Womens' Work Roles: Fairy Tales and Beyond

The women in fairy tales stories don't usually do much other than cleaning, cooking, and trying to look good to attract a prince. Cinderella cooked and cleaned the house; Donkeyskin got a job working in a kitchen; Snow White cleaned and baked for the dwarves; Little Red Riding Hood's mother baked and and took care of Granny; Beauty got up at 4:00 in the morning and "started cleaning the house and preparing breakfast for the family" (De Beaumont 33). These activities were very normal and perfectly right for the time periods in which these tales were told and written down. The women were fulfilling their womanly roles. What about the roles of women today? Have they changed? Thank goodness, I think this is an area of women's lives that has changed. It is not at all unusual for a woman to work outside the home and to have a full-time career. Look at this video clip from the 1950's
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgGFzUS4tkg
The man says, "Just about an hour ago, I got you fired." When the woman looks shocked and asks why he did that, he responds with, "I figured that being my wife would take up all of your time." I guess this was his idea of a romantic marriage proposal. Never mind that it was sexist, domineering, and extremely rude. I don't think women of today would go for this kind of treatment. They would be furious, and probably cuss him out, or something worse. The woman of the 1950's actually smiles and accepts his proposal! She looks happy to think that she is going to be somebody's wife instead of working at whatever job that was that he got her fired from.
I don't think men of today would be stupid enough to try this approach. Getting someone fired from their job is not considered romantic or manly. This gives me hope that maybe some roles for women have progressed since the days of fairy tales. Women are able to work in various jobs that they want to pursue. However, I fear that women are still expected to do more than an equal share of housework, even if they work the same hours outside the home. Cooking and cleaning are still considered "women's work" and we need to continue changing this belief. Some couples share equally in the household chores, but I think many women are still doing more than their fair share. This takes me back to our discussions of those darned kitchen and cleaning toys that they are marketing to children. We need to give our little girls more choices as to the toys they play with! Baby dolls and fashion dolls and kitchens are all good toys, but maybe we can empower our girls to play with a variety of toys including toy work benches and remote control dinosaurs and science kits. Then they will think about other roles they could have when they grow up besides "housekeeper."

"Inappropriate Clothing" and A Double Standard

Several students in class did presentations about the different gender typing and gender roles portrayed in fairy tales. Chelsea showed how these male/female roles are depicted on the screen by use of dress, body type, and dialog. The male heroes are overly muscular, as we have all said before, but Chelsea also brought out the point that they are two-dimensional and do not have enough dialog to give them a real personality. The female characters in fairy tale based movies do seem to have more dialog and singing parts. It does seem that we get to "know" the female characters better and know more about their lives than the male characters. I guess you could say that the male figures are in a supporting role. Many times the heroes don't have much personality, they only have to be charming and high-ranking and able to save the princess from whatever bad situation she is in. The female characters have a more fully developed personality and also have a life history that the male characters often lack. However, as Chelsea said, they are depicted as beautiful and helpless, and wearing "inappropriate" clothing. I liked her use of the word "inappropriate" because it is true that the women often wear pretty gowns, even when they are cleaning. Cinderella actually did wear a plain dress and apron when she was cleaning the floors, but she still looked very pretty. As Matt pointed out during his presentation, she was surrounded by beautiful bubbles when she cleaned, rather than dirt or dust. But getting back to the "inappropriate" clothing, I've noticed that women in older tv shows such as "Leave It To Beaver" or "Brady Bunch" worked around their homes in snug dresses, jewelry, and heels. Their hair was always perfect and they never looked like they got dirty while cleaning. Notice in this clip from the opening of "Leave it to Beaver" that the mom is perfectly dressed and has on her make-up and jewelry, even though it must be early in the morning because she is handing out the lunch boxes to the kids before they go to school. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZAR7Q28V9g
So she had to get up, do her hair and make-up, put on a nice dress, and make the kids lunches before they go out the door. She probably cooked breakfast for everyone too. This is, of course, a television program and the actors and actresses would be made to look their best, but it also gives women a false standard to live up to. I wonder how many women try to live up to the standard of looking pretty even while they work or do manual labor? Men certainly don't have such a standard. Men, both then and now, might wear nice suits if they work in an office, but they get to wear strong, sturdy, protective clothing such as bib overalls or jeans and a flannel shirt if they are doing some kind of "dirty work." We also don't expect them to stay clean while they are doing said work. You never see a man out working on his car in his garage, wearing a suit and tie, so why were women expected to wear dresses, (or gowns in the fairy tales) while they were working? It is another double standard! Men aren't expected to wear inappropriate clothing, and women shouldn't be expected to, either! Although this standard has changed somewhat since the 1950's, I think women are still expected to look pretty and clean no matter what they are doing. Many tv moms still look pretty good as they move around their houses. I don't have time for alot of tv, but there are a couple of shows that I saw on Wednesday nights that have tv moms. One is called "Modern Family" and one is called "Cougartown". In both of these, the moms look very pretty and very sexy, even while they are cooking or taking care of the kids in the house. Our fashion has changed--women no longer wear dresses all the time--but I don't think our (double) standards have changed! I think it is time that women in tv and movies get to be happy and have healthy relationships even while wearing comfortable and appropriate clothing.

