RuPaul’s Drag Race and the characters on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman illustrates expectations of men and women in our society. In RuPaul’s Drag Race, the drag queens , male who dress like women and are usually referred to as “she”, frequently link their behaviors with gender roles. In addition, during their game, the drag queens criticize each other by saying, “She throws like a girl”, “The harder you throw, the more you look like a dude”, etc. These statements infer that women are feeble since they can't throw balls well; whereas, men are sturdy and tough. Furthermore, the drag queens expect the male athletes to be in sync with femininity. They wanted the male athletes to alter their talk, walk, etc. Similarly, the characters on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman had expectation of each other based on gender. For instance, in the show, Mary was apprehensive about yellow wax build up on her floor because she associated uncleanliness as a sign of her being an awful wife. Also, Mary’s husband didn’t want his wife to initiate intimacy because he is the man and he calls the shots. He bluntly te...
Making Them Feel Like a Natural Woman: Constructing Gender Performances on The Maury Povich Show
Gender roles are being conformed for television viewing, for example, In episode 2, Raymond stated “I get my exercise and babysit at the same time” when he lifted his twin boys in his arms like a gym equipment’s in front of his friend smiling. Why does a man has to be the one to do something idiotic like that when there would never be a television universe, where a mother would ever do something like that, it just wasn’t a “female” thing to do. Why was Debra the one who had to ask her husband to say, “I love you”? When in reality either one of them could have ask something like that without stereotyping the female. In episode 1, Ray boasted, “Look, I cleaned the house” and Debra was very happy to see that actually happened. Again, why does it had to be a surprise when this was something both males and females do in everyday life without being “surprised” by it or making such an accomplishment out of getting the house cleaned. Television is too much of a stereotype ground field when it comes to gender role and has been for a
Believe it or not, gender scripts shape our everyday lives. The way we think, act, or even the way we interact with one another is undeniably influenced by gender roles. References toward gender are placed subliminally around us in ads, billboards, and on the television. These messages subconsciously tell us as a society what is acceptable behavior and what is not. As learned in class, gender scripts are socially constructed behaviors that society sets for all of us to follow. If someone behaves differently from the already established norms, that person is looked as weird or as an outcast from the rest of the group. The iconic film Love and Basketball allows us as viewers to see gender scripts being defied and role reversal emerged.
In American culture today, women continue the struggle of identifying what their roles in society are supposed to be. Our culture has been sending mixed messages to the modern day female, creating a sense of uneasiness to an already confusing and stressful world. Although women today are encouraged more than ever to be independent, educated, and successful, they are often times shamed for having done just that. Career driven females are frequently at risk of being labeled as bossy, unfeminine, or selfish for competing in many career paths that were once dominated by men. A popular medium in our culture such as television continues to have significant influences as to how people should aspire to live their lives. Viewers develop connections with relatable characters and to relationship dynamics displayed within their favorite shows. Fictional characters and relationships can ultimately influence a viewer’s fashion sense, social and political opinion, and attitude towards gender norms. Since the days of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, where women were commonly portrayed as being the endearing mischievous housewife, television shows have evolved in order to reflect real life women who were becoming increasingly more independent, educated, and career oriented throughout the subsequent decades. New genres of television are introduced, such as the workplace comedy, where women are not only career oriented, but eventually transition into positions of power.
Within this film the sociological concept based around sex & gender is hit quite a few times. Missy, a new comer to her current school, tries out for the cheering team. She is put under lots of scrutiny from some of the members of the cheer squad. She is underestimated due to her appearance and she proves herself to the team. They already had a candidate in mind, but the captain lets the other two team members know that Missy will be on the team. Hearing this noise infuriated them and they called Missy an “uber dyke” which is a sex and gender stereotype. Missy was treated this way all based on the way she prefered to
The film “A League of Their Own,” depicts a fictionalized tale of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League. This league was started during World War II when many of the Major Leagues Biggest stars were drafted to the war. MLB owners decided to start this league with hopes of making money while the men were overseas fighting. Traditional stereotypes of women in sports were already in force before the league even begins. One of the scouts letts Dottie, one of the films main characters she is the perfect combination of looks as well as talent. The scout even rejects one potential player because she is not as pretty as the league is looking for even though she is a great baseball player. The player, Marla’s father said if she was a boy she would be playing for the Yankee’s. Eventually Mara’s father is able to convince the scout to take Marla to try outs because he raised her on his own after her mother died. Her father says it is his fault his daughter is a tomboy. In this case the film reinforces the traditional stereotype that mothers are in charge of raising their daughters and teaching them to be a lady, where fathers are incapable of raising girls to be anything other than a tomboy. The focus on beauty also reinforces the traditional stereotype that men will only be interested in women’s sports when the females participating in
During the post-bellum period, both Blacks and Whites fought to define the social structure of the New South following the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Blacks sought to express their freedom in the simplest terms through the control of their own political, economic, and social life. Nonetheless, humiliation and injustice defined freedom for Blacks in the New South as institutions, both federal and local, failed to support the rule of law. A rigid framework crafted through means of power and fear came to define the social status of the “New Negro”. However, within the framework existed a small amount of fluidity which acted as the motive power for African Americans as they transitioned from a long freedom struggle into the Civil Rights movement. The rigid social framework coupled with the small amount of fluidity acknowledges the harsh realities awaiting Blacks daily during the Jim Crow era while suggesting the opportunities afforded to Blacks indicates an overall improvement in quality life as opposed to the institution of slavery.
