Media Message that Feminism is Dead

In Chapters 4 and 5 of Enlightened Sexism, Douglas describes how current media has portrayed feminism as unnecessary, “dead,” and a worthless pursuit.

In “The New Girliness,” Douglas discusses the transformation of girl power in the mid-1990s and early 2000s through television and film, in which women’s inner thoughts were conveyed on the screen, finally giving a voice to women that was “not how men viewed women, but how women themselves felt” (Douglas, 2010, 102). The advent of “chick flick” films like Clueless, Legally Blonde, and Miss Congeniality promoted the power of girliness, rather than the power of being a girl/woman. The supposed authenticity of monologues from a woman’s perspective was justified as empowering to women, when, in actuality, it further established the power of enlightened sexism.

Some television programs, such as Ally McBeal, portrayed women who had feminine appearances, could not separate their personal lives from their professional lives (thereby affirming that “the achievements of feminism and the demands of femininity” [108] could coexist and implying the pointlessness of feminist efforts), and thought about “girly things and their own failures” (111) instead of the substantial ideas they encountered in their professional lives (leading to their frequent incompetence in the professional world). This exposé of inner thoughts maintained that women were self-absorbed, overcome by emotions and personal concerns, and unable to handle the rigor of intellectual thoughts even if they were employed in high-class business positions.

Douglas writes about films which convey the importance of femininity and suggest that feminism is no longer needed. The film Miss Congeniality asserts that women must be transformed from their antifeminine ways into beautiful, pageant-worthy ladies who concede to societal expectations for women. Legally Blonde elevates the significance of “girly logic” within a woman’s arsenal of legal knowledge in an obscure case and characterizes feminism within a paranoid, accusatory, and outcast lesbian character named Enid, playing on the negative stereotype that exists for the traditional “antagonistic” lesbian feminist. Other films deny the need of feminism in the present day, illustrating that some men have changed their sexist ways and “have been reformed by feminism” (124), thus making it a pointless cause.

In “You Go, Girl,” the complexity of enlightened sexism for black women is addressed. The chapter discusses how enlightened sexism “intersects with new subtle racism and misogyny” (131). Douglas depicts how successful black women often use code-switching to demonstrate both their “assimilat[ion] into professional middle-class norms” (128) and their trueness to black culture. However, the portrayal of a few successful black women in television is not representative of the experience of the majority of African American girls and women who live in poverty (130).

In the film For Colored Girls (not mentioned in this chapter but shown on campus last week) and other more realistic media portrayals of black individuals, black men are regarded as worthless and the source of black women’s pain. The matriarchal family structure becomes detrimental for black women, who must sacrifice their own aspirations in order to be a stable support for the family.

While black speak offers a transgressive, “against the grain” approach to societal standards and norms, it also “trivializes black women and what they can be” (152). Oprah, who Douglas claims “almost transcends race” (146), also falls into the trap of trivializing women’s issues, suggesting that personal solutions are appropriate and changes within systems and structures are not necessary, once again deeming feminism unnecessary.