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They manage companies and entire states, make scientific discoveries and set world records, fly into space and explore the depths of the ocean. It would seem that in the XNUMXst century, women’s opportunities for self-realization are not limited by anything, but what about public opinion? It seems that some cultural and professional taboos are quite tenacious.
On April 10, 2019, photographs of a black hole were taken for the first time, and the real star of this discovery was 29-year-old Kathy Bowman, who, along with colleagues, developed an algorithm for converting data from several telescopes into a single image. A century ago, this was hard to imagine, since women were denied access to traditionally male professions in various fields, from science to politics. Today, however, everything is changing, and these metamorphoses are especially reflected in popular culture.
conducted a semiotic study and found out how the image of a woman is transformed in the media space. Based on the analysis of films, publications in the media and commercials, the authors identified 31 stable sets of signs and their combinations, which allow us to trace the transformation of familiar images and, in particular, find answers to the questions whether there are open and unspoken prohibitions for women in the modern world and how these taboos are mirrored in the media.
Trapped in gender roles
According to journalist and sex blogger Arina Vintovkina, unspoken taboos depend on the environment in which a child is brought up and family attitudes that are broadcast from an early age. A girl who grew up in a patriarchal family is more likely to absorb a full set of such patterns: “be modest and reserved”, “play with dolls, not football”, “wear dresses and skirts”, “grow braids”, and so on. Further.
In adult life, she will most likely have to make a lot of efforts to allow herself to do things that do not quite fit into this picture: choose a “non-female” profession, do boxing, not oriental dances, take the initiative in relationships. On the other hand, Vintovkina notes, girls who grew up in a gender-neutral environment, where they were taught that both boys and girls can be restless or quiet, cry and get angry, feel freer in personal choice: stereotypes have no power over them.
From childhood, boys are taught that conflicts should be resolved by force, and that the “boy” should keep his feelings to himself.
The same applies to men: the more unquestioningly gender roles are broadcast in childhood, the idea is imposed that there are two worlds, women and men, the more difficult it is to see in oneself and in other personalities with individual aspirations and inclinations not set by the biological sex.
One of the strongest gender attitudes addressed to men concerns the ban on the expression of feelings. From childhood, boys are taught that conflicts should be resolved by force, and that the “boy” should keep his feelings, fears, doubts to himself. This leads to the fact that at an older age, men have difficulty expressing feelings and in order to pronounce emotions with partners.
Men often find it difficult to identify these emotions within themselves: it is not easy for them to “feel” them and understand what they are feeling right now, sadness or anxiety. This underdeveloped empathy shuts many people out of healthy, sustainable communication.
Occupational Restrictions
The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees equal political and legal rights to all people, regardless of gender, but there are a number of restrictions for women in the professional sphere: in the list of types of work prohibited for them – .
Most often, prohibitions are associated with the physiological characteristics of the female body and harmful working conditions. So, for example, only a man can be a carpenter, a driver of an electric train, a bulldozer or an asphalt paving rink, a diver, a sailor, a lumberjack and a truck driver.
In addition, there are industries where there are no official gender restrictions, but which are traditionally considered more “masculine”, and women have to put in several times more effort to gain the respect of colleagues and achieve recognition. Most often, these are power structures, science, politics, while in the mirror of mass culture, such women usually harmoniously combine career and family. In the study, this dominant code is called “Both in the family and at work.”
Examples can be the heroines of the Russian TV series Major and Sklifosovsky, where strong and strong-willed female characters find a compromise between professional activity and personal life, as well as Western projects The Big Bang Theory, Jessica Jones, Motherland, in each of these, women are not inferior in career terms to men, and even surpass them.
The examples echo the dominant code of the Supergirl research: this is the embodiment of the archetypal idea of a superhuman girl, for whom everything is possible, you just have to want it. She cannot be broken by any difficulties, she will certainly achieve her goal, overcoming all trials, no matter how difficult they may be.
There are still industries that are reluctant to get rid of gender stereotypes
These are Furiosa from Mad Max: Fury Road, who is looking for a way to salvation, taking away those who need help, and the heroine of the cartoon Brave, a princess who rebelled against the patriarchal foundations of the family and decided to live by her own rules, and June Osborne from the dystopian The Handmaid’s Tale, who dared to go against the system. At the same time, there are still industries in which they are reluctant to get rid of gender stereotypes, and the girl-specialist is viewed with a great deal of skepticism or condescension. These are heavy industry, oil and gas and mining, law and aviation.
The study ranks the “In the territory of men” code as an emerging trend, that is, one that is just beginning to take root in society, but over time can become dominant. This is also reflected in popular culture: for example, in the 2016 film Crew, pilot Alexandra Kuzmina has to fight the prejudice of society and prove that a woman can sit at the controls of an aircraft.
The story of the heroine of the film “North Country” also became significant: Josie, played by Charlize Theron, is a single mother who returned to her hometown with her children. The only place where she could find work was the mine: the male team took Josie hostilely, but the heroine began to fight for her rights and entered the warpath against the judicial system.
