Week 5

I thought the phenomena of femininity would be an interesting topic to explore. In thinking about my own adoption of femininity, I realized how various media representations shaped my perceptions. Television shows and movies are consistently enforcing the ideas of femininity into the minds of young girls and women. Television shows such as America’s Next Top Model and soap operas such as The Young and the Restless are advocating for femininity acceptable roles of women. Tyra’s America’s Next Top Model shows women the beauty of wearing makeup, couture clothing, and obtaining an acceptable friendly and lady-like attitude. Women who are lesbian are even transformed into becoming more of an acceptable lady. This modeling TV series exemplifies its tolerance for diversity while silently adapting the lesbian women (“the other”) to mainstream feminine identity. The overall message being conveyed implies that it is not enough to take good pictures unless you really believe and consume the values that produce a true American woman.

Along with these television shows, commercials are constantly aiding in shaping the idea of femininity for women. From the CoverGirl and Revlon commercials to the Electrolux commercials, women are being conformed to consume a feminine identity. As depicted by the Cover Girl commercial, pretty girls use Cover Girl products and are eye of attention where ever they go. If women don’t want to appear as odd and weird individuals, then they need to use the products that make them appealing and that validate them as women. There have also been several advertisements from the Electrolux appliance company with Kelly Ripa from Live With Regis and Kelly. The commercial shows Kelly as the all-American mom who can take on anything with the Electrolux appliances. The commercial begins with Kelly doing her laundry chores and ending with her making warm baked chocolate chip cookies for her three daughters. This is comical because all girls and no boys are shown as her children in this commercial. The girls will soon follow in their mother’s footsteps and become good wives, mothers, and nurturers. The media representation of femininity in the
Electrolux commercial was definitely structured to appeal to women and encourage them to be the best woman they can be.

I can recall consuming these identities as a young girl and even now as a young woman. One of my favorite movies and greatest model of femininity was the 1995 movie Clueless. Obtaining the identity of Cher and Dionne was the ultimate goal of every young girl. The movie even contrasts the old version of Tai and the reinvented version of Tai which depicts the reinvented Tai as popular and desirable. Today’s Sex and the City has every young woman thinking about fashionable clothing and relationships. The idea of femininity has been so strongly instilled into the minds of both men and women until they are unable to reject the ideas. Ultimately, women will have stand up and decide on how they want to define their identities and not given into the readily available media representations.

Sheila Jeffreys, a writer of feminism psychology, discusses how femininity has transformed over the years. In Jeffreys’ book, Beauty and Misogyny (2005), she critiques modern western beauty practices. Jeffreys’ views of femininity differ greatly from the views depicted by the media. Practices such as lipstick wearing and enlargement of the breasts that were once loathed are now admired and acceptable practices for women. She argues that western beauty practices are performed only for the satisfaction of men. These choices are not for women’s individual expression of self, but as a means of oppressing women. The ideas within this are of psychology are not aligned with the ideas that are depicted in the media. Women need to become self-advocates of their feminism without the oppressive values of the media.