"You be the Pretty, I'll be the Funny"

 Is kind, confident, supportive of her man, funny, gracious, oh and don’t forget she has to be smoking hot! These are just a few attributes required of the “ideal” woman. What’s interesting to me is that despite all the good qualities listed and desired, her physical attributes will always seem to accompany them. After reading through this module I decided to do a little experiment to see how gender identity focusing on diversity and inclusion or the 3rd wave of feminism has progressed. I started by looking up the phrase “How do I compliment a woman?” The top results surprised me, as they were focused on value BUT on the third one we see the physical attributes sneak in. According to the article 101+ Best Compliments for Girls to Make Them Feel Admired, girls want to be told they are gorgeous, smart, and strong. Again why are the physical aspects of women’s bodies emphasized?

The media has encouraged and promoted content to follow the idea that masculine perspectives and male privilege are of higher value than that of a woman. In today’s society, it seems that women are supposed to conform to this idea of not only looking great but being smart, strong, and nurturing at the same time. Hegemonic systems of keeping women in a lower status are shown through so many aspects of our culture such as sitcoms, music, and advertising. An example of this is in the song by Blake Shelton “I’ll Name The Dogs” when he sings “You'll find the spot and I'll find the money, You'll be the pretty and I'll be the funny, You'll plant the flowers, I'll plant the kisses.” 

Radical feminists feel that eliminating the patriarchy of our society is the only way to achieve gender equality. Marxism Feminists feel there is an intersection between capitalism and patriarchy. By making a fundamental change to place the well-being of people over profit, we would see changes. Cultural feminists emphasize the importance of valuing traditional feminine traits, with an increased representation of women in media, arts, etc. 

With different views on feminism, which one would solve the problems of gender quality, or in your eyes is there a problem?