Female athletes, must be able to remain feminine and be of use to males, as seen through Plath’s mother’s description of her daughter who, “catered to the male of any age so as to bolster his sense of superiority”. The use of the word “cater” when describing the actions of Sylvia Plath, is used in order to demonstrate the correct way women should behave when around a male. This also allows the reader to obtain the sense that women are seen as fragile beings, submissive to men, and depend on male approval. Thus, in order to obtain all these things women tend to do anything, even alter themselves in order to make themselves more likable to men. The want for male approval, even from female athletes, can be seen through accounts by female athletes. The quote by one downhill skier, is used in order to introduce the way women yearn for male approval, “I love male approval. Most women skiers do. We talk about it often. There’s only one thing more satisfying than one of the top male skiers saying, “Wow, you are a great skier. You rip. You’re awesome”. Even though male athletes do not have to act in a specific way in order to gain approval, women constantly have to adjust themselves, in order to fit the role that describes them as feminine. It is for this reason that the reader can assume why women want male approval, as they
The media has a stereotypical way of constructing the role of women. Taking this into account what Desperate Housewives does, is to give a gender role, which is more positive and “not phallocentric” when it is compared to other shows. The show might not be as accurate to how genders are constructed but it does expand on the idea that media has developed it own type of stereotypical women. The TV program shows how women can construct their reality in several different ways, doing gender in different ways. They are not just housewives, girly women and shopaholics; they have more in their identity than their gender.
In this time, the public became more harsh towards LGBT people ( “A Brief History Of Drag Queens”). Drag performers had to be wearing no less than 3 items of male clothing at all times, if not, they would be arrested. In 1965, the Imperial court was founded. This was the first type of organization for drag queens, and it soon lead to drag balls. Drag balls are often described as a “fraternity like system” where queens formed houses and the “Drag Mother” would be the head of the house. The queens the Drag mother took under her wing were called “Sisters”(“A Brief History Of Drag Queens”). “Mothers” and “Fathers” helped younger members by offering moral support, social support, and sometimes even a place to live if they were kicked out of their own homes (Conger). At Drag balls they also would compete like fraternities in Drag Queens vs. Drag Kings competitions such as “Femme Queen Impersonation” and “Male
In both of these series, representations and meanings of masculinity and femininity are affected by the ideology of patriarchy. Even though it is true that these shows tried to fight back against stereotypical representations of men and women, the subtle textual evidence in these shows show that there are limits to how gender norms can be represented on television, especially in the Classic Network
Some typical sexist remarks include throwing like a girl, saying that a certain sport isn’t for women, or in general that women can’t do something that men can do. “Throwing like a girl” is not because women being inferior to men in terms of athleticism but because they are conditioned to move a certain way in a patriarchal society. This brings back the restriction of movement due to the contradiction women face in that society. Although women are of human existence, they are still limited in subjectivity and transcendence by existing in a patriarchal
RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered on Logo in 2009, and featured 12-13 drag queens competing for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” The show started out modestly, with mostly a cult following. After season four however, the show heightened in popularity. The iconic fights, drag lingo, and influential queens like Sharon Needles, Alyssa Edwards, and Katya transcended the show from a cult favorite to an Emmy-winning phenomenon. Recently, the show was taken to VH1, instead of Logo, which is major because VH1 is a network with an extremely larger reach than Logo. This signified the fact that drag has become mainstream. Additionally, in the past year since moving to a different network, the show is the number one non-sports related show in its
Further to gender, Rayanna has a difficult time convincing Bishop and his crew to let her in due to the fact that she is a female. Gender inequalities within the films dancing are expressed through characters’ dialogues on two accounts . Firstly, a male in Bishop’s dance crew says “They’ll never give top dollar to a girls crew” (Rashid, 2008). This quote supports the common stereotype that women are unable to win or succeed without men and therefore need them in order to accomplish something. In this case it would be Rayanna having to join a male dance team as a female one would not be successful. Secondly, Bishop’s dance crew also mentions when attempting to reject Rayanna from the team, that mixed gender teams are seen as a joke, which do not win (Rashid, 2008), reinforcing gender segregation, defined by the separation of sexes enforced through rules and/or laws (Blackburn, 2002).
The depressing tragedy known as Babbitt, by Lewis Sinclair, accurately portrays the convention of life in the 1920’s. Sinclair precisely evokes the conformity and orthodox life styles that shaped a growing culture. Man, in the 1920’s, is caught in a lifestyle where he is continually fed on what to think. Lewis cunningly explains the constraints of convention that plagued George Babbitt, and mocks society as a whole for its lack of liberal views. Babbitt throughout the novel seems to be trapped in a maze, and is told by “the machine” when to turn. Only when Babbitt revolts against conservative America does his life change, but the question is was it for the better?