British museum: Vikings and the role of Scandinavian women

Following last post's historical theme, here are some pics from some Viking items at the British Museum.

 

Other British Museum posts: Anglosaxons, Egypt and Greece, Celts

 

 

A Sword-woman admiring Viking swords :)

Penannular brooches

Decorated vessel

Ornaments, featuring the Pitney brooch 

Whalebone plaque

This artifact allows me to criticize Viking gender roles a bit:

   "Whalebone plaques probably had a symbolic function too. Their link with women is clear, being used by women in life and buried with them in death. Perhaps plaques like this one symbolized the central role Viking women played in the home – organizing the household, caring for the family, preparing food and making clothing." (Source)

Yes, Viking/Scandinavian women may have had a bit more freedom and legal rights compared to other contemporary European societies (such as the Anglosaxon one, it seems) - They could have their own money and property (which included inheriting and trading), commission rune stones and be patrons of art, have rich burials (if they were of upper class, of course), get a divorce, demand punishment if they were harassed or raped (although men weren't exactly taught 'not to rape', of course :S), and some women knew how to fight and it's probable that they would have joined the men in at least some battles, raids, and trading and exploration parties (Material such as archaeology finds, sagas and annals seem to confirm this, disregardless of archaeology gender bias, but seeing as we're talking about a strictly male-dominated society, these activities probably weren't the norm around women, although women warriors/Shielmaidens (and quite a handful, according to burial evidence), female settlers (female armed settlers and raiders ignored because of gender bias), and female explorers, traders and leaders definitely existed). Additionally, women also seem to have been able to gain some power by taking religious roles (priestesses and völvas (seeresses)).

Shieldmaiden Lagertha, by Morris Meredith Williams

In spite of this, we should bear in mind that these cases were not the norm either - Vikings (and Scandinavians in general) were still a male-dominated society with strict gender roles, same as mostly every culture, unfortunately, and the women were the ones expected to take care of the household/farm/estate (disregadless of whether the husband was away or not), the children and their husband's needs. Some argue that this role of taking care of the estate and household  involved more power than in other societies, but we should still bear in mind that all those (hard) tasks were the responsibility of the women, quite convenient for the menfolk and a double standard which is quite recurrent in most cultures.

Viking women by Angus McBride

 Women, exceptions aside, also couldn't hold significant positions of power or take part in political activities (unless it be as the consort, Siggy's role in Vikings, or as a very notable exception, such as Lagertha becoming Earl in the same series, which still involved taking a man's name and having her position taken from her shortly after). They seemed to be pretty much discriminated upon by the law in many ways as well, apparently being viewed as under the authority of their fathers and husbands (other cultures have it worse in this respect, such as the Greeks, but that's not a reason to ignore it), having limited freedom to do what they liked with their own property (even though they had their own property and could inherit), often not being able to have a say in their families' decision of who they should marry (even though if they were mistreated or insulted, they could get divorced and got granted custody of the children), not being able to be a witness or speak in assemblies (the series Vikings shows women acting as witnesses and speaking during the Thing, though, not sure how accurate that is), and also being punished for 'dressing like men' or carrying weapons, according to some lawbooks (this could indicate that the shieldmaidens were more of a remarkable minority among women, unless those kind of laws varied depending on the time and lawbook, as happened among the Celts, where the women were able to carry weapons until it was prohibited by law in Medieval Christian Ireland. I do find that this statement could also clash a bit with all the burial evidence of female warriors, which seem to have been a bit more numerous than 'just the random exception', though).

So there's no need to needlessly romanticize these cultures by calling them 'egalitarian cultures' in the sense we'd do and demand today - and I'm also talking about other cultures such as the Celts, Minoans and Egyptians here as well, because they may have been cultures that offered women some more rights and freedom - and compared to other contemporary or non-contemporary cultures these rights could be seen as quite remarkable (women being able to inherit property among the Celts, but not in Regency times centuries later, for example) -, but they were still generally male-dominated cultures and societies with no true gender equality - Hell, we haven't got true gender equality today! Women were better off in some of those cultures than in other, more patriarchal ones, but gender roles and male-dominated laws and rights still existed, and that is something that is sometimes ignored when it comes to praising a culture for their 'remarkable equality'. Yes, (some) women being able to have property, choose a husband or take arms to defend themselves are unfortunately 'radical notions' and remarkable aspects that should be taken into account and appreciated (because women in other societies and cultures don't get to enjoy those 'remarkable rights'), but they're, after all, 'remarkable' simply because the basis of all these societies is male-dominated, so basic human rights are considered 'worthy of praise' and 'a sign of a truly egalitarian society' if they're offered to (some) women, it would seem :S.

And let's finish this post with some shieldmaiden appreciation while closet-cosplaying (or should I say shop-cosplaying?) a pair of Viking warrior-women in the British Museum shop :D

 

British Museum: Anglosaxon England and Sutton Hoo exhibition

Today's post is a historical one, and it mainly involves a pic overload of Anglosaxon stuff without a lot of text, for a change :) 

 

Other British Museum posts: Vikings, Egypt and Greece, Celts

One year ago, Pilar Erika and I went to London for a week-long holiday trip, and we stopped by the British Museum with two (well, three) cultures in mind: The Celts, and the Anglosaxons and Vikings. With the Celts being one of my favourite cultures (if not my favourite), philologist Pilar Erika favours - thanks to Beowulf - the Anglosaxon-and-Viking section of history. So here's a pic overload of the Sutton Hoo burial exhibition:

• Sutton Hoo helmet (original and replica)

More info on the helmet here.

