Sexism In Media

  Sexist Stereotypes in Media 

         Consumption of media, typically in the form of film, can begin to perpetuate the minds of individuals from the time they have sufficient brain capacity up until they don’t. Modern times offer the unique ability to access electronic entertainment at the nearest convenience. This naturally influences if not fills the impressionable minds of children. Beyond childhood and through adolescence relentless media continues to breed personal philosophy and expectation of gender roles. There is substantial support for critics that argue media texts feed into sexist stereotypes about the roles of men and women because of the need for the Bechdel test, countless examples of misogynistic plot lines, and a lack of women behind the scenes. 

 

        There is a pattern in films that is apparent enough for the creation of a test that entertains the sole purpose of determining women’s representation in film. The Bechdel test itself is quite simple; if the media contains two (named) women that converse about something other than men, this will result in a passing grade. On the other hand, if a film does not include these requirements, it fails the Bechdel test. One might assume that with such simple demands a majority of films would exceed expectations and pass with flying colors. However, it can be quoted on the Bechdel Test website that, “There are 9329 movies in the database, 5285 (56.7%) of which pass all tests.” In other words about forty percent of films don't showcase women having a conversation of substance. This shocking statistic reaffirms that women’s respectable representation is severely neglected in the film industry. Furthermore, on the flip side it can be quoted from the same source that, “A scientific study from 2022 that analyzed 341 popular movies of the last 40 years, showed that almost all movies (95%) pass the reverse Bechdel test, speaking to a much stronger representation of men than women.” This vindicates that even if about half of films pass the Bechdel test, this struggle does not translate to men’s representation. Thus, lack of women’s representation combined with prevalent misogyny in film can be supported by the Bechdel Test. 

 

           A considerable quantity of motion pictures encapsulates stereotypical plot lines that are abusive towards gender roles. Lazy filmmakers fall back on storylines that have been exhausted time and time again. Examples of this grievance can be found in films like She’s All That. This 1999 film may be argued as outdated, however the main focal points of this plot spread contagiously to countless other productions. Like She’s All That many Hollywood tropes involve a young girl with glasses, curly hair, and braces that is seen as unlovable and irrelevant until her glasses are traded for contacts, hair is straightened, and braces are gone. This creates an understanding that women are only beautiful and more importantly lovable if they reflect conventional beauty standards. This emphasizes that personality can be disregarded and rather we should only focus on looks. Another example of misogyny in films can be the Twilight Saga. Even though we see a female main character, Bella’s arc is confined to not reaching beyond her involvement with Edward. Throughout the series even though Bella is marketed as a strong female heroine, she is rather portrayed as a “damsel in distress” that requires consistent saving from the Cullen’s. She also constantly stands on the sidelines while Edward dives into physicality. Furthermore, Bella’s whole life is eclipsed by her male love interest to the point where everything else in her life bares no interest to her anymore. This creates the unrealistic expectation that men are the most important thing to women. A common misrepresentation of females is that they must have a relationship and that alliance overrides everything else. 

 

        Some may argue that modern media has moved away from conservative gender roles and has rather hopped onto the bandwagon of female empowerment. This may be supported by the influx of female led pictures. However, even if women play main characters a complete utter lack of women behind the scenes enables female stories to be eclipsed by the male point of view. For example, the new Netflix movie, Blonde, is marketed as a somewhat non-fictional recount of Marilyn Monroe’s life. What had the opportunity to showcase an icon of old Hollywood rather took a magnifying glass and capitalized from female pain. The male director, Andrew Dominik, even made statements that could be summarized as to women’s success is not nearly as entertaining or important as their lowest points. For good measure the director also made sure some of Marilyn’s lows were depicted with her shirt off. This film serves as a perfect (but unfortunately not rare) representation of how women are shown in media. This shows that sexist stereotypes have burrowed themselves so deep into the minds of society that even films about women still fall short of representing them. Sexuality and divinity of women always seem to take priority over intelligence or substance. This may not seem substantial to some but rather takes a more apparent role when compared to male led films. Other biographical films such as Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, and Rocketman all tell the story of non-fictional rises to fame. All these examples showcase a plotline that relies heavily on talent, perseverance, and individual substance. Less than fifteen minutes of screen time can be tied to romance related topics or furthermore scenes of sexual manner. On the contrary, when it comes to telling the life story of a starlet less than fifteen minutes of screen time is dedicated to anything other than romance. It is reasonable to assume (and countless examples have proven) that female directed or written films generally carry more feministic/neutral priorities when it comes to what to focus on. Thus, on the rare occasion women aren’t underrepresented they are most definitely misrepresented especially when women themselves are shunned from the writing room. 

 

        Sexist stereotypes in media are rampant and flourish at the box office. A lack of critical thinking and a scarceness of women permitted to garnering authority in production stages enable conservative gender role tropes to plague an abundance of films. It is agreeable that critics who argue media texts feed into sexist stereotypes about the roles of men and women are righteous because of the need for the Bechdel test, countless examples of misogynistic plot lines, and a love for misrepresenting women.