Femininity in media

Villians even in early cinema was associated with overtly sexual women who valued appearance. Once color flooded movies, the mean woman was dressed in pink. She was in jewels and makeup. This led to questions like “can you be a feminist if you dress in pastels or wear makeup?” Although women attempted to reclaim makeup and femininity as feminist products, the “not like other girls'' trope shattered that. The two women in the media are: the hyper-feminine girl is also maybe of low intelligence and the girls who don't know how to “be a girl” and are “just like the boys.” The latter does not fuss about getting dirty and she enjoys “masculine” activities like sports.

In the eyes of Hollywood, women cannot be career-oriented or intelligent, only men can do so, causing women with these focuses to become “not like other girls.” These women are often two-dimensional, causing the ability to make the character relatable. In order for women to be equal or acknowledged, they have to be masculine. This ideology created the pandemic that femininity equates to evil, causing feminine characters who care about clothes, makeup and the color pink in the media to be depicted as villains while the “tomboy” characters are the protagonists.

This can be seen in the movie Mean Girls. The ultra-feminine Regina George who is dressed in pink and rhinestones is evil. But, the tomboy, Cady Heron, is the loveable protagonist. However, when Cady Heron becomes more feminine throughout the movie, she is seen as a bad or unlikable character until she transforms back to her “not like other girls” and “tomboyish” self. It is only after she is back in a t-shirt, baggy pants and dull colors that she becomes “good again” or a “redeemed” character.

Though a lot has changed in the movie industry since the 2003 release of Mean Girls, this author feels that we still need new representation in the media, a girly smart character and a new villain, one that isn’t wearing pink!