A Princess We Can All Be Proud Of

Today's presentations on fairy tales and feminist issues were very well done. I was surprised to discover that someone other than me was a fan of Xena! I loved "Xena, Warrior Princess" and used to watch every episode. For this e-journal entry, I had a chance to stop and think why I (and Tish) and other women love Xena. I think she represents the strong woman that we all have inside us. Here's a clip to show some of what I will be talking about..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jm7ZK1KaMc&NR=1 Now I realize that Xena was a tough and sometimes mean warrior who killed people and that she was a made-up tv character, but I still think there are qualities to Xena that make most women admire her. For one thing, Xena was physically strong and athletic and could easily ward off men who were messing with her. Watching her fight several men at a time and best them was always a kick for me. Xena also was articulate and well-spoken. She didn't always say much, but when she did it was really important and made you want to listen. Her witty, sarcastic comments to men were always a treat as well. Xena also was fighting for a good cause and trying to do away with evil and help others. The compassion for others and willingness to fight for what she believed in always made her stand out as a true heroine. She was so different from the fairy tale princesses who need to be rescued and pretty much do nothing but look pretty. Xena did not need to be rescued by a man. Instead, she rescued others, including many men. As can be seen in the attached video clip, Xena could also do back flips, front flips, use a sword, shoot an arrow, ride a horse, and do a very cool warrior yell. Even with all her fighting skill and toughness, she was also very beautiful with her dark hair and blue eyes. They did give her a sexy outfit, but even when Xena was dirty and her hair messed up she still looked good. As women, we definitely admire Xena's strength, skill, and athleticism, but I think it was her courage, compassion, and heart that we admire most. Maybe there is a little bit of Xena in all of us.

More About Gender-Typing With Toys

I think Joseph said that he found in his research information saying that the driveable cars made for kids are made more powerful for the boys and less powerful for the girls. Could I possibly have heard him right? Surely this can't be true! That would be totally unfair if the little girl can't keep up with the little next-door-neighbor boy, and she would never know why. What about families that have twins or siblings close in age--one girl and one boy--who decide to race their new cars? The girl might think that she actually is not as good a driver as her brother and this could stay with her for life! Gendered toys are one thing, but this is totally ridiculous. The toy manufacturers need to know that little girls like to go just as fast as little boys. Their reaction time is just as quick as a boy's and they can handle the faster car. So, I was annoyed that the cars are usually made pink and purple for the girls while the boys get to have jazzy red, but if it is accurate that they are made with a power difference, then that is way beyond annoying. It's downright wrong!
Another interesting and somewhat scary point from the presentations was Megan's reading of the tiara box. I wish I could remember it enough to paraphrase what it said, but I just remember it was giving little girls the idea that if they wore the enclosed tiara they could be just like a princess and look beautiful. I think the ending said something about living happily ever after, also just like a princess. We should not be giving our girls the belief that the happiness and success of their lives depends upon their looks and whether or not they have the right accessories. It is fun for little girls to play dress-up, but I think we may be going overboard with the whole Disney princess image. The prices on those Disney princess dresses were outlandish--I noticed one that was priced at $89 and one was $149. How ridiculous to put that much money into playing dress-up. One can only imagine how much those princess bedrooms must cost, especially the one with the bed in a coach. It was very pretty but I don't think kids really need that stuff. They might be spoiled into thinking that their surroundings have to be that extravagant and fantasy-like. Then what will they do when they grow up and possibly can only afford a bedroom with a bed and a few pieces of furniture? The gender-typing where Disney products are concerned seems to be the worst offender. I like Disney movies as much as anyone, but I wish they would tone down the influx of princess paraphenalia. Of course, as long as parents keep buying it, Disney will keep producing it!

