Women in Politics

     Today, I'm going to go a little off topic, and bring up something new: the portrayal of women in political news.

     As most of you probably already know, Barack Obama is currently starting on his campaign trail. According to this article,  Michelle Obama will play a key role in trying to push her husband's approval ratings back up before the election. This article states that Michelle will have a sizeable influence on her husband's chances of reelection. It brought up themes such as family and empathy and the large role those two will play in Michelle's speeches. In fact, this article said that Michelle Obama has become more personal in her approach to the American public. She has started mentioning her home life and her and Barack's struggles and fears, hoping to reach out to a more and more disapproving audience. These tactics, the article points out, have been used by former first ladies, too, Laura Bush being one of the biggest users.

     Let me just say that I think it's interesting that in order to be more powerful, to have influence over an election, women have to talk about what's going on at home. Women have been the rulers of domestic life for thousands of years now, so really it should be no big surprise. However, a part of me wonders if this whole "lifting my husband up and being such a good wife" thing might be detrimental to the role that women play in the long term. Obviously, Michelle just wants to get her  husband reelected, and does not care one way or another if she lifts up women in the process. But one of these days, I'd like to see the role that a "First Man" would play in a situation like this. Would he talk about life at home and lift his wife up? Or would he for the most part stay out of the picture? It's an interesting thought...

A Show That Got it Right

     When I was in second grade, I distinctly remember religiously watching my favorite series every week. It aired on Disney Channel and it was called "So Weird." This series chronicled the adventures of Fiona Phillips, her family, and the members of her mother's band as they traveled the country in her mother's band's tour bus. At each stop around the country, Fiona would encounter some weird, supernatural force that needed to be defeated in some way.
     Aside from being just a generally good show, "So Weird" gets a thumbs up from me regarding how it portrayed women. Fiona (also known as "Fi" by her friends and family) is a brave girl who is unafraid of getting dirty and doing whatever it takes to conquer evil spirits. This show came out around the year 2000, when technology was becoming popular, and so Fi consistently shows that she can master that as well. In almost every single episode, Fi is on her laptop, researching the latest supernatural phenomenon. In one episode, she even uses technology to conquer an evil spirit! I love how "So Weird" portrayed Fiona as being smart and tech-savvy, rather than obsessed with makeup and uninterested in anything requiring thinking. In fact, while Fiona definitely looks attractive, she does not wear much makeup and does not wear the latest, most stylish clothes. (Actually, I only remember one episode where Fi was shown putting on nail polish.) The show focused much more on Fiona's intrinsic qualities: her determination and bravery in fighting off evil forces, than it did on her ability to look good while doing it.

     Some television shows who show girls doing anything brave feel they must portray the female character as being "one of the guys." This character will dress in "guy clothes" and only do activities with other guys. ("Brink!" is a television movie that comes to mind.) When shows do this, they tell their female viewers that feminine traits are worthless, and male traits are the only "true" or "correct" ones that should be valued. With "So Weird," Fiona was able to retain feminine qualities and still engage in all the activities she did. Fiona constantly chatted with her female friend from back home, she showed motherly affection to a girl who had been bitten by a werewolf, relished any "girl bonding" time she could find with her mother, and in the episode I posted for you above, selflessly saved another girl's life by donating her own bone marrow.
     All in all, I really liked "So Weird" and am sorry to see that there are very few shows for kids like that which exist today. This show definitely trumps "Pretty Little Liars" in the way it portrays women. While "Liars" intimated that a woman's beauty is most important, "So Weird" claimed that it is a woman's character that counts the most.