Feminist Movement: Television Takeover

By C. Nicole

Films and television portray human imagination or reality. Films and series rub the human ego into thinking what really happens or could happen. Films starting from the 1930s Screwball comedy era has shown that women could dominate men’s emotions and their thoughts. Film’s such as, Heartbeat (1946) and The Awful Truth (1937) showed that women could tell men where to shove it. When Lucy Ball, from I Love Lucy, changed the television stigma when she produced her own show, showed that women can do whatever they put their mind to. The old saying is “That everything always repeats itself through time”. That particular era has inspired the movies and shows we see now.  

            I feel as television are the voice for women. What show or movie have you seen lately that didn’t involve a woman? Women are the soul and breathe of every single film and TV show ever made. In the 1960s, came tons of high eyebrows and confusion when they showed women and their dominant personas. Women were portrayed as powerful, witty, unpredictable, and used their sexiness to gain the same power as men.  Women actresses have always dominated the TV screen from Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly to Natalie Portman and Meryl Streep. Male roles have been moving further away from the masculine and authoritative characters and exchanged into the women roles.

            When Sex and the City (1999) had its first appearance on HBO, it showed four different types of women who all had certain views on men, work, and sex. This particular TV show was an immense force when it showed in 1999. The open discussions between 30-something New Yorkers about women in society and sex, seemed a little vulgar to the public. Each episode had clear sex scenes, which is why some were looking high-browed and yet intrigued. It opened up a new forum to wear women felt as if they were seeing themselves through the television. There is always that woman who is conservative, slutty, working-class, and and/or writer. Carrie Bradshaw, Charlotte York, Samantha Jones, and Miranda Hobbs were four different women who opened their first episode talking about having sex like a man. Men loved having sex with women and not having any emotional connection afterwards. Samantha who was a sexual woman, who had sex like a man all the time, thought what could be better? Charlotte the conservative one, was a woman who relied on men to make her life complete hated the idea. Miranda stated “When you have sex with men like they have sex with you, they can’t perform the way they use to”. Carrie, who was a free spirited writer, wrote a weekly column on sex in New York City. Most of the time, in each episode Carrie would test out each theory for her own for research. In this particular episode Carrie tested out having sex like a man and her quote loosely was “I successfully had sex like a man, so why don’t I feel any better?” Each weekly show had a particular concept of women’s lives and mostly about men. It also explores the issues of promiscuity, STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases), and having safe sex.

            Women are always the ones who are taught to be careful having sex, or have none at all. If women do end up pregnant, people around them don’t usually feel bad for her because she knew how to prevent it. Men are never the focal point when they are talking about safe sex. Men are the most sexually active gender and 77% of them usually have sex with multiple women without a condom. The stigmas between men and women are the standards that society put on us to have more common sense than men or have better judgment. So when STDs or HIV happen to them it’s their fault that they didn’t wear a condom not the males. That is something I will never seem to get. In an episode of Sex and the City (1999), Samantha met a man who was just as sexually active as she was and he made her get an HIV test for the first time. Samantha had wide load of sexual partners and never had one before. Also Miranda got chlamydia by one of the men she slept with and he never told her. The awareness the show brought about those topics had women all around the world getting tested.  The feministic values that the show brought did make a huge impact on women.

            The series also brought to light about women in the workplace. About how men look for you to already be emotional because of being a woman. Charlotte York, the conservative one, in the show explained that she worked for an art gallery for 10 years and she cried once and everyone tip-toed around her after that. Miranda Hobbs, the lawyer who was pregnant, explained that she didn’t want them to know she was pregnant. She felt like the office would think her pregnancy would affect her decisions. What we have discussed in class about women in the workplace is a mirror image to the series. In class we discussed that women in the workplace are not every males dream. Women’s work wages and work conditions have gotten better through the years, but the equality of pay isn’t. Women are paid less and treated unfairly at work, whether they are working in the government, or your local gas station. Whether it’ s sexual harassment or being less than their male counterparts women are always stuck in a difficult predicament at work.

            The feminist views in each piece of the six seasons are what all women have to deal with on a daily basis. Despite the race, we all have the same worries and concerns when it comes to sex, relationships, men, and our health. Abortions, our weight, and our health are sadly depicted on how society views it. When Miranda unexpectedly ended up pregnant in an episode she wanted an abortion. She learned that Carrie and Samantha had abortions before, but Carrie was too embarrassed to tell her boyfriend, Aiden, about her past. Weight and abortions should not affect society. It’s horrific that if a woman in the industry doesn’t fit in the bubble of what’s hot that she won’t be on the scene at all.

            This series pin points everything that seems to go on in women’s lives whether it’s male drama, being a mother, or everyday money budgeting. All four women had great careers, but still figuring things out as they go. I think all of us as women are figuring out our paths as we go along. It was important because it shows the life of every single young adult and woman. Each woman was looking for love. I also think all four women were relying on a man, in a way, to make them happy. Like we said in class, feminism isn’t just for the masculine lady who doesn’t shave. It’s about rights that we should be allowed to have. It’s even about showing the things that women go through. We all, as women, have place in society. We are looked upon as being the life source for the earth, but not the priority.