This reminds me of a huge project I've been working on for a few years (it's taken so long because the whole thing revolves around horror films, and I am absolutely terrified of horror films) about how useless the women are in horror flicks. I mean, not only are they useless but they're victimized - I would argue - more than in any other genre.

Anyway, that's a post for a later date (and a real post, not just a comment...).

But anyway, thank you so much for your post and for pointing out something I've noticed SO often and it was really pissing me off.

And I totally hear you on the rape-o-meter, sexism-o-meters and all the meters. I'm not sure my brain has a switch anymore...and I'm only in high school. I can't wait until I'm out of high school and university and hitting those middle-aged years. *roll eyes*

Why are men too stupid to pick up the gun after killing the guard with bare hands in action movies?

"I could direct a little more humor towards the portrayal of useless men!"

There are a lot of deliberately casted useless men in movies. Entire movies are based on the premise. And even where there is a dominating heroic male role (like in a Schwartzenegger or Stallone film) to the exclusion of females, what does that make then, of all the other men in the film who are either out of the spotlight, or explicitly unheroic or unmanly? There are also what I call the "asshole" roles in films, the kinds of guys who serve as fodder for villains or monsters, and the crowd is meant to laugh or cheer at their deaths. Also the "dead black guy" roles when the heroes are white.

Why heroic women are portrayed as lacking feminine qualities, or being replacements for men, as Sigourney Weaver made famous in Aliens, or Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (minus the maternal bits), is a question. Jodie Foster seems to consistently choose good strong female roles.

"Why are men too stupid to pick up the gun after killing the guard with bare hands in action movies?"

Particularly nowadays, unless one is in "Wanted," it allows for more creativity in killing. (Unless of course, the western cast inexplicably start fighting like in a 90s Hong Kong action movie.) Who suspected all these years that Rambo could simply walk up and tear a guy's throat out, when he used to use a knife close up and one on one? Why wasn't he portrayed as that badass 20 years ago?

oh man, I can definitely relate on the "turn off" thing. I'm pretty sure I'm one more outcry of SEXIST! away from being insufferable XD

Because how ELSE would the man prove how manly he is without having to rescue a skinny, imperiled model who has just fallen in love with him in spite of her complete disgust and disinterest in the beginning of the movie?

In other words, I totally agree. Though I blame the audience as much as the studios, since I've seen some action movies where the woman saved the day and most of them were box office flops.

Which is I'm a big fan of "The Descent" even if the plot itself is kind of silly (though, really, what horror movie plot isn't?). It's great, some of the women are helpless, most of them aren't and all of them fight to live without any men (to help them survive) on screen after the first 5 minutes of the movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/

I just wish I had more than one example to give :/

A male: Why heroic women are portrayed as lacking feminine qualities, or being replacements for men, as Sigourney Weaver made famous in Aliens, or Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (minus the maternal bits), is a question.

Define "feminine qualities" in specific terms and maybe we can answer.

Considering that things like calmness under pressure, physical durability, and intelligence are traditionally considered unfeminine, it stands to reason that any female worth admiring in heroic terms is going to be very unfeminine by the standards of the times in which the concepts of feminine vs. masculine were made up. All that means is that we should discard those ridiculous ideas instead of making sure heroic women are somehow portrayed as feminine.

Yes, I too, would like to know his particular definintion of "feminine"
In our patriarchal world it's understood that men have the right to decide how a woman is supposed to act if she wants to BE a woman. If she doesn't comply completely she is considered UNfeminine or even masculine. Of course, the specific traits that are judged either masculing or feminine by MEN vary between cultures, families and relationships. Women are naturally expected to pick up on these variations and live by them. But never to decide for themselves what is feminine.
And this also affects men as well. They have to hang on to their "man cards" by shunning anything in themselves that is too close to what is socially accepted as "feminine".
None of the traits have anything to do with the "nature". It's all socialized into us the moment we were born. People do scientific studies on this all the time, but it's impossible to get a clear, unbiased result because because we've all been affected by extreme gender roll indoctrination. When a woman doesn't comform to "feminine" qualities does that make her unnatural? When entired groups of women don't comform, are they all "messed up"?
When whole cultures of women don't comform are they all "freaks of nature"? Just 50 years ago, women who worked outside the home were considered "unfeminine"(unless they were nurses,teachers or maids), now it's normal and expected behavior. How can we explain this if "feminine" is something that is biological?

It's so true. I remember thinking last week during the new Batman "Huh, it's a shame there are no women or black people in Gotham City that make any decisions. Good thing all these white guys are there to save us!"

Lizard Writes, LOL - Maybe that's why things are so screwed up in Gotham City!

That said, I've seen a lot of anime that has very strong female characters/heroes. Specifically, "Noir", "The 12 Kingdoms", "Haibane Renmei" and "The Slayers".

Not that anime is the be all and end all of anti-sexism (far from it). But I find it sad that many people I know and talk to are mostly unaware of it. Even many people who say they watch anime are unfamiliar with the ones I really like. I find that when the female characters figure more prominently, it tends to make for a better story.

