In both of their respective texts, Marjorie Garber and Roger Baker discuss the ever-increasing prevalence of “transvestism” (or what is modernly known as “drag”) in popular American culture. Although the American public typically disapproves of individuals blurring the boundaries of gender, the use of cross-dressing as entertainment has generally been embraced and met with great acclaim. In Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety, Garber argues that films like Tootsie (1982) is significant in that it portrays a heterosexual man living as a woman. While many enjoyed the movie believing that Tootsie was commentary on the relationship between men and women, Garber claims that the film is actually about transvestism. To ignore this…
Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture is a book written by Maria Elena Buszek that explains how third-wave feminists are taking back pin-up culture. This new pin-up culture is shown developing through a 150 year time span. Buszek examines old and new female sex symbols as well as the beginnings of this new revival of the pin-up genre. This book illustrates how women are often publicly depicted and the representation of our sexualities since the early 1860’s. Buszek makes an argument that women dressed in dominatrix gear are complex and even revolutionary for female sexuality rather than being interpreted as mere representations that objectify women. This is a captivating book where Buszek enthusiastically weaves academia with testimony to make a brilliant argument that third-wave feminism should not be…
When I was younger I remember going into my mom’s closet and trying on their oversized clothes playing dress up, children pageantry is nothing like that it sexualizes young girls. Can you imagine seeing your little three year old daughter or niece a dressed up as a prostitute, who Julia Robert played in the movie Pretty Woman? That was one of the many disturbing image I saw while watching Toddlers and Tiaras. How can a mother let their young daughters go on national television dressed in skimpy outfits for the world to see? I don’t…
When studying modern mythos in terms of comic books, I kept myself in the lense of female superheros being the goddesses of today. I use the comic books as the goddesses’ mythic narrative, but it also moves beyond written and into a visual medium which seems to be a very intriguing thing to the culture of our world today. The pictures and narrative storyline of the female superheroes provides a clear understanding of their purpose in the world created by the writers. When I posed a question of are these writers using these characters as tools to maintain a patriarchal culture or are they strong female role models created to instigate a change in the views of the world, the answer I arrived on was that they were no different from the heroines…
Women struggle daily in order to meet the unrealistic standards of beauty. In the beginning of the music video, Beyonce and the other women are seen doing their hair and makeup and choosing their outfits. In the article, “No More Miss America,” feminists protest that, “women…
The 1920s was the peak of a women’s revolt for independence and ability to represent themselves individually while taking control of their own lives. The traditions of victorian gibson girls were worthless as the newborn flappers took control with their rebellious fashion sense and thoughts of equality. “Flappers drank, smoked, drove cars, cut their hair short while fraternizing with men and took full advantage of the advances in cosmetics technology at the time.” The roaring twenties fashion icons such as Joan Crawford and Clara Bow began to wear bold makeup and cut their hair short in order to disport the glamorous party girl look. The beauty industry took off with famed Hollywood designers such as Coco Chanel and makeup brands like Tre Jur…
The chapter, From Rosie to Lucy, by James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, is about how the feminine mystique changed drastically from the era of WWII to the era of the baby boom. The shift was attributed to men’s influence on the women through fashion trends, magazines, and TV shows. The main purpose of the chapter is to show that the propaganda through TV and society affected individuals, and more specifically the feminine mystique.…
Ruanch culture makes women look worthless and gives off the impression that they don’t have any self-respect. We are looked at as just a “sexual object” rather than a respected woman. Ruach culture suppresses us as women and we are getting nowhere as women with these kind of vulgar activity’s. Women today are still being looked at as weaker than men. I have googled multiple porn stars of today such as Pinky, Jenna Jameson, and many others; they all seem to have one thing in common. These women don’t have husbands, children, and they don’t get along with their family. I know from a personal experience with having brothers that they would never take a stripper or a porn-star home to my mother. It…
At the end of the nineteenth century and into the early part of the twentieth century there were two predominant styles of dress and manner for women. The Gibson Girl was popular from about 1890 until the end of World War I which then gave rise to the Flapper Girl of the 1920’s. They were different in most things, except that they both promoted the sense of what the time thought the “modern woman” was. They both were interested in women’s rights and equality of the sexes.…
The goal of this subculture is to become a “real” female, if not to transform completely, to at least look like a real female. They are motivated by the celebrities they see in magazines and on TV. Straight, white, females are this group’s comparative influence,…
the audience wanted her to be, to act like just the other traditional female do. This traits…
For my essay I will be addressing the cultural issue of, slut shaming. My outside source response was found on FAU’s Searchwise where I searched, “Slut Shaming America,” and found a source titled, “Teen girls sexual double standards and sexting: Gendered value in digital image exchange. “This source will expand on my issue because simply by reading the abstract it explains how the article touches base on, “… gender inequalities and sexual double standards… yet face legal repercussions, moral condemnation, and ‘slut shaming’ when they do so.” The article specifically speaks on sexting and how there are gender double standards, which extends my topic to a more narrow spectrum where I can be more specific with it. Essentially, the article describes…
According to Patricia Hill Collins in “The Power of Self-Definition,” creating a safe space is important part of empowerment because:…
This source will provide solid background information for my research topic, particularly on how flappers in the 1920s challenged the traditional gender roles in the United States. Specifically, this source approaches my research topic from a fashion point of view and demonstrates how the fashion trends alter Americans’ beauty standards. Specially, this article series aligns with my argument on how the overall American population…
Post-feminism endorses rejection of practices that identify the differences between male and female. For example, the recent movements to refuse to shave legs or underarms as well as cosmetics. Post-feminism re-evaluates the relation between femininity and feminism, establishing a new subjective space for women. While there is a constant struggle to establish a cultural idea of femininity, fashion has a huge impact in bewilderment of this image. As McRobbie argues: ‘’Fashion is a tool of post-feminism for gender re-positioning. This is carried out through the idea of what she calls ’post-feminist masquerade’. This kind of ’re-positioning’…