Say Goodbye to the Damsel in Distress

Disney movies are cherished by all ages throughout our world. However, the Disney princess movies have been a controversial topic for a long time when it comes to the gender roles of the characters. In many of the older Disney movies, the female characters are viewed as weak and inferior compared to the male characters who were strong and empowered. This inequality is teaching children that there are certain gender scripts that are to be followed. 

In my very first blog post, I discussed the problems of the past time Disney princess films. This time, I will be discussing what Disney has brought in recent years. It seems that the Disney industry has paid attention to critics, and they’ve presented some new movies that have definitely improved the representations of women. 

In the movie, "The Princess And The Frog", Tiana was the first black woman to become a princess. What is different about Tiana is that she was not focused on finding a handsome prince to save her from her financial and emotional troubles. She didn't even want to be swept off her feet. All she was worrying about was to save enough money to buy an old sugar mill that her father never got to turn into a restaurant before he passed. She had to work long hours and missed out on living her life as a young adult just to fulfill that goal. 

Tiana became a Princess through falling in love with Prince Naveen who was not wealthy and had no castle to his name when they got married. Naveen did not buy her restaurant for her. Tiana did it all through her own dedication of hard work and believing in her dream. Tiana is a role model to our girls. She teaches them that hard work and self belief can get you anywhere. Life can be difficult sometimes, it gets bumpy. But with love, faith, and working hard, it can get you far.

The movie, "Frozen",  is another Disney film that presents two wonderful role models for our girls.  Anna is whimsy but she understands that there is a big world around her and is excited to explore it. She wants to experience more in her social life. She wants to make friends and meet people. She embraces the smallest and most ordinary things about her home, Arendelle. Anna’s courage and love of life are traits girls should try to strive for. 

What is amazing about Elsa is that she thinks realistically and she broke through her own barriers of self-doubt. Elsa having powers truly gave her low confidence in being accepted by her people. But later on, she realized how pointless it was to let the fear of other people's opinions affect the way she lives. She was now able to embrace how special she was. Also, not only does Elsa NOT need any man or any relationship to be satisfied, she learns to find the value and love in her family and friends. 

Elsa and Anna are both a perfect representation of the importance of family and that true love is not just about "falling in love with prince charming". 

In the movie "Brave", Merida became a strong, arrow-shooting role model for little girls. She rebels against traditional gender roles. She doesn’t want to be a princess and rejects the arranged marriage her parents try to forcibly set up. She also proves that she does not need a husband to rule the kingdom. She presents independence and freedom to be able to handle situations on her own. 

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Moana tells the story of a 16-year-old Polynesian girl, daughter of the chief and next in line, Moana. She takes it upon herself to set sail across the sea away from her family and home, determined to find a way to save her people from a mysterious darkness called Te Kā. What makes Moana such a positive model is that she is strong and brave. Her father never allowed her to go past the reef and into the ocean before. But with her island home in danger, she ventures over the reef and starts her quest. When she left, she had no idea how to sail, how to navigate, and yet, she doesn’t let that stop her. She is determined and faces her fears head on. She fought a lava monster and has no problem climbing sky high cliffs! Not to mention, Moana doesn’t need a knight in shining armour to help her. She is independent and ready to take on anything or anyone. 

 Disney princess movies have had major improvements over the years. Each of these films discussed have made an impact on our girls and the rise in feminism. Hopefully, the company will continue to improve the portrayal of women and putting our children on the right path to gender equality.

Sex Abuse: 50 Shades Of Grey

Well, we all know that the mass media is the spotlight to what our actions and beliefs are. The media is our guide through social and gender scripts in order to live in the society. Today I am going to discuss the topic of sex. Let's be honest, we have learned sex through the media. Although sex is a natural thing for all living things, the media has taught us all in society how sex is supposed to look and feel. Pornography is another word for sex media. The problem with pornography is what is being shown the most. The most highly watched sex films are the ones that show violence.

Ana and Chrsitian

Let's take the movie, 50 Shades of Grey, for instance. The novels and movies have been a huge concern since it was made. So, I am just going to discuss the first film. If anyone has not seen the film or read the novel, it is about a woman named Anastasia who volunteers to interview a successful businessman, Christian Grey, in her sick friend's place for their college news article. Christian becomes interested in Ana and she (of course) falls for his charms. Little does she know that Christian has a dark side when it comes to sex and pleasure but for her being inexperienced, she's willing try anything to have him. Basically, the sex is more violent than pleasurable for Ana.