*Cheers for Slayers*
---
regaurding the argument made above about Ripley and Sarah Connor, it's one I've seen before by aa media analyst and I'm against that view now as I was then. (Ripley and Sarah Connor in T2 are my fricken idols)
The argument made long ago was that these women 'weren't feminine' even that they were 'men with breasts' and the saddest thing is that the person who wrote thins back then saw the remake of Charlies Angels as a step foreward *frustrated sigh* yes a woman isn't really a woman unless she titters and wears skintight outfits and high heels while kicking bad guy but. Well excuse me for prefering women who were too busy with robots and aliens to give two S#$%^s about being clean objects of idolised 'femininity'.

"Define 'feminine qualities' in specific terms and maybe we can answer."

You know quite well what is meant by traditional feminine or masculine traits, in current culture. Thank you for bringing up Japanese anime. However, I do not mean women being "useless" damsels in distress as used to be the rule. Nor do I refer to "feminine" as biological, because as you point out, what is considered feminine changes over time.

If you believe this is simply a man dictating how women (even fictional ones) should behave, then I have nothing more to say.

Actually, no, I do need to say two more things:

I do my own writing and artwork, as I like to do them. I have no lead male characters, because I don't want to look at or draw men.

Not judging how the opposite sex behaves, even in fiction, should extend to both sexes, if criticism is to be made.

"I have no lead male characters, because I don't want to look at or draw men."

I find that statement odd. I too do a lot of art. It never occurred to me not to draw a certain gender because I don't want to LOOK at them.

"Not judging how the opposite sex behaves, even in fiction, should extend to both sexes"

I agree, the sexes should not judge each other on whether they are "correctly" masculine or feminine as a whole. Attraction is individual. If I like a man that wears makeup and works construction, then that's my own personal preference, it's not the way things "should" be. If a man likes a woman who wears dresses and wants to procreate that should be just a personal preference, not a deffinition of "femininity"
In reality, society is all about dictating and comforming everyone into specific "masculine" and "feminine" rolls.
Since we live in a strong patriarchy, it's the men (as a whole) who make the rules of sex rolls. This harms men as well as women. Think about men who show emotional sensitivity, a trait that our society has traditionally labelled as "feminine". They are usually called "girly", "weak" or are considered "gay" (which is supposedly a bad thing). It's almost always other men that are doing the judging and name-calling, policing other men to stay in the defined roll of "masculine" and thereby enforcing "weakness" as "feminine"

"It never occurred to me not to draw a certain gender because I don't want to LOOK at them."

I enjoy the privilege of "art" as a hobby, not ever necessary to earn a living. The biggest following of my "work" was probably the continuous attention it got on my university dorm door and hallway wall beginning in 1986, when anime and manga were yet unknown to the mainstream US. While in Japan, when people asked me for my simple pen and pencil sketches and studies (or actual illustrations) I used for teaching, I gave it to them.

I choose what I spend hours of effort or study on. Men's faces and bodies, and certainly nudes, are not it. Since 1994, I choose to feature females as all my strong characters, as heroines and villains, "feminine" or as stand ins or parodies of male heroes akin to Wolverine. I draw only action or comedy sequences, character studies, or promotional type images.

It's not just neglecting men. I do what I like in my "art," period. No bowls of fruit. No flowers or trees. No landscapes or seascapes despite living in Hawaii. I'll have periods where I'll do only dolphins with varying degrees of human limb development, or horn faced dinosaurs with humanoid bodies (strangely, these animals are "male"). Sometimes I'll do only fantasy renderings or design concepts of race replica motorcycles, guns, knives, swords, or traditional Asian or European medieval weaponry.

Most recently, I believe I should preserve images of aging historical buildings. That ranks somewhere below hooking up the Nintendo Wii I bought four weeks ago and building more rabbit cages.

Why are women useless in disaster movies?
Because men make those films with women only in supportive roles from the very beginning.
From the assistants that have to look cute to get the job, to the hair, make-up, wardrobe and script supervisor jobs they get during production and back to the assisting jobs for post.
Unless you watch some of the films that Gail Anne Hurd produces.

Some of us are working at making it better.
Support us by going ot fil festivals and seeking out films produced, directed and written by women.
Support us by paying to see out films at the theatre instead of paying to see the films that degrade us.
Teach the men in your life to see which films are unnacceptable sexist and support their choice to stop paying into those films.

Why are women useless in disaster movies?
Because men make those films with women working in supportive roles from Development and pre- production to Distribution. Because Film is a Boys club industry that makes the era depicted in Mad Men look pro feminist.
From the assistants that have to look cute to get the job, to the hair, make-up, wardrobe and script supervisor jobs they get during production and back to the assisting jobs for post.
Unless you watch some of the films that Gail Anne Hurd produces, it's one big boys club, sexist fest.

Some of us are working at making it better.
Support us by going to film festivals and seeking out films produced, directed and written by women.
Support us by paying to see our films at the theatre instead of paying to see the films that degrade us.
Teach the men in your life to identify which films are sexist. Support their choice to stop paying into those films.
Remind everyone in your life that we have to consciously choose women from the talent pool when we are hiring- especially in media.

Die hard 2. Bruce Willis' wife decks a guy in the face. And in first movie she's way more composed than a lot of the male hostages.