Cute.... cheesburgers?

This Burger Kind commercial has so many messages in such a short time.
The commercial opens by showing two men sitting and enjoying what seems to be a normal lunch. One man has his "manly" cheeseburger, and the other has his "mini" burgers. The man with the "manly" burger gives him a strange look and as soon as the other man opens his wrapper for his burgers, a woman appears, soon to be followed by several more women. They all comment on how "cute" his burgers are and how they want to squeeze them, to which the man simply comments "squeeze away." This commercial shows two major sides of gender sterotypes. It shows that men should eat "large" "masculine" burgers, and that small burgers are not "manly", but it also shows a well-known sterotype that women like smaller things, and that they find smaller things "cuter".
Women do not necessarily find smaller things cuter, and surely not smaller cheeseburgers, but this commercial is designed for men to want to eat these smaller burgers in thoughts that it might attract women. Maybe it is implying a feminine side to men? A side that women might be attracted to? Many messages are conveyed through this short, thiry-second long commercial; many of which are definately questioning maculinity and femininity. What is masculine or "manly"? What is feminine or "girly"? In this commercial, big is related with "manly" and small, petite, and cute are related with "girly". This is strongly playing on society's gender sterotypes.

Here is a youtube link for the commercial for those of you that have not seen it, or those of you that would like to see it again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqdTHqf08jM

The City; a Place for Thriving of Both Women and Men.

If any of you have ever seen the popular reality show The Hills, that takes place in Los Angeles, then you are probably somewhat familiar with the new show The City. A main character from the show The Hills has continued her own life and journey of self-discovery in the Big Apple, New York. Whitney, the main character, is a strong, independent, career-seeking, female who looks to pursue her dreams in the city full of opportunities. What I find controversial about this show is the fact that she show revolves around the life of women and their careers, instead of men. It shows a successful Whitney who loves her work, and lives a rather successful life. She works in an office with other women (who are also extremely successful) and the fact that she has her own show is rather inspiring to other women. I have asked several of my friends about what they think of this show, and many have been inspired to go to New York and pursue a career just as Whitney has done. The show purposely portrays a sense of strength and motivation for women. Of course, once again, there is romance in the show. Whitney's boyfriend takes a lot of the spotlight, but once again he is labeled as being "Whitney's boyfriend". Again, the fact that this show revolves around a successful woman's life is very interesting and inspiring. I was watching last week’s episode, which was extremely focused on classism, and was shocked by how many feminist actions I pulled out of this one episode. Such as, women are working in offices, and men being in bands, and or homeless. Olivia, Whitney's co-worker, has an affluent cousin who is actually living with her and is homeless at the time. This portrays a sense of independence on the women's part, and a sense of dependence on men's part. Traditionally, you would see the women staying at home and keeping house, rather than in this show you see Olivia going to work while her cousin keeps house. This switches society's gender roles and makes the show extra entertaining to watch.
Many men would say "Oh, that is a chick show." While in fact, they only say that because they feel somewhat threatened by the idea of a successful, affluent, strong, independent woman.

Legally Blonde... and ditzy?

Ok.. So I am sure that most of you ahve heard of the movie Legally Blonde. I personally love this movie and watched it last week, and of course there is a certain amount of obvious sexism present in the movie. In fact, most of the movie is based off of the sexism. The main character is stereotyped as a ditzy blonde who is not "serious" enough for her Harvard student boyfriend. She retaliates by deciding to submit an application into Harvard herself, not so that she can actually pursue a career, but for a chance to prove to her shallow ex-boyfriend that she can be serious. Somewhere between her admittance and attending Harvard, she realizes that she does not only want to attend Harvard for her ex-boyfriend. She actually finds a passion in Law and decides to take school seriously. She excells and not only does she find her true self, but she proves herself to her boyfriend, and everyone who doubted her. I found this movie rather inspiring, it shows that women can be taken seriously, and that they can pursue careers on their own, without the help of a man. In the end of the movie, it shows her ex-boyfriend wanting her back. I find it ironically funny that he wanted her back instead of visa versa, which is what it usually is. However, there was some romance in the movie (what movie is a movie without romance........ right?) The main character ends up falling in love on her path to self realization, so in the end she submits to a man after all...

Family Guy... sexist?

Over the past few years Family Guy has become an extremely popular and controversial show. Family Guy has adopted a role in portraying sexism through television. Most people agree that the cartoon touches many sensitive, significant issues such as sexism, racism, classism, etc. I myself watch Family Guy from time to time, but to take offense to some of the jokes made on the show.
I was watching Family Guy the other day and in the episode “I am Peter, hear me roar,” the entire episode is sexist towards women. Each scene has a number of jokes that attempt to make sexism within the episode seem acceptable. It begins with Peter, the white, middle-class, overweight father, telling jokes to some of his co-workers; who all happen to be men. However the jokes that Peter shares are extremely sexist.
He shares jokes such as: “How many women does it take to screw in a light bulb? Two, one woman to screw in the light bulb and one to take her clothes off!” As Peter continues to amuse all of the men he works with, Linda, a female co-worker comes by and asks to hear a joke, but she has no idea about what kind of jokes he is telling. With Peter being somewhat unintelligent, he agrees to tell another joke. He is completely unaware of the harm that is about to take place. He says “Why do women have boobs? So you can have something to look at when you talk to them.” Peter’s co-worker is appalled and immediately reports him to the supervisor. As he goes in to meet with the boss, he finds out that Linda has hired a lawyer to sue the company for sexual harassment on behalf of Peter. Linda’s lawyer, Ms. Ironbox, is a strong, stout, and seemingly independent woman dressed in a suit and because of this, Peter asks her if she is a lesbian. This implies the double standard which creates the oppression of women. Just because a woman dresses in business attire and does not try to boast her beauty, she is considered a lesbian among society. This particular stereotype is completely inaccurate and unjust. The reason that the sexist behaviors presented in Family Guy are so unjust is because the behaviors promote sexism and encourage society’s belief that it is okay to be a participant. Well, I don't think it is.