I'd hate to spoil some of the details but I have to talk about how wrong this movie portrays sex. The film definitely glamorizes most of the sex scenes to make it look desirable and pleasurable, which is why so many WOMEN are begging to have it. If you think realistically, many women are sexually abused, even raped every day. Which is why violent sex scenes in movies is such a huge concern, no matter how “nice” it is portrayed. Even though the scenes are sugarcoated, it still presents sex violence. For example, when Anastasia disobeys Christian by rolling her eyes, he whips her. At first, it is not a big deal because Anastasia ends up enjoying it. But later on, Anastasia does something to make Christian upset and he whips her, but this time he whips her hard which makes Anastasia cry in pain physically and mentally. What’s even worse is that this may look bad in the film, but just think of how this punishment is in real life for women in abusive relationships.

Extreme masculinity is also present in the film. Christian makes it clear to Ana that he does sex differently. "I don't do romance, I f*ck." So he creates a emotionless barrier in order to protect himself from getting hurt. Another example is that he tells Ana that if she wants him, she has to become his submissive and he is the dominant. He is basically telling her if she wants to be with him, she needs to basically be his sex slave. One more example that concerns me is this "consent contract" that Christian gives Anastasia. To sum up this contract, basically Christian is asking for Ana's consent to control her completely and be able to use "sex toys" on her in his "play room". This is actually terrifying to me because these sex toys look like weapons and tools for torture. Not to mention the play room looks like a serial killer's basement where he kills his victims. If I saw that room, I don't care how attractive Christian is, I would run for my life. 

The point is that when we as viewers see films like 50 Shades of Grey or other sex-based media, what we see is what we consume. When violent media is glamorized, we are placed in the delusion that aggressive sex is accepted and desired. We need to be more aware of how sex is shown on the media and change this norm that violent sex towards women is accepted in society. 

Harassment Against Women

"It's a myth that street harassment is just a bit of harmless fun. It's about power and control – and, as I know from personal experience, can so easily turn to violence." - Laura Bates.

For this blog I will be focusing on harassment against women. Women are harassed everyday in a  variety of  places. Street harassment is getting unwanted comments or attention from strangers that are directed to you because of your gender. It causes a person to feel uneasy and threatened. It can also violate their dignity. This kind of verbal abuse is hard to deal with because the person does not know whether to ignore it or respond to it. If they ignore it, it can lead to additional harassment or even lead to being followed. If the person responds to it, it can be perceived as acceptance and encouragement to have even more confrontations from the stranger. The bottom line is that most women won't stand up to verbal harassment for fear of  making the situation worse. 
There have been several social experiments on this issue and the video below displays a woman ignoring the verbal harassment which unfortunately does not change her situation. 

When a person is being verbally harassed in an area, especially somewhere in a place where they are not familiar of. They experience fear, anxiety, embarrassment, and victimization. It can cause psychological and physical health issues. The problem is that these harassers fail to realize that what they are doing is damaging. 

I have personal experience with this. I have been verbally harassed on many occasions. In one example, I was shopping with my mother at the mall and I passed a group of men who thought it was okay to make verbal comments about my body. I shrugged it off and kept walking. The men failed to realize that my mother was behind me and heard what they said. She did not hesitate to confront them about their harassment towards me and they immediately apologized to her. She proceeded to explain to them why it was not okay and instead of apologizing to her, she suggested they would apologize to me. 

What can be taken from this example is that someone who thinks there is no harm in verbally assaulting someone can learn that it is not okay by being confronted. However, when a person is alone, that could possibly lead to a dangerous situation. 

The video below explains how verbal harassment against women is about power and control. Women who don't confront these men, are giving them the power. They are allowing control over the situation. Women have the opportunity to change the behavior by confronting it. Overcoming the fear of encouraging more attention. One of the girls in the video, actually fought back verbally with what the harassers were saying about her. She responded with confidence and did not show fear or intimidation which made the men stop talking.

Street harassment may seem harmless and playful. Most people would confuse it with just flirting. But in actuality, it is very damaging to the victims. It is important to teach people to be intolerant of street harassment because it can lead gender-based violence such as rape, assault, or violent crimes in general. Street harassment should not be ignored nor tolerated.