Female Sexuality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBtEVaq4SA

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http://adoholik.com/wp-content/gallery/sexy-advertisements/natan_diamond.jpg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=z4xmxb9K8RI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK6BtxQPLGA

This week we discussed feminized sexuality. There are several different stereotypes about women, and multiple different classifications of types of women. There is the idea that women are helpless creatures and/or they need to be rescued by their knights in shining armor (riding a white horse of course). There is also the idea that women are manipulative, using their sexuality to get what they want out of men. There is the idea that women are predators, hunting men down and devouring them for lunch. And finally, there is the super-mom persona, where the mom can take on everything with such ease, even the most difficult tasks don't cause them to break a sweat, while others can't get anywhere close to that perfection. All these different "personalities" make up the essence of a woman. 

The first video is a movie trailer from the movie "Stepmom" with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon that was released in 1998. For those who have not seen this film, it is about a divorced family man who gets engaged to a younger woman, played by Roberts. Unfortunately for her, her future step children and their mother make it clear that she is unwelcome and go out of their way to make her feel completely inadequate. In the beginning of the clip, the narrator says, "You do your best to raise the children. You do your best to care for them. But no matter how much you love them, you will never measure up to... their mother." This film embodies super-mom persona (Sarandon) and the damsel in distress (Roberts). In today's society, it is commonly perceived that women are supposed to take care of the house, kids, and still be able to produce and healthy and delicious dinner day after day. Susan Sarandon, playing Jackie Harrison, is able to complete every task, almost taking on the world. She remembers the special days at school, that its not cool to bring a lunch to school, and all the special appointments/commitments the kids have on which weekends, cause they are always changing of course. She is the woman that can conquer the world, and still manage to pick her kids up from school on time. She is the classic example of the stay at home mom. I have to ask, why is Sarandon's character so hell bent on making the other woman uncomfortable? It's not like she is a threat, the kids will follow her lead. Women are notoriously territorial, and even if you don't want to get back with your ex, you definitely don't want to feel as if you are being replaced for a younger and newer model car. Then there is the future stepmom, Julia Roberts who plays Isabel Kelly. Isabel Kelly is more of a helpless woman than she is super-mom. Roberts' character tries so hard to remember everything (like purple shirt day and the ever changing riding lesson schedule), to get the kids ready, while still keeping a full time job as a photographer. She is constantly trying to measure up to the kids' mother, and every time she fails. The narrator even says, "you will never measure up to their mother." But why does Roberts' feel like she needs their approval? She already has the man of her dreams, what difference does it make if the rest of the family likes her, they are going to have to deal with her right? Just as much as women are territorial, women seek acceptance, regardless of who that person is, or how little their opinion matters, most women want to feel accepted. This film is no exception. The lengths that Isabel goes through to get the daughter to accept her is extraordinary: she hooks her up with a model so the high school heartthrob will get jealous, after he dumped her, she tries to help her with her art project by showing her how she used to be an artist and gives her tips on how to make it look more realistic, and the list goes on and on.

On a related note, the last clip is another example of women being helpless and having a knight in shining armor come to their rescue. In this clip, Christian sneaks in to see Kimber after being attacked by a serial killer who makes his victims see how their plastic surgery really makes them ugly. Toward the end of the clip, Kimber asks Christian to rate her, that when they first met he told her she was an eight, and she wants to know what she is now that "the Carver" has attacked her. Unable to respond after the curtain has been pulled, he tells her that he will make her a ten again. That he will fix everything and make it all better; because Kimber is completely helpless and unable to make herself feel better. She has to have more plastic surgery to correct the damage, so she can be beautiful again and all wounds will be healed after that. She tells him that no surgery is going to take away the pain of what she went through, that "the Carver" striped her of her beauty and she is completely helpless, which is classic damsel in distress. 

The second artifact is of a poster for a musical entitled "Cougar." We discussed the idea of the cougar and MILF extensively in class, so I won't take up too much space about it here. However, I will address that many older women today are getting divorced and ready to prove to the world that their ex husbands aren't the only one that can get a hot piece of... That they too are just as capable of having a piece of eye candy on their arm too. Because of this, the idea that women are predatory and hunt for their next victim like a cougar. This goes against previous society norms of the 40's and 50's that women were to be seen, not heard and that women are meant to be submissive. But the cougar, she is dominant and aggressive. She sees something that see wants, and goes for it; similar to what men do. 

As mentioned earlier, women are often perceived as manipulative in current American society. The third artifact, the diamond ad,  is a good representation of this. (On a side note, this image honestly made me laugh.) The fact that the designers went with this ad is very telling. The fairy tale proposal happens because the man is in love with the woman, wants to spend the rest of his life with her, and the issue of sex has nothing to do with why he is proposing. (I will go into this more for the next artifact.) However in this campaign, it clearly illustrates how women are using their sex appeal to manipulate men into a happily ever after ending. The first picture is of a man holding a small blue box in front of a woman, who has her legs crossed. The picture following it shows the box opened, containing a beautiful diamond in front of the woman with her legs opened. Now we must assume that the women in both photos are in fact the same, since they are wearing the same clothes and shoes. In today's society, the dating game is simply that, a game; with many more rules and more complicating than before. A woman is to appear mysterious, usually accomplished by playing hard to get and not being available all the time, you must play the cat and mouse game. Also, women aren't supposed to show all of their personality at once, otherwise they may come off too strong and frighten Mr Right away. And one of my favorites, the sex card. Women's one power card is sex and when to get down. It is similar to what Coon said about Alias and Charlie's Angels: "... in both cases, the heroines make repeated use of masks and disguises to control the way others see them, which allows them to manipulate situations to their advantage" (3). In order to be a contestant on today's dating game, you must be able to mask and disguise certain parts of your personality, at least for a little while, otherwise you won't be able to be the winner. 

Lastly, there is the music video of Taylor Swift's song, "Love Story." The video depicts the Romeo and Juliet story, of falling in (forbidden) love and going through hoops to be together, she even references Romeo and Juliet in her song. The idea that this movie depicts is the hopeless romantic, damsel in distress. As I have discussed this at length, I won't go into it too much. Based on this video, women will make eye contact with some gorgeous guy, have this fantasy romance, and it will have a happy ending. Although, this video provides a little twist, because at the end of the video, the fantasy romance melts away and the two are back in reality. However, it still leaves me feeling like she wishes the fantasy world hadn't melted away, that she wanted to be swept off her feet and ride off in the sunset together. The problem is, that was back during Romeo and Juliet's time, not modern day. The idea of this whirlwind romance and living happily ever after no longer exists, there are prenups and games (as mentioned earlier). The video presents a fantasy world, then has it melt away, but still show her desire that it didn't melt away...