Punishment of not conforming to the double standard: men who don't fit the traditional male role and women who are sexually dominant
What happens in the media when a man does not conform to the stereotype of a promiscuous male, eager to take part in one-night stands?
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"The 40 Year Old Virgin" is the most obvious example of men being ridiculed for not being sexually active or dominant. Men translate one message from the media: you are not cool if you don't have sex.
The media portrays the only men who are not sexually active as the nerds who can't get anyone to sleep with them. Andy was portrayed as a loser and a wimp in various ways: either through his apartment being overcrowded with action figures, to him riding a bicycle to his nerdy attire. It is when his friends begin to help him on his path to loose his virginity that we see his attire, apartment and attitude becoming more masculine. This example illustrates that men appear to be encouraged and rewarded for being sexually active and dominant and men who don't fit this stereotype are ridiculed and belittled. |
Easy A
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Easy A is by far the most obvious movie that demonstrates that sexual double standards are prevalent in high school. The double standard in this movie is while the guys who pretend to have sex with Olive get a reputation boost, Olive becomes the school "slut".
Olive is not only shunned by everyone at her high school (including teachers) but most surprisingly by her best friend for being "too slutty". Are guys who are deemed the "school players" shunned by their best guy friends?....NO. They are patted on the back, Easy A outlines the difficult situation we all have faced or are currently facing....maybe the answer is marching through school in a black lacy corset with a red "A" embroidered on it. |
What's Your Number?
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This movie is based on following a young woman who attempts to rekindle the flame with former lovers after learning of a study that suggests women with more then 20 sexual partners are unlikely to be married. Whats most interesting in this movie is the fact that it only focuses on the women's number of sexual partners: the men in the movie (specifically the neighbor) are never put under the same microscope
Specifically in this scene: Ally is referred to as a slut by her friends because she had the most sexual partners. It seems a common theme that it is the females more times then the males that call someone a "slut" or a "whore". Do you think we realize that every time we call someone a "slut" or a "whore" we are completely buying into this double standard. This movie is the best representative of the numbers aspect of the sexual double standard: the one that gives guys a pat on the back for having sex with as many women as possible while terms like slut and whore are used to describe women who have "too many partners" |
Ciara ft Ludacris: Ride
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This video was banned on BET because Ciara was apparently showing too many "goodies". Do you agree that this video was too provocative or do you think they should play it seeing as a majority of their videos show male rappers portrayed as "pimps" singing about "hoes" and showing much more sexually provocative things then this video? Do you think someone like 50 Cent or Kayne West made this video it would of gotten the same reaction? probably not. BET banning Ciara's music video explicitly shows how women are punished for not conforming to their traditional role and thus being sexually active similar to men. |
Sex and the City
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Unfortunately: The Clip from Sex and the City I was looking for was not available in clip form but if you go to this youtube video you can click on the link below and watch the episode: The specific episode is called "Are we Sluts". In this episode "Are we Sluts" the characters question whether they are too promiscuous and Charlotte worries because "nobody wants to marry a whore". Also in another episode in Sex and the City, Charlotte is reluctant to try anal sex because "men don't marry up-the-butt-girl". Also, in the Sex and the City Episode "Four women and a funeral" the character Samantha is condemned in her social circle for sleeping with a married man. The man does not suffer publicly and Samantha is left ostracized and must go to great lengths to redeem herself. |
Just Go With It
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This is a clip of the first time Palmer meets "Devlin". I think the thing I like best about it is that "Devlin" is completely demasculinizing Danny by making up fake statements to make him appear less sexually pleasing and attractive. These comments totally go against the male stereotype of the fact that men use active and powerful strategies to win women's affection and appear valued for their strength and power. The 3 main lines I found to be the most humiliating and demasculinizing Danny are: "Im just happy his thing-a-ding can still ring-a-ding"; "he has a serious small issue with ED" and "its like trying to throw darts and you just, all you got, is your shooting with rubber cooked spaghetti". |
South Park
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This is the "Stupid Spoiled Whore" episode... I don't think I need to explain how this more then reinforces that woman who are considered sexually promiscuous are often labeled as "whores" and looked at negatively. Wendy wasn't considered a "stupid spoiled whore" because she was Class President and got straight A's. This is implying that women who are called "whores" are not smart and don't have the same potential as women who are not seen as sexually promiscuous |