"The face-mask is the helmet’s most remarkable feature. It works as a visual puzzle, with two possible ‘solutions’. The first is of a human face, comprising eye-sockets, eyebrows, moustache, mouth and a nose with two small holes so that the wearer could breathe. The copper alloy eyebrows are inlaid with silver wire and tiny garnets. Each ends in a gilded boar’s head – a symbol of strength and courage appropriate for a warrior. The second ‘solution’ is of a bird or dragon flying upwards. Its tail is formed by the moustache, its body by the nose, and its wings by the eyebrows. Its head extends from between the wings, and lays nose-to-nose with another animal head at the end of a low iron crest that runs over the helmet’s cap." (Source)

And of course, before talking a bit more about the Anglosaxon artifacts at the Museum, I must talk about how we saw the actual first page from the manuscript of Beowulf at the British Library :D

More Museum Anglosaxon stuff after the cut!

Critisizing Plain Jane part 5: Episode 1 part III

Part 1: Introduction on why I hate these kind of reality makeover shows

Part 2: Opening credits

Part 3: Episode 1 part I

Part 4: Episode 1 part II
Part 6: Episode 1 part IV
Final part: Episode 1 part V

Continuing with my review-commentary of the first episode of this horrific makeover show...One long discussion in this part (one turned out to be too long, so I'll be posting it separately) that can be added to the 'read-later' list at will.

Part III: 

-Summary: The stylist takes Cristen to get some new clothes and manipulates her with sexist stereotypes in order to change her tastes and 'fashion sense'. Because she must learn how to be a feminine, sexy woman in order to succeed in her arranged date! Because being 'feminine' and 'sexy' sure doesn't involve a limited set of options and a lot of gender constructs and stereotypes! And what does it matter if she has her own tastes? Well, it does matter, because she shouldn't have personal opinions. Let us be logical here and think about priorities, folks.

-"She needs to learn about fashion [she needs?]. The best way to teach her is to show her what she's doing wrong"

 Here's the golden rule of our society's suffocating fashion area: Having her own style is doing something wrong because she doesn't conform to what (patriarchal) society dictates that women and men should wear. Once she's forced into the new 'fashionable' and 'feminine' style she will realize it had been her favourite style all along. Logic wins the day.

-And right then we have the lovely bonus of her relatives making fun of her clothes. Because family and friends in this show do not know the meaning of ‘empathy’ and ‘support’ if their relative happens to be a woman. Parents and family only support and approve of male offspring in this show, it seems (and they take their time to remind us all about how they are perfect in every way). Same goes for friends, both male and female.

-Meanwhile, Cristen is very naïvely selecting things she likes in the shop. The stylist is quick to snatch those offending items from her hands with some fantastic phrases as a bonus:

Stylist - "Is that a hoodie?! 
Cristen (apologetic) - "It's cute!"
Stylist (scandalized) - "Get rid of it, get rid of that!! Oh my god!" 
(I mean, how DARE you get hold of a hoodie, you tomboy!)

Darling, wake up, only men can wear hoodies in the 21st Century!

The stylist sees a floral dress, and goes 'Mmmh, cute...But it's too girly, I need sexy!'. Next moment, Cristen literally hugs the dress and says 'Oooh, I love this!'. But somehow it's wrong for her to have her own taste and be happy with what she likes. Just ugh.

And the winner quote of the day is: "If you're going to seduce a guy, you can't dress like a guy. That's Cristen's problem". 

Allow me a gif before anything else, because I can't even....UUUUGHHHH!!

Merida understands all my pain 

This 'simple' sentence is so wrong is so many ways!

   -Discussion-rant: This charming sentence is saying, as we all should know by now, that the main aim of this girl, and of any woman, is to 'seduce a guy'. That's it. No life choices, no studies, no aspirations, no dreams, apart from the utter necessity of  transforming her appearance so that she's considered 'attractive', 'sexy' and 'seductive' by her crush and by men in general - which, by the way, also implies that she must change and forgo many aspects of her personality which are not considered sufficiently 'seductive'. After all, seducing a boy apparently also involves putting his needs before hers in every way and hiding who you are for his convenience - And that's why she's changing herself so radically, after all. This is no 'I don't quite fancy my style, I think I'd like a change and would appreciate advice' kind of show (and those are also pretty stereotype-ridden, by the way). This is a hardcore 'change for your man' makeover show, and they mean it.

What else is this appalling quote implying? It's, once again, also full of gender stereotyping. Not only must the girl aim to 'seduce the guy', she must 'dress like a girl' in order to achieve that. And with 'dressing like a girl' they're choosing an incredibly limited set of gendered clothing options, and also a limited set of style options, and branding those, and only those, with the words 'feminine', and 'for girls' (these usually include heels, tube skirts or dresses, and 'feminine' colours and prints, depending on whether they want to go for 'cute-girly' or for 'seductive-sexy'). Any other items are quite simply 'not for girls'- these offending 'unfeminine' items can include anything from hoodies to...any kind of comfy clothing and shoewear, really. Girls are not supposed to wear comfortable clothing, for shame, we're supposed to seduce a guy in mobility-restraining and pretty much society-compulsory skirts and high heels. Or to drown in our own natural cuteness with pink frills, depending on the occasion.

And that is why I hate Hermione's Yule ball dress so much. I guess periwinkle blue was just too unfeminine!!  In a dazzling display of irony, it was bully Pansy Parkinson who wore pink and frills in the book, but the film wanted Hermione to be  cute and feminine, probably in order to remind us that she's a girl even though she's smart, logical and likes to read. The gods forbid we view her as too tomboyish for liking to read, so they had to compensate!

