From Taylor Swift to Twilight, media that is created and marketed for women often ends up the face of mass scrutiny. Whether it be due to a lack of substance or societal sentiments, it is important to deep dive into why this is and the mental toll it takes on everyone involved.
Why are feminine things in media the butt of the joke?
To be clear, this article is not meant to bash anyone. It is just meant to be a clear exploration of why feminine media and products are more often criticized, where the male counterparts are not, and exploring why that is.
Since the beginning of time, society has seen women as the more domesticated of the two sexes. Women did the cooking and cleaning, cared for the children and made the home. Men were meant to have careers and be the leaders. It was not until Aug. 18, 1920, that women were even allowed to vote. Years later, in 1979, women were officially allowed to have their own credit cards and bank accounts.
While today, we have far more freedom than our grandmothers had, it is clear that there is still work that needs to be done. Regardless of if it is romance books, "teen girl" movies, or makeup, the interests of girls are always put under a magnifying glass and scrutinized.
The Confusion and Demonization of Girlhood
One of the most common arguments that is heard when discussing female media is that it is frivolous. Media targeted towards women is often labeled as "tacky," "trashy" or "girl slop."
This is problematic, because sometimes there are pieces of media that are only made for money. Often, this includes movies that are made for women, about specific things that women deal with. They tell stories about the very real facets of girlhood that they face.
In 2022, Disney Pixar released the movie Turning Red. The movie is about a young girl, Mei Lee, who learns that the women in her family can turn into red pandas when they feel strong emotions. She and her group of friends develop a plan to use this ability to get tickets to their favorite boy band.
The movie is an allegory for girlhood and the changes women and girls go through. The red panda is a symbol for puberty and feminine rage and, for most of the movie, is treated as something that needs to be suppressed. It also has themes of generational trauma and a lot of representation of Chinese culture.
Despite the themes of acceptance in this movie, it was slammed on the internet. The main critiques of the film relied on the symbolism of puberty and periods, deeming it too inappropriate for young audiences. Many people argued when the movie was first released that female puberty should not be shown or represented on screen.
There is a scene early on after Mei discovers her secret, where her mother asks her if she has started her period and needs pads. This scene faced heavy criticism as many thought that periods should not be talked about in kids' movies. Additionally, the movie faced scrutiny for its portrayal of Mei as a rebellious, boisterous young girl who has crushes and fantasizes over boy bands.
In an interview with Domee Shi, the director of the film, she said that the goal of the movie was to create characters that were relatable to their audience: pre-teen girls. With the movie, she also wanted to give outsiders an outlet into the mind of a teenage girl.
“I just wanted to use this film as an opportunity to share with the world just how weird and cool and messy and cringy and horny girls can be. Because [I] feel like not a lot of men know that, [so] I wanted to use this film as like a window for them to kind of see. If you ever wanted to understand women in your life and girls in your life, watch this movie," Shi said. "I remember, there was one co-worker when he saw an early version of the movie. He was like, fascinated by the drawing the mermaids in her sketchbook and he's like, is that a thing? Or mermaids? I was like, 'Yes, it is very much a thing for a lot of adolescent girls.'”
The controversy ended up being larger than the movie ever got. The fact of the matter in this situation is that the movie was targeted for an audience that is close to Mei's age. Women get periods, and they go through puberty. The commentary surrounding "Turning Red" ironically turned into a think piece about the morality of female puberty.
Social media shows young girls that these are not acceptable traits when in reality, they are innate. Yet, girls are still treated like they need to be poised and in control; they must live their lives, but not so much that they will not be able to find a husband. When you start to assign morality to femininity, it gets bleak.
Effects of Trivialization
The effect of this scrutiny is clear: social media affects teenagers. According to a study done by the psychology department at Harvard University, scrutiny and pressures have led to increased mental health problems in young girls. Social media opens these women up to public opinions about femininity and forces girls to interact with the patriarchy at an early age. This study shows that 40% of teen girls deal with mental health struggles. This percentage increases by an additional 10 to 15% for teen girls of color. Social media influences are a key factor in this. Young girls are taught that they are less than or need to change, and feel the effects, creating a vicious cycle.
However, girls are not the only ones who are being groomed into this cycle. The rise of manosphere-type content has aided in the pushing of this point of view. On the surface, manosphere content is made to uplift and empower young men. However, commentators like Andrew Tate have taken over by feeding misogynistic ideas to young boys.
According to the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, nearly 80% of young boys in the United Kingdom between the ages of 16 and 18 have consumed some kind of manosphere content, whether that be through websites like Reddit and 4Chan, or apps like YouTube and TikTok.
This content is harmful due to the nature of what is being said. Tate, for example, has a history of being banned on several platforms due to his speech about rape and rape culture. He often says violent things about women and the acts he brags about inflicting.
“It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up [redacted],” Tate said in a reuploaded video about a partner potentially cheating on him.
Tate would later defend himself in an interview with the BBC saying that a lot of what he posts is satirical and not to be taken seriously. However, it is hard to defend when Tate sells a whole course on how to “be an alpha man.” This is how a lot of manosphere content operates, it is thinly veiled as a joke, but the consequences are great.
The language of the "alpha man" also implies that there is a "right" way to be a man. It goes back to the topic of traditional gender roles. Men are seen as tough and strong; they are not allowed to have feelings in this dynamic. They must be physically fit and active and have control of situations. It is seen as cool if they have multiple women, and they are expected not to be virgins, when the fact of the matter is that young boys are just that: young boys.
Like young girls, they have very little control over their own being as kids. So, they also end up having a warped sense of the world and struggle with identity. Content like this points the finger at women and blames them for societal expectations. Which in turn makes young boys hateful towards women. Thus, adding to the already vicious cycle.
Young girls are slowly influenced to hate themselves and their interests because of social media, while young boys are trained to hate themselves and, primarily, young girls.
What do we do about this? How does this affect the way that feminine media is viewed?
Female Media: what do we do?
When men are trained not to like women or take them seriously, they are more inclined not to take media that represents them seriously. That is why female-centric media is at the butt of every joke. Anything that is deemed too feminine, like emotions, is teased or made fun of.
That is why things like music by Taylor Swift are joked about. She writes music that overall, women can relate to. Therefore, she is dubbed as fake deep and does not write about anything real. Sad movies are for girls because men are not supposed to show emotions; therefore, sad movies are dumb.
Women in action movies and video games have to be hot damsels in distress because they cannot just be capable. Romance novels are not seen as real literature, but as dumb wish-fulfillment for lonely girls. Spicy books are especially talked down on because they do not depict male-centric lovemaking, and because women are supposed to be pure creatures, so they are immoral for liking books with that in them. Or these books are written off as just being spice.
Pessimistically, there is not entirely too much that can be done at the moment. This is an issue that is ingrained in society, and it will take years of work for us to fix. However, women can keep creating. Keep telling our stories. Keep advancing. One of the ways we can combat this is through creation, taking up space, and celebrating little wins.
Sure, the song "I’m Just Ken" won the Critics’ Choice for Best Song, but the movie Barbie won 21 awards, including Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Award for Best Movie of 2024. This shows that young kids are listening, and the tides could be changing with them. We have to keep sharing our craft, and the kids will gravitate to it.
