Women and Femininity in Media

Article Written By: Manasa M.

Cover Design by: Neharika T.

Hollywood has long been creating not only movies but also several character tropes that have heavily impacted outside of their works. Tropes like “the chosen one”, “the dumb muscle”, and my personal favorite: “the damsel in distress” trope. These common tropes have appeared in a vast variety of movies in all sorts of genres. However, these tropes can be used to stereotype other people, if the movie itself is not already doing that. A good example of that would be “The Ultra Feminine Woman.”

You can usually spot her in movies such as Regina George from Mean Girls and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. But what exactly can we categorize as “ultra-feminine” in movies? Usually, they are women written into movies for the sole purpose of looking pretty or beautiful. They might be typecast as women who are dumb, mean, evil, or who are just a background character. Usually, these women are subject to misogyny, both internal and external. According to both Hollywood and society, ultra-feminine women could only be beautiful and those who have multi-faceted characteristics like being smart, brave, etcetera are not acknowledged. This is not only limited to the screen; it can also be extended to how everyday people can be perceived.

Wearing makeup, wearing ‘girly’ items of clothing, and other supposedly feminine things were looked down on if you wanted to be taken seriously by not only men but also other women. Especially after the rise of the internet, people loved the idea of ripping these women to shreds just because they were feminine. Their thinking was that women could not possibly be smart and pretty, brave or beautiful. And this gave way to one of Hollywood’s most toxic tropes: “The Not-Like-Other Girls” girl. Characters under this category are women who didn’t wear makeup, dress up, or care about their appearance. They feel that they are ‘part of the boys’ and they are different from the average feminine woman. Examples of this would be Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games and Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality. These women feel disgusted about looking feminine to the point where they would avoid that to any extent, which is the exact opposite of the “Ultra Feminine Woman.” There is nothing wrong with girls who don’t want to look feminine at all, just as there is nothing wrong about looking ultra-feminine. However, with the “Not-Like-Other Girls” trope, women usually aim to bring down other women to make themselves feel better, but it’s not their fault; it’s society's.

However, Hollywood has produced multifaceted women as well, and a famous example of that would be Elle Woods from Legally Blond. Elle Woods might be considered an ultra-feminine girl at first glance. She wears all pink, loves shopping, and keeps up with her appearance. However, Elle escaped the air-head blond stereotype and showed audiences that ultra-feminine women can have a personality. Elle Woods is not just beautiful, she is also smart, charming, and headstrong.

The 21st century has gotten an improvement in how someone's appearance is perceived by society. Masculinity and femininity are not restricted to gender and more people can dress and look the way they want to. However, we still need to do better, and not reduce someone’s value down to how they look, no matter their gender.

Thank you for reading!