 This show, as many others and all other forms of media, endeavours again and again to brainwash us with an extensive set of gendered ideas and labels and categories, using not only gender bias but the subjective personal likes of the few who have the power of dictating what's 'fashionable' or 'trendy' - which, to quote Spock, in a dazzling display of logic, is what everyone else should be wearing and liking! 

I consider myself a non-binary woman in this respect, so I say no to any kind of illogical gender binarism that states that something is only 'for girls' or 'for boys'. Society should have no say in what is supposed to be worn or used by women or men. Nor should it be telling me what is 'trendy' or what I should like - and that I will be the weirdo if I don't conform to that.

Let's continue xD

-Cristen selects a series of clothing she likes, while the stylist does her own choosing for her (want to guess which items will win?). Then, Cristen is forced to try on all her choices ('Show me...your favourite pieces') and have the stylist tear her apart every single time in a very offensive and very humiliating way:

Cristen loves everything she shouldn't love. The stylist scoffs at her choices because they're "guys'  clothing" or "not sexy enough". 

Gender stereotypes? Check. Monitoring women's clothing choices? Check. Forcing someone to change their style to conform to some rubbish sexist ideals? Check. 

Cristen is always looking so mortified and apologetic for liking the clothes she likes. Just ugh.

-And there's a lot of very offensive bashing: "No! You look like a librarian" (An 'insult' the so-called fashionistas oh-so-love. Because reading is not cool or something). "You look like you slept on a park bench" (thanks for being insensitive) .  "Why would you put a hoodie over a dress?"  (well, no one’s forcing you to do it! I find dresses+hoodies to be a great combination, but I do not force other people to wear them!).

Now - This is what you should wear...and LIKE! Your whole life was a lie until I came to torture you!

"Well, you know you showed me that fairly awful, childish top that Tye saw you in...This is the grown-up version".  Of course, being grown-up women comes with some responsibilities, we are no longer allowed to wear what we like because, duh, we owe our body to society and men, so we should always dress for them!  

 -Discussion-rant: For society, you're either a ‘slut’ ("dress more modestly or you'll get harassed!"), or ‘not girly enough’ ("be more cute and feminine, you tomboy!"), or ‘not sexy enough’ ("you look like a librarian/nun! Show some skin!").  Everything revolves around evaluating and objectifying women. Please notice how most guys can rock their baggy jeans and T-shirt (clean or otherwise!) and still be considered hot and brimming with macho sexiness. On a general basis, hardly any male is aggressively asked to wear tight shirts and tight jeans or smart clothing such as suits on a daily basis in order to be attractive to women. And finally, notice how we hardly ever worry about a man not having flawless skin or even flawless hair. Scruffy masculinity is actually pretty attractive to many. This is still a huge double standard, and it’s not OK.

So let me take some notes: 'Wearing...hoodies...and...comfy...clothing...is...not...grown-up...or...feminine...and...I...won't...get..a man'. I hope my grown-up girl-brain copes when it comes to assimilating that information!

-Now Cristen's trying on the stylist's clothing choices, so she turns from bashing Cristen's choices and belittling her to objectifying her. Because don't be mistaken, if she's being forced to show 'curves' and cleavage, it's hardly for her self-esteem boost, but to gauge how attractive the man will find her:

"How skinny are you? Why are you hiding that bod?" (hello, fatphobia) ; "Take your hands away! Where did these curves come from?" (if you're not curvy you're not a woman, probably) ;  "We must get these girls out...we have to get you out of the friendzone, and this (pointing to her cleavage) means business and it's sexy" (objectification 1.0. And the fact that it's a woman spewing all this rubbish makes my blood boil).

 And Cristen's apparently a prude because she 'feels uncomfortable' about wearing shorter dresses with cleavage - 'This dress would get attention that I'm not used to', she says, to which the stylist replies: 'You've got a tiny waist, amazing boobies, little butt!'. When she repeats that she's not comfortable, the stylist says that it's good to get her out of her comfort zone, and that "Tye's gonna die!! God!" Obviously, everything is for Tye. Not only is it invasive to force her to wear things she isn't comfortable with, please don't let these people make you think it's about her and her self-esteem.

Remember, dear, you're wearing this dress for your man and your body is for public comsumption, OK? That's why you're dressing sexy, it's definitely not for you.

Because hell yeah, women's bodies are objects to be enjoyed. ‘Dress sexier so that men can ogle! But if you're being too sexy, we'll call you a slut, don't worry’. And 'Why are you hiding that body, but let's also slim it at the right places and make it look how people want it to look, because you are never good enough and you better remember it'.

How about showing what we want when we want, with no sexist constraints? And because we want to, for ourselves, and with our own style (and this doesn’t include religion-based female-only head and body coverings, in case it’s ambiguous, because I consider those very much in the 'sexist constrains' category and inherently misogynistic. Sue me). 

-Also, "This is how I want you to be". The damn summary of all these episodes.

Valar, give me strength to keep on listening to this 

-I recently read about this same stylist claiming that one of the girls looked 'feminine and sexy' instead of 'like a Physics student' during her clothing makeover. Here it also looks like being and/or looking like a college student is wrong. How interesting. I'm a physicist and was a college student, so I’m a disgrace to society in so many ways (yay!).

You were so right, my whole life was a lie, please teach me more, oh sexist fashionista!

