11 Most Problematic Portrayals of Women in Western Media
Women and media have a long-standing battle where representation has been skewed for decades. An online community of women voices its concerns and highlights 11 concerning portrayals of women within mainstream Western media.
1. “Historical” Accuracy
While historical accuracy is one, being selective in such portrayal is problematic. Take Game of Thrones, for instance. As a member highlights, this series is loosely based on historical societies only to replicate the suffering and abuse of female characters unnecessarily.
While writers claim, “That’s just how it was back then in the olden days,” the user points out how they are “hiding behind “history” as a flimsy excuse. Besides, even if it is “how it was” back in the day, why do we still have fire-breathing dragons in the show?
2. The Reality of Forbidden Love
One member mentions the assault of Ms. Marvel in Avengers #200. The villain’s manipulative relationship with Ms. Marvel is positively presented as she claims to love him and be happy with him. “The authors write it as if it’s a love story. Authors have since apologized, the editor says he doesn’t even remember green-lighting the issue but wishes he hadn’t,” adds the commenter.
3. Selective Smartness
Here’s a particularly prevalent trope: women are the dumbest people on the planet, yet they know how to seduce and fall in love with the first man they see. Many members find this depiction to be reductionist and insulting to women, implying that they are worthless if it weren’t for them being good at physical intimacy.
4. Zombie-Run Makeup Magic
While there are worse examples, one commenter can’t help but be bothered by “how the women in The Walking Dead series stayed gorgeous and never had a problem with their periods.” Many members echo the frustration, mentioning how most post-apocalyptic media ignore these authentic struggles of womanhood.
5. Daring Dressing
Here’s another example of female characters looking perfectly flawless and perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards. One person was baffled by the entirety of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011). The woman who is the love interest is “in a full, white top/bottom ensemble and gets ZERO dirt on her outfit as buildings are literally collapsing around her.”
6. Biology Lessons Required
A user recalls the birth scene when reading the book Bird Box and “wondering out loud if the author had ever met a woman who’d given birth before.” “Unfortunately, I have erased from my mind precisely what it was that offended me so much!” they add.
7. The Oblivious Operations Manager
A viewer is at the end of her wits with “any movie where there is a woman who’s introduced in a power position and then proceeds to do nothing the rest of the film except ask stupid questions and cry.” She cites Jurassic World, where the main female character is the stuck-up operations manager of the park.
However, unlike her position of power, she is shown to be shallow as she falls at the exact moment when the hero can save her and asks questions like “What’s that?” and “Where are we going?” The clueless woman trope is much worse when applied to this character who is in charge of the layouts.
8. The Nagging Mom
When discussing the women from The Wheel of Time series, a commenter is infuriated by how “they simply cannot stop thinking about men” and that they “seem to exist solely to balance out the male characters with their no-nonsense womanly wisdom.”
9. Mind Control Mystery
One person is still mad about that one episode of Star Trek where “they land on a planet that had men and women living segregated.” They write, “I remember being most infuriated that the women literally didn’t know what a brain was.” While Star Trek has done much to advance social equality, this one episode left the viewer upset.
10. Dependency Debacles
Bella Swan from Twilight is a prominent character in the world of YA books. However, one user aptly sums up the problematic portrayal, saying, “Her dependence on Edward to the point that she can barely even live when he leaves her is just pathetic and a bad role model for the teen/young adult girls that read those books.”
11. Zero Survival Instincts
The trope that the woman always runs away from violence goes against the thoughts of many female commenters. As one person mentions, “Women in stories rarely fight back, and all of my instincts are the opposite.”
Usually, these characters run away and don’t resort to violence even when they should. “Women are portrayed as tactically idiotic victims,” remarks one angry commenter.
Source: Reddit.
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