Women In Action (10)

To be a women in an action movie there are four rules, she must be attractive, she must be skinny, she must have big boobs, and she must wear clothes that show a lot of skin. Women have slowly become main roles in action films, but the only reason for the success of these films was the high sexualized leading women. The women do not need to be masculine to succeed in these action film roles, rather their curvy womanly frames and sexy attire are enough for these actresses to succeed. These films have to present a front to both men and women to make them successful. Why do women watch these shows? Well women watch them because they get to see women playing roles typically given to men, presenting a kind of liberation for women. Allowing women to feel strong and capable of doing what men do. Why do men watch these films? Men watch these films because the leading women are attractive, the film focuses more on the sexuality of the women, slowing down fight scenes, capturing these women in action. These action poses are often very sexual, which draw men into the film. But isn't this in a sense exploiting woman's bodies on the big screen and further putting them into a place beneath men, not actually liberating them? I would definitely have to agree. Woman are successful in this genre of movies not because of being capable, besides can woman really out fight men almost twice their weight and strength, typically not. It does not mean that women are less then men, but physical strength is not an area where women can typically dominate men.

Women's upper body strength for example in comparison with men is significantly weaker, women tend have stronger lower body strength. It does not mean then women are weak, but in a fight between a man and woman, most often the man is going to win. I will agree sometimes its enjoyable to watch an action movie with a woman as the leading role. Its entertaining to watch as she dominates in the fight scenes most often against other men. So maybe that's another reason for any success of these films in the action genre.

What Happened to Age Appropriate? (9)

Children's media is continuously evolving, advertisers and children's media producer are constantly bombarding children with more and more things, from different ways of advertising to children to presenting a world view that makes young children grow up quicker. What I mean by this is that girls are 

presented very early on this idea of feeling the need to be beautiful. Their very own toys present to them ideas that most young girl adapt into their very lives. Their dolls are a very good example of this. Dolls can be very fun toys for young girls, its allows them to use their imagination and create games with them, as well as giving them opportunity to brush their hair and change their clothes. But is this harmful? It depends on the doll and the clothes the child has, but from an early age the very dolls girls play with says a lot about what our society deems beautiful, nice hair, skinny figure, large boobs and make-up, but it doesn't stop there. You see some dolls allow young girls to remain in the fantasy of the doll, such as Disney Princesses and other fairy tale things that most young kids will come to understand is not reality. But what happens when the very clothes they have to dress up their doll with are clothes that are commonly seen being worn in public, on their parent, friends at school, in music videos etc. This way of dressing becomes real to the child a look that they themselves would like to mimic. What happens when those clothes that are seen on their dolls, friends, parents etc are highly sexy? Doesn't this take away their innocents in a way. I would say yes. Presenting a world to a young child that clothes, nice hair, skinny figure, large boobs and make-up are what makes you beautiful can be very harmful. Especially when that idea doesn't stop with their dolls, when they grow out of their dolls, their TV shows and music videos will reinforce it, then their magazines, etc. It makes it difficult for a girl to grow up without any insecurities, sometimes extreme insecurities, which can be incredibly harmful. What happen when these insecurities lead to other problems such as eating disorders, stealing clothes or make-up to fit in, depression etc. Its sad that we surround our young girls from a very early age with this idea of how important external beauty is and what young girls need to be considered beautiful. A 10 year old should not feel the need to dress sexy, a 10 year old is still very much so a child. America is making young girls grow up too fast. Many young girls are fascinated 

   

by a type of doll called BRATZ, bratz is a highly sexualized doll that is considered age appropriate at age 4. All the dolls are dolled up and wearing small amounts of clothing, with heavy make up. Would you want your daughter to desire to be like a Bratz doll? I know I would not. The problem is it doesn't stop there. The TV shows they watch, and musicians such as Miley Cyrus, continue to instill these ideas further into young girls. Young girls don't have to go far before more images of woman and the importance of being "sexy" and "externally beautiful" are put in front of them. Its sad. The problem is, it only appears to be getting worse, there does not appear to be any attempts to reverse this idea.