One of the continuous
themes throughout Crystal N. Feimster’s Southern
Horrors was that white women needed to be protected and taken care of by a
strong white male. Women could not be independent of a male figure, whether it
was their father or husband, without being seen as uncontrollable and
disruptive to the Southern ways of living. Poor white women were especially
seen as unruly to society. Without connection to a white male to “save” them,
women were perceived as sexually depraved. However, poor women posed as an
issue to the South not because of their sexuality, but because they stood as a
threat to white male masculinity. This threat was the tipping point that pushed
mobs to lynch white women.
While
the practice of lynching has stopped, the portrayal of white women needing
protection and having a dependency on males as a protection to their
masculinity prevails in popular culture. The popular TV series, Gilmore Girls,
revolves around a single mother, Lorelia, and her daughter, Rory. The “Gilmore
Girl” is a strong, independent woman. They are self-serving, working only to
provide for themselves and their futures. Men are not needed in their lives,
except for the occasional repair around the house. Lorelia works a full time job
at the local inn, sometimes struggling to make ends meet. While Lorelia was
raised by wealthy parents, when she became a teen mother she rebelled and left
her parents to raise her daughter. Lorelia was viewed as a disappointment to
her parents and their friends because she didn’t follow the pattern of
graduating high school, then continuing on to college, and finally marrying a
rich white male that can provide for her and their family as well as protect
her name and dignity.
Throughout the series
Lorelia continuously has to defend the men she dates to her mother, Emily,
because they are “not good enough” for her. Emily only approves of Christopher,
Rory’s father who comes from a similar, wealthy background. Christopher is the white
male that is supposed to save Lorelia from her risqué life as a single working
woman. Rory also does not gain her grandmothers approval until college when she
dates Logan Huntsberger, the son of a very well-known and wealthy family. These
wealthy men provide Lorelia and Rory the ability to return the power of the
Gilmore family name, however in the end, Lorelia and Rory remain independent
and choose to reject both men.
Men are also seen
physically and verbally defending the Gilmore girls to protect their own
masculinity. When Christopher does not deem Lorelia’s current boyfriend
acceptable, he starts a physical fight. Christopher claims he is fighting to
protect Lorelia when in reality he is fighting to protect his own masculinity. If
he cannot protect Lorelia and his daughter, he is seen as a failure of a man.
Rory’s past boyfriends have come to her rescue, verbally defending her. If the
men in Rory’s life can protect her, they can preserve their masculinity and
power of her.
The portrayal of Rory and
Lorelia as independent women is captivating for viewers because it is an
aberration from what society has supported as the norm for women. Under the quirky and witty plot lies the more
powerful assumption that as white women, Lorelia and Rory would need protection
and support from males, when in fact, they are constantly stepping away from
it.
When men became
“Desperate to control white women’s sexual behavior” (Feimster, Southern
Horrors, 158) in the south, they turned to violence to suppress any woman who
went against masculine white supremacy. “The protection southern white men extended
to ordinary white women meant that all white women, regardless of class, would
have to live up to the standards of southern womanhood-or suffer the
consequences” (Feimster, Southern Horrors, 176-177). White women were supposed to be the image of
innocence and purity in the South, but were only seen as such if they were
obedient to the male figure in their life. The lynching of White women revealed
“southern white men’s response to white women who threatened the social order
by refusing to play by the rules of race, class, and gender…” (Feimster,
Southern Horrors, 175-176). While Lorelia and Rory were not lynched for their
rebellion and independence, they were looked down upon by their family and
their social circle, as well as the little town they reside in. Regardless of the consequence of a women's
independence from a male figure, it speaks volumes about society that their
actions are punished at all.
I really like the analogy you made to Gilmore Girls, I loved watching the show growing up and never realized all the messages behind the show. I just thought it was great that she was a single mom and that she was independent just like my mother. But after reading your blog post and thinking more about it, even though the show may come off as challenging traditional gender roles, I still feels as it conforms to it because throughout the series, her mother is still constantly nagging her to get married to that "white rich man" who will "protect" her. Looking at it now though I notice that the show still emphasizes an importance on male masculinity and how offended a man gets when it is being threatened, especially by a women.