-Here come the heels ('Best tip ever to give you superlong legs')! Absolutely essential. From now on, Cristen has to wear them all the time. You don't like them? I don't care, you need to bring a guy out of the friendzone and that means getting sexy (like getting sexy always means one limited set of gendered options, such as heels). Apparently, being ‘sexy’ means wearing painful, mobility-free shoes, yay.  And not chunky heels, no, this show loves the uncomfortable stilettos, because the most mobility impairing shit is the most feminine, I guess.

Because you're not a woman and you won't get a man if you don't wear heels all the damn time, just like I do!

And at the end of the shopping trip, Cristen exclaims 'I'm really happy!'. That's it, we all need a sexist stylist to change our style and teach us how to seduce a man. That's patronizing as fuck and paints women as childish beings who need supervision in order to be told what they really like.

And if we thought this makeover was getting extreme, they still have to teach Cristen 'empowerment' by learning how to objectify herself and turn Tye on in a Burlesque local, plus receive electric shocks while learning to flirt with a handful of strangers, and changing her hair and befriending make-up in the final stage of the makeover. So long way to go yet...

• Discussion-rant: Society's evaluation and objectification of women's bodies. 

In case it may seem ambiguous, I'm not having a go at the stylist's choices because I'm somehow against cleavages, or showing your legs, or wearing tight dresses.  I actually really like low necklines and miniskirts myself. There is nothing wrong with dressing like that. And there's also nothing wrong with a woman who genuinely likes to dress "sexy" (that is a concept with many different answers, though, depending on your personal style. 'Sexy' is definitely not always tube dress+heels, and not everyone who wears a short dress wants to be seen as 'sexy', that's usually a very male-gazy sexualizing way to see it, I think :S). 

But telling someone that she MUST dress "sexy" and in a certain way to be desirable, to get a boyfriend (heteronormativity, of course) , to be noticed, to be appreciated, to be loved, basically to be accepted by society...That is WRONG. That is objectifying women. Women should not dress for men, or for anyone, for the record. They should dress for themselves. And that can involve short dresses OR Cristen's casual, baggier style. Or BOTH, depending on the day or occasion, same as I said about make-up above, because both styles are not mutually exclusive, for heaven's sake.  It doesn't matter, and it shouldn't change the way we see that woman. And if you have to alter your style and dress sexy and put on heels for a man to notice you, that's not okay. Fellow women, please don’t feel like you have to do that. It really is not worth your self-esteem to view yourself like that, an object to be evaluated by men and other women.

And you know what the really sad thing is? This mentality (that a woman must dress or look a certain way on order to be noticed by men) is so ingrained in so many parts (cultures with the oppressive 'modesty mindsets' still working very much included!) that so many women genuinely try to dress for everyone else, and not for themselves.  And it is so ingrained that, even if you dress "sexy" solely because you like it, most men are going to think you're doing it for them. Does it ring a bell when you decide to wear a low neckline or a short skirt simply because that day you feel like it, and you're uncomfortable when you're ogled and/or harassed in the street? Yes, rape culture and objectification and harassment is not flattering and it's not a compliment. 

This mentality is bound to lower women's self-esteem instead of "boosting" it, because it means that women have a terrible pressure of looking good for anyone else and to conform to a certain style and appearance, and it really doesn't matter if you don't like it. You'll be attacked if you don't conform and you'll be objectified and harassed if you do. There's no winner.

That's yet another reason why I find these kind of 'let's change your style' shows so unhealthy and wrong.

Critisizing Plain Jane part 4: Episode 1 part II

Part 1: Introduction on why I hate these kind of reality makeover shows
Part 2: Opening credits
Part 3: Episode 1 part I

Part 5: Episode 1 part III
Part 6: Episode 1 part IV
Final part: Episode 1 part V

Continuing with my review-commentary of the first episode of this horrific makeover show...

Part II:

-Summary: Cristen’s sexist training begins. The first step is as invading and insensitive as it is illogical: It involves making her face 'her biggest fear' (in this case, snails) in order to put her date with Tye into perspective. Because that makes so much sense.

-So the first step of this stylist's genious plan to make Cristen desirable and 'girlfriend material' is the phobia strategy ('This is the real beginning of your transformation'). Yeah, because tackling your biggest fear is comparable to asking someone out (I'm not saying that it can't be difficult, but yeah. And don't forget about all that emphasis on dates, and especially, your first date: ‘one of your biggest moments of your life’!).

  I really don't like this 'strategy' because it's massively out of context and because it's downright mean  - Why force her to be in such an uncomfortable situation? Exactly how is that going to help her to give her ‘courage to go on a date’? This is abusive. This is emotional manipulation. As everything in this show, really.

Tackling your biggest fear in a right context or brainwashing a girl into thinking she must go through this ordeal because of sexist and out-of-context reasons?  My money's on the latter.

-In a flash-forward, Cristen thinks about the experience and says: "It was one of the most horrifying, terrifying experiences of my life...I don't think anything could be worse than that, even getting rejected by Tye" - Notice how he's the one who gets to decide about the relationship status. She’s afraid of being rejected by him, if he doesn’t find her desirable and flirtatious enough, apparently.

Also, it's also worth mentioning that Cristen's relatives make sure to laugh at Cristen becuse of her oh-so-stupid phobia. Sure, let's talk about how awesome and smart and wonderful Tye is every single tme, but let's tell the world about Cristen's irrational phobia, and, as a necessary bonus, about how messy and 'masculine' she is. Hello again, double standards. Hello again, casual misogyny.

