Chapters 4 and 5 in ES

After reading chapters 4 and 5 in the Enlightened Sexism book by Susan Douglas, one can see the differences in the portrayal of white and black women in the media through various characters in TV shows and movies; and the extent to which they portray feminism. There is a predominant image of the professional white women in most of the examples given by the author and how they have a difficulty combining brains and beauty while balancing a love life life as well. For example in the Ally McBeal series she gave off this image as a strong outspoken woman through her scenes in the courtroom as a lawyer, but her personal life was a mess shown through her insecurities. She had a conflicting image between empowerment and self-abnegation which is why some embraced it and others hated it (p. 108). Her personal life was dominated by sexual desires and insecurities. There was an example given where Ally fought with a judge for her right to wear a miniskirt in the courtroom which was a slap in the face for most professional women who actually fight for something that would empower women. An author of an article called “It’s All about Me” hated Ally’s character. She felt that through these type of representations of women, that enlightened sexism had taken over feminism (p. 113). Women today are taking control of their sexuality, but at the same time they are losing sight of the main goal which is to increase respect for women and not be viewed as this sexual image which they have resorted to for self-empowerment. Douglas goes on to give other examples of white women such as Elle from legally blond who through her hyper-femininity was seen as a joke by men. And on the other hand there was Sandra Bullock’s character in Ms. congeniality to show how women who acted like men were not taken seriously either, thus she had to increase her femininity and look “pretty” in order to become a leading figure and make her voice heard by both genders. Here we encounter the double standard once more on how women have an extra challenge on having to combine and balance all the qualities such as looks, smarts, and a successful personal life (having a boyfriend/husband and such).

In Chapter 5 we see the way that the African-American women are portrayed in most TV shows as the loud outspoken woman who is able to call men out on their “bullshit.” While African- American women bring up the feminist movement through images like these, they are also jeered at by men as well. In characters like Big momma and Madea, their “power is way scary, ridiculous, and played for laughs- by men..... She’s (seen as) a baffoon, a joke, and a warning about black women-especially older women-having power” (p. 152-153). This is one way in which men downplay and underestimate the strength of women like these by poking fun at them and even making matters worse by having male actors play these roles. On the other hand there are positive representations of women in the African American community who are known for their strong feminist acts such as Oprah and Queen Latifah who fight for the empowerment of all women and strive to erase this image of the over-sexualized black woman that we see in rap videos such as in the Nelly video in which a credit card was swiped through a woman’s butt. Both of these women are successful role models who have been able to boost their professional careers through their feminist beliefs and actions to raise up all women.

In these two chapters we see the difference between race. As the author says, some white women hardly have these outspoken roles that African American have in which they say it like it is, except for characters like Roseanne and Murphy Brown. It is interesting to see the way the differences that white and black women in the media struggle to achieve self-respect for men and empowerment for women through the evasion of a direct feminist lens. Although black women are seen as more bold in bringing up the feminist banner in the media through their roles in movies and shows, we still see the complications in real life that they have in being able to surpass color, class, and professional (glass ceiling) barriers.No matter what race, women continue to be downplayed in the media and in real life regardless of their status and professional image.