News Flash #2:Is the Modern Woman Really Any Different?

In her NYTimes article “New World, Same Old Gender Roles”, Torregrosa argues that the recent movie The Social Network clearly portrays many of the common sexist gender stereotypes that exist both within and beyond the collegiate life. The film chronicles the creation of the immensely popular social networking site, Facebook, by its founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is characterized as a very nerdy, socially incompetent young man. According to Torregrosa, “the movie rips open his [Zuckerberg’s] character flaws, which bubble to the surface during sleep-free days of manic computer hacking, and in awkward social and sexual encounters.” (Torregrosa). What is interesting to note about the film, however, is its depiction of almost all of the female characters as sexually promiscuous attractive girls who have little to nothing to contribute to the actual creation of Facebook. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, admitted that even he was shocked at the extent of the blatant sexism he found when researching for the film and reading the book upon which the film is based. Instead of being intelligent, motivated and impressive female Harvard students, the women are “figurines in the background, one face melding into another, one lithe body identical to the next.” (Torregrosa). The film emphasizes our society’s association of women with sexuality, thereby contributing to the assumption that women are not and can never really be as successful as most men. In her book Enlightened Sexism, Douglas explains that the media tells us that women have achieved equality; therefore these blatant portrayals of sexism are justifiable and humorous because of their clear absurdity. The movie, however, is closely based on the real life of Zuckerberg, and although not always 100% accurate, its grounding in real life events and experiences emphasizes the clear similarities between the females depicted in the media and the lives of real women.

The girls in the film are “sexy, seductive, willing and eager to serve and service the boys” (Torregrosa) with their only function appearing to be to fulfill the male leads’ desires. Since this movie is closely based on a true story, this portrayal of women in a hyper-sexualized manner illustrates not only the media’s depiction of sexual women as a tool to attract audiences but also that there is truth behind these depictions in the real world. Screenwriter Sorkin claims that “it’s not hard to understand how bright women could be appalled by what they saw in the movie but you have to understand that was the very specific world I was writing about” (Torregrosa). I asked my mom what she thought about the movie after I learned that she had seen it, expecting the extremely positive responses I had heard from everyone else. Instead, she replied saying that she couldn’t enjoy the film due to its extremely sexual and slutty portrayal of the college girls. She asked me if the representation was accurate of Colgate and I ended up honestly telling her that in part, yes; it wasn’t that different from what I see out on Friday and Saturday nights here. Girls are continually told by the media, friends and sometimes even family that they need to act promiscuously in order to be truly accepted, envied and ultimately happy in our modern society.

The females are characterized as nothing more than sexual objects whose primary goal in life is to be loved and admired by men. Zuckerberg first comes up with the idea for Facebook from his creation of a website that allowed Harvard students to compare one girl’s picture to pictures of animals and other girls and then publicly vote on which one was more attractive. As Sorkin points out, “Facebook was born during a night of incredible misogyny” (Torregrosa), as proven by the creation of a website comparing women to farm animals and then to each other based on their appearances. As Douglas points out in her discussion of the popular men’s magazine “Maxim”, men often justify their sexual objectification through describing these women as unattainably attractive. Since “the objectification of women is so over the top, and constantly wedded to suggestions that most guys are so totally under the women’s thumbs, that its sexism is meant to be seen as pathetic” (Douglas 13). Zuckerberg and his friends are clearly portrayed as extremely nerdy and nearly socially inept boys at the start of the film. The movie opens with a scene showing Zuckerberg and his girlfriend being unable to have a logical and coherent conversation due to his extreme lack of social skills; however by the end, his success acquired from the creation of Facebook brings him attention from attractive girls despite his awkward mannerisms. This film characterizes the females as merely appealing sex objects that are to be acquired by successful intelligent men. The film “exposes a strain of sexism that runs wide and deep among the nerdy entrepreneurs and exalted geek geniuses” (Torregrosa).

This fulfillment of gender roles by female characters in the movie clearly emphasizes the differing expectations of a woman’s potential in the workplace and those of a man. Although the girls are also supposed to be students at Harvard, there is no emphasis on their academic intelligence or career goals. The movie fulfills the stereotype of girls attending a prestigious university in order to meet their husbands as opposed to pursuing their own career paths, potentially creating their own multi-billion dollar corporations. It is the men who are expected to turn into entrepreneurs who will ultimately be the future of the tech universe. The girls are portrayed as “empty-headed, giggly, drug-sniffing manipulative strumpets” while the men are the successful producers, creators, innovators and ultimately billionaires (Torregrosa). Both genders are playing into what Johnson calls the system of patriarchy that controls our current society. This patriarchy is a set of deeply ingrained beliefs, symbols and ideas about men and women and humanity that both permeate and structure our culture. Patriarchy re-enforces the lack of career expectations of women while emphasizing the necessity of men’s success in the workplace. Both the characters and also the viewers of the film play into and enforce this system of patriarchy. Some people might argue that it’s just a movie and is not a realistic representation of real life; however it must also be noted that it is almost only men who are coming up with these multi-billion dollar innovations. People might be surprised if a woman excels in a challenging job while this achievement is often expected of a man. Toregrosa describes how a friend of hers who works at a digital newspaper admits that there are a number of female producers and editors; however the most creative innovators with the most potential to truly succeed are all young and are all male. The Social Network is a film about the rise of our modern social networking capability; however the movie also indirectly highlights the extensive changes that are still necessary for women to actually be considered equal today.

The close association between the portrayal of female characters in movies such as The Social Network and the reality of women’s role in today’s society shows how extremely influential gender roles still are today. Although the media tries to convince us that women have gained equality, true-life based movies such as this one prove that this assumption is clearly false. The Social Network topped the box office charts for weeks after its release just over a month ago; however very little attention has actually been paid to its depiction of the female roles. The lack of conversation over this topic in relation to the film shows the extent to which this hyper-sexualized role for females is used in all aspects of the media. True-life based movies like this one show us we can no longer deny that this female gender role continues to be enforced in all aspects of our modern society.