 It's all right to encourage someone who's shy about asking someone out if they ask for help, but that's extreme. And like I said, illogical and out of context. And not only that - It's insensitive and pretty sadistic, to tell the truth. It seems that we enjoy watching scared and passive girls here. Also, the scene includes serving live snails in a French restaurant (they serve a bucketful of live snails and make her touch them, just so you get the idea). So very civilized and nice. I will never understand how people can go and eat live things and think themselves sophisticated, I just can't. But that's a different topic.

-So yeah, let's force this girl to have a terrifying time because we're doing it for a great cause (making her succeed on a date), and because they’re gifting her loads of money as a bonus incentive, namely a thousand dollar cheque that will pay for her new clothes (it’s not for her studies or anything, don’t be misguided – Hey, we don’t even know what she’s studying, if she’s studying!).

-Upon informing Cristen that there’s a thousand dollar cheque in the live snail jar, the stylist claims 'I would do anything for a thousand dollars'. Well, I definitely applaud you for your moral high ground, stylist.

 I find so many wrong things with this scene. Oh, and she's supposed to "feel empowered, because you can kick ass". Well, we have different ideas of what it means to be empowered, if that's the best you can think of. Try about learning to love yourself, maybe? Even with all that 'overcoming your fears' talk...let's talk about the fact that she's basically doing it so that the date seems innocuous to her in comparison, additionally manipulating her with the materialistic motivation of a money cheque, and because forcing someone to overcome a traumatic and TOTALLY UNNECESSARY experience is necessary to feel ‘empowered’, apparently. You know what? When in danger or need, people are ready to try to overcome their fears. Doing this for such shallow (and sexist) reasons is what makes it unnecessary and outright sadistic. Like I said in the introduction, people with fear of heights don’t go jumping off planes in a parachute because they are nervous about an exam, for heaven's sake!

Makeover shows tip: This is the right way to feel empowered

And it's also interesting that in all these episodes the girl's (probably scripted) deepest fear goes along the lines of bugs, heights or darkness - All these fears and phobias are completely legit, but it's also easy enough to create a frightening experience or scenario around them in order to terrorize these girls into feeling that going to a date with some guy is so challenging they must go through that rubbish before (allow me to rant again because this 'tactic' is pure idiocy and very creepy emotional manipulation as well). But if one of these girls went and said something like 'death', 'illness', 'natural disasters' or 'something happening to my loved ones' (or, in my case, an example could be 'extreme theocratic misognystic regimes à la Handmaid's Tale'), then what? Would they be expected, I don't know, to die or walk through a house in fire in order to face a date? I guessed not. That's how logical this 'phobia strategy' is. 

  And all that twisted 'conquer your fears' talk is about the best morals this episode gives us, by the way. Yaaaay! *sarcastic slow clapping*

Ten also thinks that all this is plain disgusting

 -Summary: The stylist bashes Cristen’s room and clothes style using infuriating rudeness and sexist stereotypes as her arsenal.

-As they are making their way to Cristen's room, Louise very knowingly starts: "Now, when a Plain Jane doesn't have love in her life [and we all know how essential that is for women] a good first step is to check out her house and her bedroom [Yay privacy! This woman really does like invasive actions and situations, doesn't she?]. Her surroundings say a lot about her [Probably about how messy, sloppy, unfeminine and depressed she is, right?]"

-"This is like house of horrors". It's fascinating how utterly rude she is and how incredibly charming she thinks she is. 

So, boys can have messy rooms, and it's more or less OK, doesn't challenge their masculinity either (and anyway, we don’t even care about Tye’s room, he’s already awesome in every way and he keeps an aura of mystery, or, at least, he gets to have his privacy and personal likes respected, which must be so nice). But if a girl has a messy room...She isn't 'girly' or 'feminine', and she hasn't got love in her life. The thought didn't enter into her narrow mind that depending on each one's personality, you have a different take on order.

Also, is it me or is it glaringly obvious that they made this girl’s room so messy in order to emphasize just how ‘tomboyish’ and ‘in need of a man’ she is? This show likes to link casual wear and lack of make-up and heels with messiness, lack of hygiene, ‘tomboyish’ behaviour, self-consciousness, shyness and the like - just because the girl in question isn’t the tube-skirted, high-heeled, made-up flirty sexy woman she’s supposed to be just because she's a woman. These people are making us think that this girl has a messy room because she's not dressing sexy and because she's depressed and forlorn for not having a man in her life. Clichéd and utterly sexist.

-Oh look, having plush toys in her bed is bad and shameful as well, especially if you want to start a relationship.  For shame! You can't get a boyfriend if you have children's toys on your bed, you're not sexy or seductive or grown-up enough! "There is no sexy time going on in here" Seriously? So many girls, myself included, have plush toys in their bed, disregardless of our freaking relationships! Hell, many boys have a lot of toys and stuff in their bedrooms. Guess it's OK to have toys and/or be geeky if you are a guy, but not OK if you're a girl. I think the guitars are going to pay soon, too, seeing as playing the guitar is so utterly 'tomboyish'.

I guess the only aim of a girl's room is to furnish it for  'sexy times'. You know, because her life revolves around men and that's the only aim her room should have as well. How dares she have plush toys, guitars and other out-of-context, off-putting objects!

-Now they’re going on about a prom pic she’s got on her wall (of course, she liked the guy for eight years, and he had to ask her. And then proceeded to cheat on her. But somehow, it's all her fault for being messy and shy. Victim blaming.). First of all, even if for once the stylist does have a point (why on earth do you keep a picture of one who dumped and cheated on you on your wall, for heaven’s sake??), you don't take a pic from someone's wall without permission, jeesh. Also, you go and remark 'that's not good for ego'. That's rich coming from a stylist whose only  job is to alter young girls' looks, personality and lifestyles. Hypocrisy much?

