Cross-posted on www.the-F-word.org
I saw a commercial for the new film "The Ugly Truth " yesterday. Starring Katherine Heigl and the dreamy Gerard Butler," the film seems to be of of the "Men are bumbling idiots who think only with the head in their pants" genre -- just check out the poster for it.
Yeah, yeah, I know... men have up to 20 times more testosterone than women which leads to differences in sex drives , yadda, yadda, but unbelievably, there are men who do have healthy levels of testosterone and yet have still managed to avoid devolving into cousin-humping rabbits. It's important to remember that sexism, in all its forms, hurts us all, men included.
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This movie and its poster make me want to puke. The only positive thing I can say about it is that Heigl has top billing, which NEVER FUCKING HAPPENS. I wish women could start getting top billing in movies that aren't romcoms.
The ads and poster for this movie annoy me. Neither of them has their heart in the right place. Apparently, women's brains are obscured by their emotions, and men's emotions are determined by their genitals.
Stereotypes, FTW!
>:(
Ha. I hate this trailer so much... I think my boyfriend is getting sick of my "Yay! Let's make another movie about pervasive gender stereotypes! It never gets old..." sarcasm rant everytime it comes on.
Didn't they just release this movie like, 2 months ago... but called it "He's just not that into you"?
I'm know my hope for a teeny bit of originality in movies is setting the bar high... but really, Hollywood. Really?
How much you want to bet that Heigl and Bulter's characters end up falling in love? Rom-coms are annoying at best, and typically puke-worthy. Just another film to put on the "Do not see" list.
Well, that's exactly it. They'll start falling for each other, one of them will make a big mistake that drives them apart, and then he will make some grand sweeping gesture and win back her heart.
There... just saved you an hour and 20 minutes of your life, and a $10 theatre ticket. :P
Yeah, I know. When I saw the trailer for this that was the gist of my comments too. They say something along the lines of what men and women want and I said, "how about a movie that isn't full of the same cliched sexist gender stereotypes." It isn't even offensive but funny, just worn out and irritating. I am pretty surprised that Katherine Heigl agreed to do this movie because she got some flak in the past for making comments about some of the sexist stereotyping in movies and in particular called her movie Knocked up sexist and said she didn't like the gender stereotyping in it. Maybe it all about the bottom line for her. I'm sure this movie is going to be about the characters finding some kind of common ground in the end so that they can have a romance, but I don't think that justifies what it looks like this movie is going to be, though I will reserve my final opinion until I see it. (Though I probably won't.)
Saw the commercial and it consisted of a man barking orders at a women about everything she needed to change about herself to accommodate men. Just looks like another "Not Into You" type movie designed to make women feel bad about themselves, men, and relationships. At least heterosexual ones, but I'll bet there's also a "snarky" (I hate that word) gay best friend who gives out lots of relationship advice while never shown actually being in a relationship himself.
"...Just looks like another 'Not Into You' type movie designed to make women feel bad about themselves, men, and relationships..."
Which reminds me, you know how some magazines marketed to women encourage women in the audience to feel bad about ourselves and that helps the magazine execs make money selling ad space to cosmetic companies, clothing companies, diet companies, etc.?
Movies, including these romantic comedies marketed to women, don't have ad space the way magazines do. How on Earth does making women in the audience feel bad about ourselves help the movie execs sell tickets to women?
It helps those invested in a status quo where women are down and oppressed keep it that way.
Helping "those invested in a status quo where women are down and oppressed keep it that way" and helping "the movie execs sell tickets to women" aren't the same thing. I get your point about the former, but my comment was about wondering how on Earth this kind of moviemaking does the latter.
I agree 100% with you , rustyspoons. It really kills me that Katherine's character has to completley change herself so men find her sttractive. This is just another way our soiceity puts so much pressure on young women to be desirable, skinny, and sex objects. I can't stand it.
I hate the stereotypes that I seen even in the trailers for this movie, meaning that there will be even more in the actual movie! And what's worse is that people still think that this is how all women and men behave. That women use their heads to find love and men only think with their genitals. I don't really know anyone who acts totally like this. And it's also sad that I'm not surprised that a movie like this is being made.
"...And what's worse is that people still think that this is how all women and men behave...."
Totally.
Women have less testosterone because we are more sensitive to it. We need less to produce the same effect. I also checked out the sex drive link. I am always exceedingly wary of something that mentions the influence of culture on women's sexuality, then dismisses it because the "researcher" believes that sociobiology plays a larger/more relevant factor. Numerous scientists criticized sociobiology for its lax scientific methodology when it was in vogue and again when it was repackaged as evolutionary psych.
"Women have less testosterone because we are more sensitive to it."
...and some of us are even more sensitive to it than others. :/
Women have less testosterone because we are more sensitive to it. We need less to produce the same effect. I also checked out the sex drive link. I am always exceedingly wary of something that mentions the influence of culture on women's sexuality, then dismisses it because the "researcher" believes that sociobiology plays a larger/more relevant factor. Numerous scientists criticized sociobiology for its lax scientific methodology when it was in vogue and again when it was repackaged as evolutionary psych.
Speaking as a man, but not for all men (of course), I do not feel offended by the poster (I have not seen the trailer).
