Gender Stereotypes

I love gender studies, so that’s why I gravitated to this entry. When I first discovered the Bechdel test, I was seeing failures of it EVERYWHERE. And I also read a great article that said that the point of the Bechdel test isn’t necessarily to pass it, it’s to force the writer to notice and question WHY their female characters don’t get to do anything except support the male leads. Because if –

– your female characters are properly substantial, then the Bechdel would probably be passed naturally on its own. The whole point is that so many writers consider female characters uninteresting or pointless or unrelatable, ESPECIALLY when they talk to each other. Because (sarcasm coming) the only thing women talk about together is babies and shoes, right?

I also hate the classic sitcom dynamic where the wife’s an annoying nag and the husband is a lazy, stupid bum. I think it’s insulting to both genders and I don’t understand why people find it so enjoyable. I find it very infuriating.

Stereotypes are always partially true. Women’s minds are, I believe, on the average, better at processing relationships than men’s minds are, and they spend a lot more time doing it. When I overhear a snippet of a F-F (student) conversation on the street, it’s usually of the form “And then he was like…” or, sometimes, “And then she was like…” (quotative “like” in each case). M-M conversations are about sports or exams or assignments, occasionally ideas. I have heard that recorded female voices are used to give emergency instructions to an airplane pilot (“Pull up! “Pull up!), it having been shown that (usually male) pilots respond more quickly to a female voice. I can imagine that males may instantly react to a strange male voice as a possible competitor and take a few more milliseconds to evaluate his commands before complying, but that’s just a guess. Being sexually dominated by a woman is also apparently a common male fetish and may buy a few milliseconds in some cases for that reason. Davo

Also, it is apparently a fact from dream content research that women dream more about men than men do about women. That could be attributed to several causes, I suppose. > “Have you noticed the pathetic trend in TV commercials that depict men as buffoons and women as competent and powerful? It is sad to see so much emasculation of any male figure when in the same room as a female.” Sure. Black people are always competent as well. In part, it’s an over-reaction to perceived bias the other way, but look at, say, Honeymoonners, where Alice was practical and Ralph was always getting goofy ideas that backfired. Also, in Amos & Andy, Andy was dumb, Amos was level-headed, and Kingfish was a schemer, while the women were mostly sensible. Beaver’s parents were both sensible. Lucy was goofy and Ricky was sensible. In fact, it varied all over the place. Davo

That is Sam Elliot who does voiceover for Dodge. He’s been doing a lot of voiceover work lately and for good reason. He’s got the macho voice that men respond to. The Cowboy from the Big Lebowski we all want to sit beside and share a brew with… That’s also Denis Leary doing voiceover for Ford, Robert Downey Jr. doing Nissan and Tim Allen doing work for Chevy. Keifer Sutherland used todo Ford, until he was convicted of driving under the influence. MADD had a huge problem with him being the voce of Ford. I found out the sex of my babies long before they were born and it helped narrow down names and decor. I was always one who liked to peek at presents before Xmas so I just couldn’t help it. Later,

Ye gods, you’ve hit on my little hobby! For everybody’s sake, I will try to restrain myself from going on one of my famous rants about gender stereotypes on TV. You’ve already noticed them, and once seen, never unseen, so I would just be preaching to the choir. Gads, listen to me, I’m practically incoherent with joy. Just one point to add to your essay: Watch for wedding rings in commercials. You will get at least one deliberate wedding ring shot in every Cialis or Viagra commercial, as well as in any commercial where a man is accompanied by children. We’re not just getting gender stereotype bullshit, we’re getting morality messages too.

Also, I’m begging you: If you guys have a girl baby, will you please not put one of those girly headbands with the poofy flowers on her? Those things are so awful.

Hahahaha agree with the above noter. The headbands would look much better if the baby girls have heads full of hair, compared to being hair-less.