creek this must be something prevalent. I thought to myself the connection between the African American woman and these two children is greater than the connection between the children and the parents. For instance the father was on the phone majority of the time "not to be disturbed" and the mother was constantly looking down at her phone as well as reading a magazine on Women’s Health. The woman was sitting between the two children coloring the color sheet and cutting up their food, waiting for it to cool down. This image was quite striking to me because i really felt sad for the children that their parents were way too busy than to raise these children on their own. Moreover, I think of the life the nanny lives, meaning where did she come from? Does she have children herself? Did she travel far to get here? 

 

In Introduction of Global Women by Barbara Ehrenreich it talks about the female underside of globalization. This piece was very eye opening to me especially when it went into the topic matter of how many rich and poor country households can rarely rely on males as the soul breadwinners. Women are needed out in the workforce to be able to provide for their families. In most other places aside from the United States women are forced to commute very far for work, and without their families. This was something that i found to be very shocking because this article even provided a story of a woman that had to travel and leave her family behind to be able to support her children. In turn usually they go work with families to raise their children and be their nannies. It is very upsetting because I am sure these women would love for nothing more than to raise their own children, but in fact having to raise another woman's as if they were her own. 

Moreover, something that I read that was quite surprising is the fact that before wealthy women used to flaunt their help and use them as wealth symbols. As for today the hired help is hidden and not as present as it was before. For women to show leisure was powerful but now women feel the need to employ the "super women" perspective. Which is the idea women that cooks, cleans, works, takes care if the children and the husband with grace. 

Another article that I was able to connect this situation to would be Real Men Join the Movement by Michael Kimmel. Through this article he talks about actively supporting women’s equality on the job or on the streets and by quietly changing their lives to create that equality at home. This statement alone made me think that if this was the case in third world counties would these women have to leave their homes to work for other families?? Would they be able to stay and raise their own children?? Why is it that the women have to travel and leave their children?? I mean Kimmel makes a good point when he said, “Men may oppressed by many things but gender is not one of them. For women they are oppressed from it all”. Do you see gender oppression frequently??? Work related??? Classroom related??? Also in popular movie from 2011 The Help which chronicles An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African-American maids' point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis. For those of you that have watched this movie as well do you see the correlation??  Do you emphasize with these women?