A New Perspective

So we had a conversation last class and the class before about the way that feminism and discussion of gender and sexuality can change our perspectives on everything from Disney movies to privilege.

I recently saw Cabin in the Woods, which I thought was excellent and highly recommend. It's billed as horror but is really funny as often as it is scary. It is super self-aware; it does a lot to make fun of itself and the horror genre in general. Part of that is looking at sexuality, horror, and the male gaze. There are parts of the movie that play with the audience's expectations about sex and violence. I found myself looking at the ways in which women in the movie interacted with each other, with men, and how they were shown to the audience. It was a really fun movie.

It's also written by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Toy Story, Firefly), who has spoken at length about his views on feminism. While there is debate about whether or not his female protagonists actually advance feminist goals, there is no doubt that he writes strong female leads. Buffy is my favorite show ever. Aaaaanyway, the point here is mostly that I can't even enjoy Buffy without being critical anymore.

But what do I do about the things that I see? We also discussed how annoyed people get with our feminist interventions. Calm down, we're at dinner. God made men and women to be a certain way together, why question that? That's just not true; biology makes us different. So, now that our perspective has been altered, what do we do with it? Are y'all having the same struggles?

How has your perspective changed? What, if anything, do you plan to do with what you've learned in this class? How can we carry it into the Rhodes community, home, or into our jobs?