-Another scene of Cristen’s parents and friends, who just keep insulting Cristen. Now she's 'shy' and 'walks hunched down'...'because of guys like this'. Guess she needs to learn to flirt, without even considering that crappy guys who cheat on people are the bad element of the equation, NOT HER!

-"Can you imagine Tye in this room?" The one and only reason why you should redecorate your room, Cristen!

-So yay, now she's going to criticize the hell out of her clothes. What the stylist doesn't like, she throws to the floor, and her commentary takes being rude and obnoxious to a whole new level. In the meantime, Cristen has to justify herself and laugh apologetically for liking those clothes and having the nerve to have her own choices. The conclusion is that Cristen needs to be sexier, of course. It's basically compulsory.

-The rude, sexist commentary included: Oh look, she does wear dresses, maybe she's not as 'tomboyish' as we thought, but oh, they're ‘old-fashioned’, ‘childish’ and ‘oh-so-not-sexy’. The cheerful coloured plaid shirts are allegedly so ugly as well (you can only wear them if you own an ice-cream van and are not female, apparently).  And yes, it gets worse: 'Tell me this was your granny's, and you're looking after it for her'.  "I got it from a thrift store" - "Is that supposed to make me feel better?". This person is so rude it's disgusting.

Let me tell you how everything you wear is ugly and rubbish and how you must wear exactly what I tell you in order to succeed in life - or that is to say, in order to succeed in your date, because that's basically what your life is, right?

"Okay, what's the last thing Tye saw you in...(ugh) Oh my god! Don't do this to me! Good news is, my love, I'm going to take you shopping" Yes, thank you for reminding us that we must dress for men's eyes.  And thank you from the bottom of my heart for being utterly rude and dogmatic and  for imposing your personal style and preferences to everyone else.

What the hell, I now applaud Molly Hooper from Sherlock BBC more than ever. She has this cute, unconventional, whimsical kind of style (a bit like Luna Lovegood, actually, another great model in this respect) and she rocks it without really caring about what people think (She did dress conventionally 'sexier' during the Christmas party in order to try to impress Sherlock, but that was the one time, and even then she was pretty much 70%+ Molly with the plastic bow in her hair). What's also important, Sherlock doesn't give a damn about her needing to change her style in order to 'impress him'. By season 3, he's already pretty impressed with her and her wonderful personality (think friendship or Sherlolly ship, or both, your choice) WHILE wearing her whimsical clothes. Take that, stylist!  

Now, this is a great example of people who don't give a damn about changing their own clothes style *while* having troubles with a crush at the same time. Molly gains Sherlock's respect and friendship (at the least) because of her intelligence and her kind and trustworthy character, not as a result of her having to change her clothes or appearance. Which makes it an infinitely healthier relationship.

Critisizing Plain Jane part 3: Episode 1 part I

Continuing with my feminist criticism (and snarky rant) of MTV' Plain Jane reality show, here is the first part of my commentary on the first episode of the first season, 'Cristen' (So far, I've only watched and written these commentaries for the first season because there's only so much rubbish I can take, but we'll see if I'll continue or not :S xD).

Part 1: Introduction on why I hate these kind of reality makeover shows
Part 2: Opening credits

Part 4: Episode 1 part II

Part 5: Episode 1 part III
Part 6: Episode 1 part IV
Final part: Episode 1 part V

 Like I mentioned in part 1, these feminist 'reviews' are more of a commentary to the episode,  and a pretty thorough one, I'm afraid, seeing as practically everything is apt to be heavily criticized because of its sheer sexism :/ . Hopefully this commentary will make sense without the need of having to watch this garbage! (of course, if you're curious and want to know the enemy and/or form your own opinions, go ahead, this is just my opinion on the show).

    I’ll be writing a brief summary at the start of each scene/section of the episode so that this remains a bit coherent, but apart from that it's all going to be (snarky) comments about the scenes and as answers to the dialogue in the episode (which will be quoted, appearing in cursive), with some discussions in between about general aspects on which I wish to elaborate a bit more broadly from my feminist point of view (in purple). Like I said, the commentaries can seem a bit disconnected if you aren’t familiar with the episode, but I hope the gist of them remains.

-Disclaimer: This is going to be pretty long, so you’ve been warned! (the reason why I've decided to make a series of posts about this first episode, with my longest commentary, instead of just inserting a read-more break). But if you’re interested in reading a snarky feminist detailed commentary of a sexist makeover show, read on! If not, please don’t go commenting about how boring this is – I’m not the one repeating myself, the sexism in the show is!

So let's get started!

CRISTEN (‘FRIENDZONE JANE’)

-Sexism in the title: The term ‘friendzoning’, which is usually applied to women who offend a male acquaintance because they don't want to engage sexually with him, preferring instead to consider him ‘simply’ as a friend (the nerve! The offense! The oppression!). It’s supposedly a great insult not to give to every man the sex and romantic relationships they’re owed, regardless of your own feelings towards them. In this episode it’s also implied that if you behave and dress ‘like men’(aka favour casual wear and play guitar lol), you won’t get a man because all you do is friendzoning them by doing and enjoying 'similar things' and behaving 'in a similar way'.

Part I:

  -Summary: In which they briefly present the victim – I mean, the misguided and self-conscious ‘Plain Jane’ of the episode – , and show us the highlights we’ll be enjoying during Cristen’s ‘training’ and makeover. The makeover will involve changing her clothing style, her hair and her face (as in make-up), and teaching her how her appearance comes first and how she's expected to be beautiful for her man. The training aspect, meanwhile, involves Cristen suffering needlessly while experiencing her worst fear, plus being electrocuted while being taught how to flirt with and entertain men (yes, seriously), and also being objectified while being taught that learning the secrets of a Cabaret dancer is your best asset when it comes to successfully getting a man. Because it’s super empowering to cater to the male gaze, apparently.