ReplyDeleteI think this ideology is still prevalent within our media today, such as in Vampire Diaries, where the main character Elena is always in distress and needs to be in protection even though she argues and fights back that she can protect herself, the two brothers that are in love with her continue to argue that they need to protect her, even her younger brother tags along with the same ideology. Looking at it now, the main reason why those characters say they need to protect her is because they feel the need to protect their masculinity, that in order to maintain it and show that they are strong, is to protect the "helpless" girl who is in distress. Overall I get the sense that to protect the male masculinity comes at the price of making women appear weak and in need for protection, that they cannot do anything without the assistance of a man.
I agree with Westley, we see the pressures on Loralie to find a man, and also her own desire to have a partner to help ends meet. Perhaps her inability to settle is a reflection of her discontentment with the societal demand and perceived necessity of marriage. Luke serves to help fill the role of masculine care-taker to her child-rearing mother role informally (and as a formal relationship at times- never saw how that ended up!) by fixing things around the house.
ReplyDeleteOne way in which Loralie challenged gender rolls is that she sucked at cooking and often had to go to Luke, a man, to purchase home-made meals. In some ways this still conforms to societal standards of gender rolls because Luke does not transcend gender rolls in providing meals for payment. He is a business man and for the majority of the show he is a bachelor. So, while Loralie is not living up to a particular gender roll, nobody is filling it in or shattering the norm that women cook.
I think Sookie, Loralie's best friend, is a good example of an independent woman. In her relationship with Jackson there is professional equality and Sookie has power. Sookie also penetrates a male dominated profession as she is a profession chef. We see gender roles come out in their relationship when Jackson demands that Sookie have "4 in 4" meaning four children in four years. Sookie expresses discontent with this idea but is pregnant for the majority of the rest of the show. In this we see the dominance of masculinity. Jackson is able to gain power over Sookie because of her emotional preference to him.
Mrs. Kim is an interesting female character as well. She is a single mom and a business owner, just like Lorlaie (after Loralie buys her own Inn). While she does not seem to have romantic involvements, she promotes the sanctity and necessity of marriage to her young daughter Layne.
Gilmore Girls has a wide variety of independent women, however, the messages within it promote gender normative roles and relationships.
The analogy you used for the Gilmore Girls was spot-on, while I never really became invested in the TV show when I was younger, I have definitely heard a lot about the subtle messages that the TV tried to pass on to the young viewers. The image of an independant woman and defying society's norms is definitly a sight to behold, and really stands out as a staple of how women like to be portayed in television compared to the usual "sexual object" portrayl that most TV shows today portray women as. I personally think they should move away from the objectification of women and try a more creative approach just like Gilmore Girls did
ReplyDeleteI loved Gilmore girls when I was younger but looking back on it there were a lot of subtle gender roles which are fulfilled within the outer appearance of strength. Rory goes to a private school which is expensive and ultimately funded by her grandparents money. There she and her mother are seen as something "other." Lorelai is outgoing and crazy and often times not taken seriously by the other parents, teachers, faculty, etc. And even though it isn't often explicitly stated, the moral character of Lorelai is often called into question based on the fact that she was a teen mother and then rejected the father to pursue her own career and path. Rory is under constant pressure to not "become like her mother." assuming that means getting a collage degree, finding a husband, and settling down to a comfortable upper-middle class to wealthy life.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the point of the Vampire Diaries(this is just a personal annoyance) anytime Elena ever makes a decision to do something she either must first get approval of the male characters in order for her plan to be fulfilled or her decisions are ignored and looked over. Most of the time it is under the explanation that the men did it out of love or for her wellbeing. Still, the message is clear. Elena can never make and succeed with a plan if she doesn't have the support of the male characters.