I think we men are thicker skinned (I think/speaking from my own experience). I actually think that humour is usually based on some kind of stereotype, and most people (I mean 'men') recognise humousr for what it is - i.e. something to be taken lightly.
James Bond is based on the suave Englishman stereotype. Who is offended by that? Hugh Grant plays only roles of middle-class bumbling Englishmen - has anyone complained? I won't even mention the smooth-talking French intellectual or the Italian playboy.
Y hallo thar troll.
Plz to be clickin.
I doubt you'll find many men complaining about James Bond because he portrayed as is a sort of positive "wish-fullfillment" character for a lot of guys--suave, elegant, always saves the day, women adore him. We understand his character is a fantasy. This, on the other hand, plays to sweeping generalizations people make about how all men and women interact that is not positive or wish-fullfilling. It just pigeonholes people into these narrow little roles. Add to that the sting of sexism over the years, of women being dismissed as being "over-emotional" because that's the stereotype, and it's pretty easy to see why people here are sick of things like this.
You're right. Those darn women just can't take a joke! Silly, uptight feminists. Their little opinions make my life so annoying.... [/sarcasm]
These type of comments on a feminist blog make me want to puke.
I like how you start by pointing out that you don't speak for all men and then proceed to do so.
And then you say, "and most people (I mean 'men')"
Oh right, women aren't people. I always forget that.
Guess what. I can recognize humor for what it is. Nothing about this trailer or any of the advertising for this movie is funny. Maybe you (and apparently all men since you are their self-proclaimed representative) just have shitty senses of humor.
I have an idea. Why doesn't Hollywood come up with some original comedy instead of trotting out the same old predictable bullshit that ISN'T FUNNY?
Oh wait. Because there are still millions of people like you who find this tired drivel entertaining. And it's so much easier to do the same thing over and over again than to do anything innovative.
By the way, what the hell are you still doing here? I feel like I've been feeding your troll mouth forever on this site.
Okay, I'm a dude, so thanks for announcing that you are not speaking for me and then speaking for me.
This poster is insulting to me. I'm sick and tired of having culture tell everyone around me that I'm only in it for the sex. I'm sick and tired of culture telling little boys that they are supposed to be only in it for the sex and there is something wrong with them if they have, well, emotional connections. I'm sick and tired of how this encourages distrust of men by women and women by men and contributes to predatory male behavior which they can excuse by thinking "Hey, I'm a man, this is how I'm supposed to behave, because I have a penis!" and apparently, thicker skin (which is a new one to me.).
I'm sorry for being thinned skin, guess I'm not just very good at being a man, huh? Woe is me. Gonna watch a Bond movie now because chauvenism always makes me feel better.
I'm not sure about the WebMD article:
"Men are more likely to seek sex even when it is frowned upon or even outlawed:
* About two-thirds say they masturbate, even though about half also say they feel guilty about it, Laumann says. By contrast, about 40% of women say they masturbate, and the frequency of masturbation is smaller among women.
* Prostitution is still mostly a phenomenon of men seeking sex with women, rather than the other way around.
* Nuns do a better job of fulfilling their vows of chastity than priests. Baumeister cites a survey of several hundred clergy by Sheila Murphy in which 62% of priests admitted to sexual activity, compared to 49% of nuns. The men reported more partners on average than the women."
Reports of masturbation and chastity are based on self report and people tend to have a bias when they self report. Women are socialized to believe that masturbation is "dirty" and are probably more likely to be embarrassed to report about it. I'd really be surprised and kind of saddened if less than half of women masturbate. We view masturbation for men as necessary and almost mechanical. As far as chastity goes, I would argue that we commonly accept that men cheat and that women only cheat for emotional needs. And prostitution is a pretty complicated topic that I feel like is too simply looked at in that statement.
"Women's desire "is more contextual, more subjective, more layered on a lattice of emotion," Perel adds. Men, by contrast, don't need to have nearly as much imagination, Perel says, since sex is simpler and more straightforward for them.
That does not mean that men do not seek intimacy, love, and connection in a relationship, just as women do. They just view the role of sex differently. "Women want to talk first, connect first, then have sex," Perel explains. "For men, sex is the connection. Sex is the language men use to express their tender loving vulnerable side," Perel says. "It is their language of intimacy.""
I just don't get this idea that women are emotional and mysterious people that need to be sweet talked and connected to enjoy sex and an orgasm and that sex is some windy complex road for women. I'm really not that complicated. Really. And I don't feel like I have a weirdly high sex drive.
Well, I'm a woman and I definitely have thought with my genitals.
dangerfield said it again...the stereotypes suck because they hurt us ALL, even though they allegedly portray men in a more "positive" light, that narrow portrayal is still not right for MOST men, who are fully capable of a range of thoughts and emotions and are just as confused by the dating world as women.
I hate these stupid movies and just like Chelsa said, my boyfriend gets tired of my rants against them, but I think they just drive us, men and women, further apart when we should know better and treat each other as individuals and not cardboard cutouts of a stupid type.
Like the old saw says, we feminists have a great sense of humor, we just prefer to laugh when the joke is not on us.
The split between sex and romance across the gender lines seems unnatural to me. Without the implication of physical intimacy escalating towards sex, most 'romantic' acts would not be much different from a close friendship. Eat together at a restaurant, go to a dance club, share secrets, etc.
Both genders can benefit from both love and sex.