Response to Maria's Summary Post 9/14

Reading Douglas's chapter titled "Castration Anxiety" made me think about how often women are not remembered for the great things they have done during their careers and are instead remembered for something such as their being "a freak" or "too butch" as in the case of Janet Reno. Reno's sincere apology for the Branch Davidian accident should be revered as an honest and admirable choice that many powerful people would not have made; however instead Reno became the butt of many middle-aged white men's jokes. Not only are women often held to a different standard in the workplace, they also must work that much harder to be recognized for their outstanding accomplishments. An extremely feminine and attractive woman must work even harder to be respected and remembered for her accomplishments as well. The other day I came across this website with a document shown that was supposedly found on an HR employee's desk at CitiBank. One of the most interesting aspects of this website are the comments. Many posts are clearly angered by this advice to females; however other posts actually agree that in GENERAL, most women do need to improve in these areas.

In Douglas's next chapter titled "Warrior Women in Thongs", Douglas references how in the early 1990's, women were starting to be portrayed as physically strong as well as mentally strong, not having to rely on their femininity to succeed in fighting evil in the world. As time progressed, however, women began to be portrayed in their traditional roles, being forced to use their sex appeal to acquire power. The interesting thing I've found, however, is that the famous tv shows that used to be popular such as 90210 and Nikita have actually been recreated by the CW network. Even though viewers realize that they are watching mindless television, as they realized in the 90's as well, they continue to give shows like these high ratings, contributing to the stereotypes of women continuing. A NYTimes Article I read today referenced a similar TV show called the Jersey Shore, which follows the lives of a group of 20 somethings from New Jersey, focusing on their hook-ups and drunken nights. Although a recent poll showed that people are growing tired of reality TV shows, they continued to watch them this summer more than any other series. As Douglas talked about in her introductory paragraph, people continue to justify watching mindless television by believing that they are above the junk that they are filling their minds with.