Perfect Princes and Passive Princesses

In Stephanie's presentation, she talked about the different roles of men and women as presented in fairy tales. She pointed out that men in fairy tales are usually cast in the role of rescuer and the women need to be rescued. That got me thinking about how this plays out in some of our most common fairy tales. In Cinderella, the girl is rescued from a bad situation of servitude to her mean step mother and step sisters. In Snow White, she is rescued from the spell of the evil queen. Even in Little Red Riding Hood, the little girl is rescued by the brave hunter, if she is rescued at all. When Stephanie was discussing that the women in fairy tales often have passive roles, I found it interesting when she said that Sleeping Beauty's main role was to sleep, and I would add, to look beautiful. The males have a much more active role, although they do seem less interesting and complex as characters than do the females. When I was preparing my presentation, I wanted to see how the prince was physically described in the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, as compared to Cinderella who is described as beautiful. I found that he was never physically described at all, but he was described only in terms of what he did--his actions. Thus we have a good example of the male characters being all about the action and the female characters being passive. Cinderella never really did anything but clean, pick peas out of the ashes, and look beautiful to go to the ball. I see now why I loved the movie version of Cinderella called "Everafter" with Drew Barrymore. In this story, she reads books, swims in a lake, stands up for herself, throws apples at an intruder, and dresses up as a courtier to save her friend from being sold as a slave. She even stands up to the prince and basically tells him that he is spoiled and that he has all that power and doesn't use it for the good of others. Drew Barrymore's Cinderella rocks! I'm glad that some of our modern day fairy tales have women that are not passive. Now if Disney would just catch on...

We May Need Another Feminist Movement

I enjoyed the presentations on how toys and decor influence our gender roles, although it is a bit terrifying to see that maybe we have not "come a long way, baby." (like in the advertisement: http://tobaccodocuments.org/ads_pm/2058500255.html ) The toys aimed at little girls involved domestic chores and the toys for little boys involve power, speed, and the ability to defeat foes. The students presenting on this subject found some really good pictures of toy advertisements and they provided interesting commentary and reserch to go along with these images. It was shocking how many toys are made for little girls involving cooking and cleaning. There are many toy kitchens available out there, and some are quite fancy. The image of the little girl cooking for the little boy and serving food to him with a big smile on her face really made me realize how we get cast into these roles. I'm concerned that we haven't come very far since the 1800's in changing these roles. The picture of the little girl bent over her wash bucket with what Megan called her cleaning "trolly" beside her really sticks in my mind. The girl was smiling and looking very happy to be holding a sponge and getting ready to use all her cleaning supplies. Cleaning is a necessary part of life and it can feel rewarding when you get finished, but it is never fun! There must be thousands of other toys that little girls could play with that would be more fun. So why would a girl want a "cleaning trolly" and wash bucket? I never had such a toy nor wanted one. It makes me wonder if a man invented these types of domestic chore toys and if we are brainwashing our girls to think this activity is loads of fun. Why should the little girls have to clean and cook while the little boys are racing cars and slaying dragons? I think we need a new feminist movement to expose these brainwashing schemes. Maybe this time instead of burning our bras we can burn some of these toys! If Fairy Tales are promoting these ideas, I think we need to write new fairy tales. It will be interesting to see the new fairy tale movie that Disney is about to release. I hope it will do a better job of portraying women as strong and capable instead of weak and passive, but I have serious doubts.
I will write more on these interesting presentations about gender roles in future blogs.

What About the Men? : Masculinity in Disney Movies

We have seen how women are objectified in Disney films with the portrayal of a good woman as beautiful and passive. The Disney movies over-emphasize the female physical attributes by showing women with big breasts, tiny waists, voluptuous hips. But what about the men? What image do little boys watching the Disney movies get of masculinity? I found this thought-provoking clip entitled Sexism, Strength, and Dominance: Masculinity in Disney Films:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CWMCt35oFY
As this clip shows, the male heroes are portrayed as strong, powerful men with chiseled abs, a barrel chest, and huge biceps. In a song sung by Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Gaston shows off his physical prowess to the ladies and even sings, "as you see I've got biceps to spare!" Men with other body types are portrayed as outcasts, fools, or servants. I did think of one movie where the hero does not fit this typical Disney hero with powerful muscles, and that is "Aladdin." The character of Aladdin is fairly slim and not super tall, and does not have enormous biceps and a barrel chest, but he is lean and muscular and good-looking. Aladdin does, however, have one important thing that most men don't have--he has a powerful genie. This gives him an ability to control circumstances and have power over others. I wonder if this sends the message to little boys that if you are not super masculine, you better have some awesome abilities or qualities that give you the edge over other men, or you will not get the girl. Aladdin would not have been able to get Jasmine without being able to use the Genie's magic to pretend to be what he was not.
Another aspect of male prowess portrayed in Disney films that the clip talked about was the competition between males. The clip said that most Disney movies include a battle between two males; either two men fighting for a woman or two animals fighting to maintain status or honor. The male with the most physical strength and prowess "wins." This portrayal of masculinity could teach young boys that violence and dominance are important qualities to have if you want to be manly. Once again my eyes have been opened, and I see that although we can't get away from Disney and the movies are entertaining, we need to carefully consider the content and be ready to discuss it with children.