Douglass Ch.2 and Ch. 3 Summary

In Susan Douglas’ book Enlightened Feminism, chapter two discusses the media swarm and the debasing of women who challenged and/or crossed gender lines. A new type of woman was essentially being ‘created’ within the media. These were women who were hard-ass, tough as nails, fighting machines who did not give a damn what men thought. This type of character was portrayed in GI Jane played by Demi Moore or simply in the indifference of Janet Reno. These women scared and terrified men. Female fantasies were seen to be evolving into terrors for men. Men saw this as a threat to their dominance. They thought this new sense of sexuality and power was wrong and could even be seen as a hazard to male dominance.


The chapter focuses on three particular women, beginning with Amy Fisher. Fisher had an affair with Joey Buttafuoco. When Buttafuoco tried to end the relationship, Fisher went to his house and shot his wife in the face in the year 1992. This event immediately generated insane publicity and popularity. It was a “news story-cum-sex thriller that was real-life Fatal Attraction except with a teenage girl.” Immediately the media went into a frenzy, publishing fact and fiction on the case, turning Fisher into a prostitute and a sexual agent. Movie deals with explored and one such deal landed Fisher the money to pay for parole. The massive debate in the middle of this turmoil was whether or not Fisher was a victim or a predator. Eventually two movies aired, each from a different viewpoint of the case. Together, the two movies reached over 34 million households! Why was this story ‘all the rage’? The Fisher story took all the old ideas about females and turned them on their heads. Teenage girls were suddenly sexually forceful and aggressive, older men were screwing young girls…These ideas were unsound and volatile. Suddenly young girls could be seen as predators. And over all this, the media insisted that the public take sides and choose who was in the wrong. Was Fisher the victim or predator? In the end, Buttafuoco was made out to be a joke and Amy Fisher was the one who was decided to be dangerous and morally unsound. She was humiliated and demeaned by the media.

Lorena Bobbitt was the next woman Douglas focused on. Bobbitt cut off her husband’s penis after years of being sexually abused and mistreated. Again the media passionately attacked this case, sending over two hundred reporters to Bobbitt’s trail. 60% of the country followed the trial on TV. Even though the trial was gruesome and sad on many levels, the story became a nationwide joke. But why? The hearing brought ideas that were previously unmentioned and hush-hush onto the front page. Castration was planted smack dab on center stage. This was a terrifying idea for men and thus it was made out to be a joke to make obvious that all other males were superior to Bobbitt’s husband and thus they would never endure such a travesty. On the other side, Lorena became a hero for women all over. Her trial brought up issues of sexual and domestic violence. However, conversely Lorena was also portrayed as a ‘dumb brute who had evoked that violence.’ And thus, it was determined that these events were due to the lack of control over female sexuality and rage. Women’s power had to be controlled or all hell would break loose.

Janet Reno was the last woman discussed in chapter two. Janet Reno was appointed attorney general for Clinton’s cabinet in 1993. Almost immediately after taking office, Reno approved a plan to storm the Branch Davidian compound in Texas where an essential terrorist was holed up with hostages. Unfortunately, the compound ended up exploding into flames, killing almost 90 people. Although this was a terrible event, Reno, as a politician, did something incredible. She apologized and admitted that she was in the wrong. She took full blame and was congratulated, supported, commended, and praised to a national degree. However, with this massive rise in popularity, Reno immediately became the butt of jokes through the talk show world. She was portrayed as a ‘giant; too butch; unloved; a freak.’ She was made the butt of jokes because she had “looked at the masquerade of femininity that women are supposed to don and just said no.” Reno did not accept the traditional view of females. She wore unflattering clothes and barely smiled. She just did not care. She did not want to conform and she did not care what other people would think. Reno knew it did not matter what she looked like. She still had political power and prowess regardless. She confronted and defied the very basis of patriarchy and thus, she had to controlled and punished through these jokes. The media made clear to the public that Reno was a joke. She should not be taken seriously and if you act like her, you will be snubbed as well. This view of feminism would turn women into undesirable, ludicrous freaks.

Example of Janet Reno joke:


Douglass continues into the discussion of this rise of a new type of women in the media in her third chapter. However, here she concentrates on the rise of the powerful, dangerous and yet also attractive female. Here was hybrid of Janet Reno and Cindy Crawford. It emphasized that women could be both influential and dominant and yet also beautiful and sexy. This was a new type of female idol. It was a woman who fought tough, saved men, were verbally quick, and yet pulled off a miniskirt like a supermodel. They had confidence, skill, power, and beauty. They occupied the traditional forms of masculinity in combination with the ideas of female beauty. The rise of this heroine began with an increased awareness of sexual violence and harassment against women in the early 1990s. Women were scared. There were a lot of rape cases and attacks. And then along comes this female character on TV who would see this ‘attacker’ and kick his ass instead of the other way around. These fighting women became instant idols.

The original female heroine began with the TV character Xena. Xena had no home or family, rejecting the traditional ideas of what a female should have to be successful. She could fight better then men and beat them up repeatedly in each episode. Yet, at the same time, she was dressed in a miniskirt and a bustier, creating a very visually sexual image. She proved that women could be sexualized and still kick ass. Xena also felt no need to keep her mouth shut and be a good ‘quiet woman.’ She was sarcastic, witty and sardonic. The men in the show were barbarians who epitomized the worst form of masculinity: ‘failed and flaccid.’ Furthermore, Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship could be viewed as a lesbian relationship which made many feminists and lesbians ecstatic.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer also plays a similar character to Xena, kicking ass while looking good. She also had a quick mouth and she wasn’t afraid to tease and taunt. She showed girls that women could be physically AND mentally fit. With the subplot of Angel and Buffy’s sexual relationship, the show emphasizes that male sexuality is dangerous as Angel turns into a evil vampire as soon as they have sex.

These shows demonstrated that sexy women could also be strong and potent. Other shows also worked to create similar characters as seen in Alias and Dark Angel among other examples. However, most of these shows had these women needing to hide their true identities otherwise their loved ones could get hurt. They could not have a regular life. Thus, their fate was not theirs to pick and choose. Power became an unwelcome liability. Also these women kicked butt in other, magical worlds. In the ‘real’ world, these women did not exist. Thus, these women were both “transgressive and conformist.”