Michele Herron Susan J. Douglas Introduction: Fantasies of Power

Douglas’s book addresses sexism in the media and how that has influenced our view of feminism today. She uses copious examples of present day media figures like Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Ellen Degeneres, Prime Time television shows, and MTV reality shows. She points out that there are many shows that feature strong female leads pursuing prestigious careers like Grey’s Anatomy, The Closer, and Commander in Chief. But there is a disparity between what we see on TV and the reality of the present day. The media acts like gender equality has already been achieved so it does not need to be fought for anymore. Scantily clad women portrayed as sex objects on television are therefore justified because the women have “chosen” that image for themselves.
Douglas says that today (for girls our age) power comes from shopping, having the right logos, being “hot,” and judging, dissing, and competing with other girls (usually over boys.) I can see exactly what she means. Girls are very competitive and judgmental of one another for no reason. Its like a mental process that we can’t control or avoid.
All of this builds up to the topic of this book, enlightened sexism. Douglas defines enlightened sexism as “a response, deliberate or not, to the perceived threat of a new gender regime.” It believes that women have made plenty of progress because of feminism (full equality has been achieved) so it is okay to resurrect sexist stereotypes of girls and women. And women’s goals (especially young women) is to get men to lust after them and to make other girls jealous.
Television shows that show sexist behavior and images are saying “its silly to be sexist; therefore, it’s funny to be sexist.” Viewers watch shows like those on MTV because it allows the viewer to judge the people on TV and therefore puts the viewer above the stupid people on the screen.
One of the issues that Douglas addresses is that under the lens of enlightened sexism, women are expected to be superwomen by being independent, powerful, respected, and also accepted, approved, and loved by others. Its hard for anyone to be all of that. Women are also expected to work and take care of their families.
One final topic that interested me in this introduction is when Douglas mentioned in the beginning of the chapter about Christina Hoff Sommer’s book about how boys are struggling compared to girls. She says they are ending up dropping out of high-school, in detention, and ending up working at fast-food restaurants. However, these examples do not cover the whole spectrum of the population. Many boys are still going to college and becoming very successful and many girls are still dropping out of high school too, especially teen mothers. This is an issue that I would like to return to if I have the opportunity and the resources to learn more.

p.s. Abby, I found your response very thought-provoking and I agree with your position. I think that men and women need to focus more on mutual understanding of each other and how we interact with each other rather than studying each gender separately.