how hollywood demonizes ultra-femininity.

brinatui said peach pits are poisonous this is not a mistake girlhood is growing fruit around cyanide [Music] the world cannot remember a time when beauty was not coveted though beauty standards have progressed or reverted over centuries beauty has always been an ideal helen of troy had a face that launched a thousand ships with her likeness first appearing in portraits as early as 7th century bc she was so beautiful that paris would give up power for her he would give up wisdom and war for her and if history fails to portray the version where paris actually kidnaps helen against her will you'll find beauty in this circumstance to be flattering maybe even a mode of popularity over our history as mankind ultra femininity has often been one of the many ways to be considered beautiful helen's beauty caused the trojan war but barbie's beauty comes with over 200 careers and a sick malibu dream house it's pretty great having a smart house and kin i guess beauty in the age of barbies and brats is different from beauty in the age of ancient greek mythology besides the unobtainable body proportions and initial rollout of only white dolls barbie has long reigned as a relatable aspirational figure in the lives of millions of children she's most known for her love of the color pink her fashion sense and her undeniable drive and intelligence that landed her on the moon years before neil armstrong barbie is arguably proof that ultra-feminine women who partake in quote-unquote girly activities for fun are also capable of being smart of being accomplished and of being multifaceted why do we need proof of that because ultra feminine women in the media are often depicted in a different way their beauty and girly exploits fall into one of four categories with some managing to overlap one the demoness helping are ruining the lives of men allah succubus siren bombshell two the mean girl reminiscent of regina george three the airhead reminiscent of marilyn monroe or four the mere background noise to the much more relatable much more coveted tomboy figure at what point did ultrafemininity morph into a lack of substance what happened to the face that set sail a thousand ships or the idol that broke glass ceilings with her pink jimmy choos if you're lucky enough to have not noticed our society tends to depend heavily on the perceived notion that only two genders exist those two genders are blue truck-toting gamer boys who can work at nasa when they're older and pink glitter-wearing doll plain girls who will grow up to have a valley accent or to put it even more simply using a quote by shakespeare she watching that oxygen and watching espn for a majority of our history cisgender men have been at the forefront of society they hunted the food they owned the lands they paid the bills they commit horrendous crimes against women and aren't held accountable because he's got a promising future ahead of him and this could ruin his life men held power that for a great deal of history women couldn't even dream of having except we could and we fought tooth and nail for centuries to obtain equity the first wave of feminism is considered to span across the 1860s to 1920 though we should and do take heed of early mothers of feminism such as mary woltsteincraft and her publishing of a vindication of rights of women in 1792. this wave mainly focused on advocating for the woman's right to vote the second wave of feminism though is where the whole point of this section lies the second wave spanned from the early 1960s falling in tandem with the civil rights movement and is projected to have ended around the early 1980s this wave of feminism broadened its reach to gender roles alongside its focus on enfranchisement during world war ii women flooded into the workplace at numbers larger than ever before in order to take over for war-bound men after the war however when millions of soldiers returned women were either ushered out of the workforce stayed in their position for lower wages than their male counterparts or worked for quote unquote pink collar jobs which are quoted to be care-oriented work such as secretarial or nursing positions with society's ideals slowly shifting back into domesticity and a strong dependence on marriage women were also making careers out of raising a family and keeping up their homes the argument for second wave feminism was that women were far more depressed in a domestic setting they needed to get out and break down the family unit if desired in order to be independent and have more opportunities this wave produced an unthinkable side effect the separation of femininity from feminism in order to be taken seriously second wave feminists denounce things like makeup and other girly things in favor of stereotypically masculine things but is not entirely their fault they were more than likely a product of the environment where they were not looked at as people but as women and that distinction would never allow them to progress to a place of equity even now we see the effects of femininity separated from feminism media depictions of progressive or powerful women are often shown to be quote unquote tomboy characters who are well versed in being one of the guys but unaware of how to perform femininity this trope finds itself in numerous tv shows and films of our time especially ones that depend on the infamous trope known as if you were unlucky enough to have the utter privilege of internet use around the early 2010s you won't be a stranger to the not like other girls trope whether it be the age-old debate about whether bubblegum pop is real music in comparison to rock or oldies or the infamous homophobic remarks about male singers who have naturally high singing voices or visuals that go against stereotypical masculinity our society has always had an aversion to things classified as feminine i admit when i was younger i ate this [ __ ] up like it was a fast food meal after spending hundreds on grocery shopping like that financially irresponsible decision it was a bad one and a wasteful one but it was a common one nonetheless some activists during the second wave of feminism called for the denouncing of stereotypical girly things because to them these things upheld patriarchal ideals things like makeup and revealing clothes even high heels were considered tools given to us by men in order for us to please them as a society we've progressed past this notion as we all should understand by now that what a woman does with her body is her decision and there was even such thing as lipstick feminism sometime during the third wave as women sought to reclaim stereotypically girly things like makeup and heels but the not like other girls trope ruined it for everyone and set us back about 540 million years we're all just basic unicellular [ __ ] but here comes not like other girls who think they're the pre-cambrian charnia because they don't use eye shadow but once again it's not their fault like i said in the beginning of this section our society has an aversion