Main Post 2/3

Chapter 4 of Enlightened Sexism is all about TV shows and movies made in the 1990s and early 2000s.  Douglas begins using Clueless as an example.  She remarks that it is a “turning point in the depiction of girls and women in film and TV” (Douglas 102).  She continues on to describe the plot line and how it was the first movie to use the female voiceovers, which truly describe the inner thoughts of a female on a day-to-day basis.  By the late 1990s a new form of feminism had emerged—one where girls could dress scantily while fighting for equal opportunities for women.  Despite the popularity of Clueless, the real groundbreaker was Ally McBeal, Douglas argues.  She notes many places in the plot of the show during which Ally gave the viewers a new perspective on a woman’s place in society, while still struggling with the many other issues that go along with being a female (wanting a husband).  Douglas then goes on to explain Bridget Jones’s Diary, Miss Congeniality, and Legally Blonde and how these three movies have also advance the perceived role of women in and out of the home and workplace.  She comes to the conclusion in the last paragraph of the chapter that while all the examples she has given all have strong, career-minded women, “…such professions offered precious little satisfaction or fulfillment compared to the love of a man” (Douglas 124-5).

Chapter 5 begins with Douglas explaining how Wanda Sykes is almost perfectly able to “code switch”.  Through this ability to “code switch” people like Sykes and Chandra Wilson’s character on Grey’s Anatomy are able to be both a professional woman living in a white world while still maintaining some of their cultural background as well.  By employing the so called “Black Speak” Douglas argues that Sykes and Wilson are able to be a lot more upfront with the issues at hand than a white woman would be able to.  After discussing Sykes and Wilson, Douglas explains how our society has been able to “get to a place where a TV show can have a black woman as a surgeon” (Douglas 133).  She goes through various stages of the hip-hop movement, including the female artists, and how the lyrics in hip-hop songs were able to tackle real issues about sexism.  Douglas continues on to explain how many TV shows of all black casts appealed to both races, and then notes that “By 1995, four of the top ten sitcoms…had female leads” (Douglas 143).  Once Douglas had segued into black women on TV, she turned her attention to Oprah.  She acknowledged that many people today do not first and foremost consider Oprah’s race when describing her, but instead acknowledge all she has done and her success.  Douglas explains how Oprah is also able to “code switch” and how she is also a huge contradiction—on the one hand she “embodies embedded feminism as the richest woman in the entertainment industry, who renders such success for women a given and seeks to use her power to provide role models for other women. On the other hand, she is an entertainer, and what she produces…must sell products or they will fail” (Douglas 150).  Douglas ends this chapter seemingly confused about how to truly feel about all she has just described, and hesitant to tell us to learn something from the likes of Sykes, Oprah, Queen Latifah, etc. because they pretend “we don’t need to take on the burdens of feminist political struggle” when they all serve as examples of how truly unequal the black women still are.