Also, the summary of the MTV Asia online episode is priceless:
   "An uncomfortably shy and messy Jane attempts to shed her "one of the guys" status - along with her plaid flannels - to seduce her longtime crush, who only sees her as a friend."

You and I both, Donna!

 -The stylist-narrator-host starts talking dramatically about how important these dates are:  Such a big deal, such an important moment for a woman - getting a man interested in her. What can possibly compare to that in the whole of a woman's life?

-They arrange these dates. Scripted or not, I find that incredibly intrusive. It also places women in a position of submission and passivity - they're not told 'If you like this guy, go ask him out'. No, they have no part in any decision, and all is planned out for them. It's all surprise, giggles, fits of panic, getting directions on how to dress and how to act and what to do. And a full makeover and transformation, all thought to please the guy. Hell of a role model for young women, and hell of a 'romantic' story. Cinderella 2.0, here we come. Yay.

This is what girls are supposed to do in these episodes: Low self-esteem, and lots of cringing, giggling, self-doubt, passivity and lack of personality. The ultimate role-model, right?

-"We're gonna change the way Tye sees you, so you have to change the way you see you"

So women basically have to hide and change and lie so that the guy finds them attractive. Both to him AND to themselves, which is even worse. The healthy alternative of 'just be yourself, and if he likes that, great, if he doesn't, hey, go look for another one' - That's unthinkable. After all, this series is all about how to alter your appearance so that you please your date and he finds you attractive. And changing the way you see you includes a limited set of options established by an stereotype-based society: Wearing make-up, heels, feminine and sexy clothing, and acting flirtatious. Whether you like it or not. That's basically the.only.damn.way.

You see that body? It's not yours, it's for your man, and I'm going to tell you what you have to wear to look like an attractive woman. Because if you wear plaid, your crush mistakes you for a man, apparently.

-Plus they actually frigging train her to flirt with random guys and engage them in conversation, and if they're bored or uninterested… guess what? They give her electric shocks as punishment. Hell yeah.

Stylist and 'flirting expert' training women like animals so that they learn to entertain their men

-And apparently, in order to win your man, you must indulge your charming trainer-stylist and experiment with your phobias. After all, asking a man out meeting a guy you know for an arranged date, is such an awe-inspiring, terrifying, challenging event that if you face your deepest phobia, you'll be able to face that with no problems! I don't even know why those two situations are even related, in the first place. Do you go face your biggest phobia before sitting an exam or going for a job interview on a daily basis? "I have a difficult exam tomorrow and I'm so nervous, so instead of revising and/or switching off to relax, or doing something even remotely useful in my life…let's go touch some snails! [this girl’s particular phobia]"...Yeah, I thought not.

Because watching frightened women is fun, apparently

-And, of course, she cannot say 'I wanna be more than just your friend' directly and in her everyday clothes, oh no, she must be all decked up and sexy and she must have a date arranged. Yes, I see an awful lot of potential there. 

  -Summary: The show presents Cristen, who is seemingly in a bad state because of her personal style and hobbies, and needs someone to make her crush, Tye, like her. The stylist begins to make her first judgmental remarks about Cristen while watching her video message, and then meets up with her in a café in order to tell her how misguided and ‘tomboyish’ she is.

-Enter Cristen, dressed in casual clothes with a casual hairstyle and no make-up. Message:  She's so awkward and unfeminine! Right??

So they're basically telling us that if you look like this, you're sloppy, unfeminine and won't get a man. There are so many wrongs things about this, they won't fit in a caption, so yeah.

Cristen favours casual, sporty wear, especially, and hang on to your seats,...plaid shirts (Wow, she's such an unattractive tomboy, yuck!), and she's so distressed because she thinks she 'kinda dresses like one of the guys'  (Who thought that in the 21^st Century wearing plaid shirts was dressing like a man?) and that 'she needs help'. "Oh no!" exclaims the obnoxious stylist with distaste and horror when shown Cristen's style in clothing.  Sure, everything that's not dresses and heels is unfeminine and transforms you into 'one of the guys'. Yay progress and 21st Century thinking.  How are we even allowed to wear trousers?!

Btw, her natural hair is also 'ugly' because it's not heat styled and chemical-coloured to an inch of its life, apparently.

Overall, the message is that she's messy and sloppy and, gods forbid!, the worst thing a woman can be…'tomboyish'. Oh, that won't do. "This girl definitely needs my help".

So liking casual wear and plaid shirts means you need help?? In which sort of patriarchal universe? Oh wait

-Extra discussion: So she's so messy and unfeminine exactly why, may I ask?? Because she dresses in plaid shirts, casual-wear?  That is just so sexist and narrow-minded.  The very word 'feminine' as in constructed femininity really bugs me, because 'feminine' and 'masculine' are nothing more than societal, patriarchal constructs that dictate how men and women must look and behave. It's unfair, it's narrow-minded, it's binary thinking. What's this girl doing wrong exactly, having her own style? Of course her friend doesn't tell her he likes her, look at her unfeminine style how could he be interested! But of course, when she starts wearing heels and feminine dresses, that is to say, when she starts conforming to the societal construct of 'femininity', because it is expected of her and not because it fits her personal style, then he'll definitely notice. Oh, such a healthy, open-minded mindset. I bow before your dating advice.