to things classified as stereotypically feminine bubblegum pop allegedly has no substance because it sometimes talks about partying or boys rock or alternative music talks about life and mental health so of course it must be superior artists like nicki minaj dosiacat and beyonce sing about quote being sexy wearing no clothes [ __ ] and cheating end quote while artists like laina del rey sing about quote being embodied feeling beautiful by being in love etc this aversion to stereotypically feminine things has caused a rift in girlhood where girls who didn't fall into ultra femininity were adopted as one of the boys she plays football she doesn't mind getting dirty she doesn't worry about her hair getting wet she's coveted because she's what society considers masculine there are exceptions of course there are numerous movies that perpetuate the ugly duckling stereotype where a quote unquote tomboy has to be transformed into a feminine character in order to be accepted or loved there are even high maintenance ultra feminine characters who subvert their media stereotypes by being highly intelligent like l woods or as kicking badasses like the winx club characters or live-action daphne because society views men as the mainstream and have an aversion to femininity it's impossible to categorize women who are intelligent down to earth or talented as feminine because women apparently can't be smart they can't be humble they can't be talented or career oriented only men can do that so obviously women who are all these things tend to be not like other girls and then you have the not like other girls trope that exists for the purpose of relatability characters like bella swan or katniss everdane who are utterly incapable of performing femininity because they're so quotably bad at it when this trope delves into the territory of relatability it often becomes the mary sue trope where the oftentimes female character is given no personality or real passions but is desired by every person with a pulse or without one if we're talking twilight this mary sue not like other girls hybrid allows for audiences to project their own personalities and quirks onto this blank character and imagine themselves in this new and exciting world it's why everyone thinks tory vega is bland and relatively talentless she's given popularity and countless opportunities despite being kind of boring but that's only because she's supposed to be marketed as the average girl in a relatively wacky school she's there for the audience not really for a storyline [Music] so let's recap society pushes the lie that there are only two genders strike one these two genders are male and female with the male always coming out on top or superior strike two second wave feminism seek to relinquish women from this oppressive nature of the gender binary and challenged the gender roles of that time that created ridiculous ranked titles like the pink collar job and enforced the mesticity and submission unfortunately in the process they relinquish the title of femininity in order to be taken seriously as people as well as to free themselves from the patriarchy altogether that and misogyny led to the demonization of femininity where women had to be not like other girls to be taken as equals strike three you're out so you may be asking yourself now what is the outcome of all of this well 90s and early 2000s teen movies would like to have a word with you [Music] with the idea of femininity being synonymous with evil feminine characters in the media are more often than not depicted the same way they're catty they're boy obsessed they're fashion forward and makeup dependent and sometimes they even become cold-blooded killers the movie jawbreaker deals with the quote duality of the poppy sweetness of the girls of high school and of youth yet features dark commentary about popularity killer queens and the links people go to to remain in power mean girls which is probably more well known and definitely less dark examines girl hood through the lens of katy herron who is the embodiment of the not like other girls until she transforms into the plastics in doing so complete with the full makeover katie becomes evil it isn't until she denounces the bubblegum world of the plastics settling into her own calmer version of her popular self that she's once again viewed as a good person when it comes to these sorts of movies the idea is that femininity short skirts colorful wardrobes and an emphasis on hair and makeup make a girl evil everyone wanted to be regina george but everyone also feared her more often than not queen persona characters are always shown to be powerful but in a catty abrasive way in the netflix adaption of the winx club stella and her mother are perfect examples of what hollywood thinks of quote unquote high maintenance women time and time again the other characters throw words that are intended to be insults at stella like princess and barbie you can tell from her superficial portrayal the show itself teeters on wanting to and actually going to extend to treat her like a bimbo the take has an amazing video covering the history of the bimbo trope and how it has recently come back into the mainstream so i highly recommend checking that out these tropes reflect our society's hatred yet strange fascination with ultra femininity it reinforces the idea that women aren't allowed to be pretty aren't allowed to take an interest in their appearance aren't allowed to be charismatic or a lover of pastels without it being an indicator of her evilness or vapidity tomboys have to be one of the guys instead of being viewed as women who simply have different interests in their girly peers and ultra feminine girls have to be rude or dense or undergo a transformation in order to be viewed as worthy of audience respect hollywood has a bone to pick with girl hood with the ultra feminine and quite honestly with most tropes that are afforded to women characters unsurprisingly all of it boils down to the usual culprit misogyny i want a character who's ultra feminine and ultra smart at the same time i want people to stop viewing ultra feminine outfits as unrealistic or high maintenance i want girls to be able to be assertive to know what they want and how they want it without them being portrayed as a diva or villain i want girls to be multifaceted in the media just like they are in real life i want more daphne's and sharpays and l woods i want more and there's nothing wrong with that no matter what hollywood would leave you to believe i want to give a special shout out to my romeo and juliet to your patrons lily vazzie isabella and ramista without them i wouldn't be able to produce the content that i do so thank you and without the rest of you your comments and likes and shares and views i wouldn't be here at all so thank you as well i love you

Channel: Shanspeare

Views: 721,206

Rating: 4.9543409 out of 5

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Id: FDEOZqnJMqI

Length: 13min 33sec (813 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021