Creative self-realization and hobbies
When it comes to hobbies and hobbies, we shouldn’t have any gender restrictions, but the unspoken social taboos are strong enough. The pressure comes from childhood, girls are instructed to be gentle and feminine and choose the appropriate hobby.
When it comes to sports, a girl is more likely to be sent to ballet, figure skating, athletics, and gymnastics. This, of course, requires excellent physical fitness, but in a broad sense it is valued more for its aesthetic component. Therefore, women who choose the “male” way of self-realization face misunderstanding and even rejection. In 2014, the film “Mary Kom” was released, telling the story of five-time world boxing champion Mary Kom. The housewife and mother of two (at the time of filming) children was able to achieve her goal, despite the fact that no one believed in her, and others, including officials and judges, said that a woman’s place was in the kitchen. Mary knocked out all the rivals in the literal and figurative sense of the word.
Girls in football are still considered rather an exception to the rule: the most “female” role is a place in a cheerleading team
Ten years before Mary, the heroine of Million Dollar Baby won a huge victory in the ring of popular culture: Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning film is about the story of an ordinary girl, Maggie, who turned to a famous boxing trainer with a request to help her become a champion. Condescending grins from men, tough training on the verge of physical capabilities, a wayward coach, endless bruises and fractures – none of this broke Maggie on the way to victory.
Girls in football are also still considered rather an exception to the rule: in the traditional view, the most “female” role here is a place in a cheerleading cheerleading team. The main character of the film Gracie faces such stereotypes: after the death of her brother, the girl decides to honor his memory and replace him in the school football team. No one takes her seriously, the school administration dismisses her request, and others look at her as crazy. However, Gracie intends to defend her rights to the end in order to prove to everyone, and first of all to herself, that in football the main thing is not gender, but will, character and physical fitness.
A similar, but less dramatic, path is followed by the heroines of Bend It Like Beckham. Jess dreams of becoming a famous football player and playing like her idol David Beckham, but because of the rejection of others, she is forced to be content with participating in amateur competitions. Everything changes when Jess finally meets a like-minded female soccer player who invites her to train together and, together, challenge the stereotype that football “belongs” to men.
Sociocultural restrictions
The transformation of female images and behavioral attitudes is also noticeable in a wide socio-cultural layer, which belongs to the semantic space of “Relationships”. So, the most common codes include “Rebel”. This is the image of a woman who fights against conservative principles, primarily in personal relationships, defends her right to cheat and to leave her partner if he does not suit her in some way.
“Rebel” thinks first of all about her own interests, about her own psychological comfort and will not do something against her will just because a man wants to. One example in modern popular culture is Asya from the TV series Treason. Not getting the emotions she needs from her weak-willed and inattentive husband, Asya makes lovers without trying to justify herself: she understands what she is doing and consciously allows herself to be happy the way she needs.
Anna, the heroine of the TV series “Double Solid”, finds herself in a similar situation, only she does not start a lover, but a second full-fledged family in another city: for some time she manages to live in two houses without arousing suspicion, and even register a new marriage without breaking the old one. , but an unplanned pregnancy puts her in front of a difficult choice.
Both series were called provocative by critics for the fact that in them a woman is presented in a completely different way from what she should be in the traditional view, although films that deal with the topic of male infidelity are more loyal. Another common fact in “Betrayals” and “Double Solid” is female infidelity as a response to male infidelity: as the plot develops, it turns out that the heroines allowed themselves to have lovers after they found out about their husband’s infidelity.
Even in the dominant code, in the idea of a female rebellion, there is still an unspoken request for a reason, excuse, extenuating circumstances or justification for such an act. In order for a woman to assert her right to sexual freedom, in the eyes of society, she must have a good reason.
Women lead states, go into space, run multi-million dollar corporations, make discoveries
But no one condemns women if they take the first steps in a relationship or even an offer: the code “Man as a deficit” also belongs to the dominant ones. Archetypal carriers are girls with an active life position and a mindset for creating a family, who believe that all means are good to win the chosen one.
It is reflected, for example, in the show “The Bachelor”, in which several girls are fighting for the attention of a promising groom. Another example is the film How to Marry in Three Days, in which the main character goes to Dublin to make an offer to her boyfriend on February 29th: according to the traditions of some countries, in a leap year, a girl has the right to ask for a man’s hand and heart, and he cannot refuse.
In general, it can be noted that there are fewer public prohibitions in the life of modern women: they receive rights and opportunities that de jure are practically indistinguishable from men’s. Women lead states, go into space, manage multi-million dollar corporations and make discoveries.
At the same time, unspoken restrictions remain, which are more difficult to fight because they are invisible, not written anywhere. This is noticeable in the areas of professional and personal self-realization: the code, the bearers of which master work and hobbies that are non-traditional for women, is called “On the territory of men”, that is, in the eyes of the public, these women are in a foreign field, they have come to a place that does not belong to them.
Whether they will remain in this territory and whether they will be able to overcome gender stereotypes will become clear only over time, but the metamorphoses will be reflected in popular culture.