Steven Harper Piziks--Speaking of Sexism

I think as a society we're in Stage III of Steven's Sexism and Entertainment Scale. The scale runs thusly:

STAGE I: Sexim is acceptable, expected, and even written into law. Women in stories (whether print or otherwise) are emotional wimps, prizes for the hero, sex objects, or meek housewives and mothers while men are action-oriented, emotionless, problem-solvers, and breadwinners. Assertive women are portrayed as shrews while men with emotions are portrayed as weak and ineffective.

STAGE II: Sexism is no longer legal, but still present and accepted socially. Fictional women are allowed to take action, but only within carefully-proscribed boundaries, and they still have to fulfill their original gender roles (becoming the woman who can do it all). A few fictional men take emotional risks, but only in stories geared toward women.

STAGE III: While sexism is present, it's socially considered an evil. There is a conscious effort to put fictional women into active roles and fictional men into less active ones, but it only happens when the author/creator makes a conscious effort, and it shows. Such fictional women and/or other characters often comment on how action-oriented they are and how they break the stereotype. ("I am no man," says Eowyn in Return of the King.)

STAGE IV: People are people. Sexism is part of history, and people shake their heads at the silly ideas of their forebears. Gender plays no role in deciding who can do what in entertainment fiction. Women can be weak or strong, men can be weak or strong.

Comments? Reactions?

--Steven

Comments

[Lisa]

I think for Stage One I would add that society allows the occasional either real or fictional rule-breaker -- the rare woman praised for her strong will and manly actions. But if she fails (and many will be looking for her to fail), she'll be condemned for her unwomanly behavior.