-Cristen also hangs out a lot with her male friends, playing music and watching baseball. That makes her even more unfeminine, as our stylist is quick to say  - 'So you're pretty much a male'. Hey, sure, playing music is unfeminine, let me write that down so that I can bear it in mind because I do that a lot and the gods forbid I appear tomboyish or threaten my inner femininity. And sure, having male friends and enjoying hanging out with them in plaid shirts watching sports and playing guitar basically makes a woman a man. She should be at home sewing in high heels and wearing pink frilly dresses so that people can recognize her as a woman. Sexist thinking at its best.

River definitely doesn't approve of this shit

'That's an easy thing to fix', she says. Gods, how is Cristen even coping, she is so misguided, she should be hanging with a group of girl-friends going out to buy shoes or staying at home painting their nails and gossiping! (an equally offensive idea of what it means to hang out with girls. I personally geek out and play music with girlfriends. It depends on each one's likes, not on their gender, people!).

So it seems that the fact that Cristen likes to hang out with male friends makes her unable to date a guy. It also makes her sloppy and unattractive, because she doesn't care about her looks as much as she should (references to her 'messy' hair, her clothing, her feet being ugly because she actually uses them to play sports, gods forbid, and her nails are not perfectly painted, jeesh). 

So first of all, she has the nerve to believe herself to be at the same level of her male friends, wearing the same comfy clothes and partaking in the same hobbies (as we know, women should hang out with other girls painting their nails and talking about men while men play video games, like The Big Bang Theory showed us again and again). And also, apparently, if you are friends with 'a lot of guys', you just stay their friend. Period. It isn't possible for a man to be feel attracted to you if you enjoy the same things they enjoy and if you don't look sexy and flawless. You have to stay gender segregated following the masculinity and femininity constructs in every way, from clothes to activities, so that attraction can work. Playing music and using your feet to kick a ball? Instant turn-off, folks. Write that down, ladies!

 The narrow-mindedness is so glaring it physically hurts, and I've just mentioned what happens in the first three minutes. 

-'You go straight into the friendzone instead of a sexy, seductive, pretentious girlfriend': That's the role model we must fulfill if we want to get off with someone. We must be sexy. We must be seductive. We must be pretentious (is that even a good thing??). Casual, sporty, friendly, easy-going, nice, enjoying hobbies that are not the limited 'feminine' things to do? SHARING INTERESTS AND LIKING EACH OTHER IN A MORE EQUAL LEVEL? Yuck.

-Did I mention the corny background music? Because hell, it’s cringeworthy.

-Also. Reasons why Cristen likes Tye (the male crush in this episode). 'He's really cute...really tall...really handsome...really good-looking'.  So basically she lists appearance, too.  Such deep feelings. All right, appearance does have a factor in sexual attraction and all that, obviously, but are those the only reasons she likes him? Does she even know him as a person, really? Please don't make these corny (and sexist) reality rubbish in order to tell us again that this is love. This is attraction. A crush. It's totally OK, totally natural, but let's not mix terms for young girls, please. And love certainly doesn't involve changing yourself for your crush. 

 Only, of course, he doesn't have to alter his looks in order to be attractive to her. But she does. Oh boy, that she does.

-'I want to work on your confidence building'.

 Please tell me again why having that particular style and those hobbies and friends makes her have low confidence in this script? Believing that a person must CHANGE and alter their way of looking and thinking in order to be attractive to another person is what truly gives good reason for them to have low confidence about themselves.

 You are not helping girls to boost their confidence. You're making them think that their way of looking, of dressing, of hanging out and of thinking is not right, and that she won't get the crush of her dreams until she changes. Way to go.

Molly has a crush and she doesn't approve of  this sexist crap

And she isn't even remotely ashamed to state it just like that: 'working on your confidence'  means learning how to flirt and be seductive. Hell yeah.  You make a man attracted to you if you learn how to bat your eyelashes seductively. To hell about being yourself and attracting someone because they noticed the real you and liked it.

-When talking about Tye, people mention his being 'smart', 'talented' and 'awesome', as well as good-looking. Does anyone ever mention that Cristen is smart or talented? Nope. She's just unfeminine, tomboyish, sloppy and self-conscious because she isn't the flawless sexy woman she's supposed to be. The inner Cristen? Who cares!  All she needs is to be trained for two days in order to become more beautiful and sophisticated, as well as seductive and flirty.  Because that's what's going to matter, not her brains or any other aspect of her character. We don't even know what she studies and/or does for a living. Only that she likes music, but hey, that makes her tomboyish, so no luck there.

-Summary: The stylist phones Tye and gets him to accept a blind date in two days time. After that pretty invasive call, Cristen and our favourite stylist drive in search of the male crush of this episode and proceed to stalk him while praising his virtues and manliness. Sexist creepiness ftw.

-When they're stalking Tye, just the background music tells us just how active, awesome, empowered and macho he is. 'Cute, tall, sporty'. 

And he doesn't get points off for playing sports, right? Must be a nice life.

This is the male crush, he's already perfect, he makes all the choices, is allowed his own style, and he's also allowed to play sports. No, I don't see a double standard here...not at all

-And I have to say this. All this for what? If Cristen has been friends with him for a few years and she wants to take the relationship further, why doesn't she ask him about it, or ask some friends to help her if she's feeling shy?  This is all orchestrated for the sake of the show, but anyway,  does she really need to go through all that? I don't think so.

-Incidentally, the stylist seems to like to call herself a 'fairy godmother' for doing all this. I weep for humanity.

To be continued...