Girliness

When reading Chapter 4 in Douglas's book I was struck by just how right she was in the change from the different types of tv shows and movies. Clueless was a good start because that can be labeled as "chick-flick" that no male would ever want to see. This is where Cher pawned the phrase "as if" and "whatever". To me, when I saw that movie I thought..oh god there is no hope for women in this world. But as different shows emerged like Ally McBeal and Grey's Anatomy I thought there might be some hope yet. This women in these new shows but up a different front and offer a different type of girliness. They can be career and goal oriented but still care about their features and love lives. It made me think more, "can women have it all?". It struck me more when I saw the films Legally Blonde and and Miss Congeniality . These were two careers that I am thinking about doing and both movies took different extremes and ended up somewhere in the middle. I was nervous when I first saw Legally Blonde because I honestly didn't think that this girl could ever make it in this serious of a job dressing they way she did. In Miss Congeniality I was worried that this women wanted to be taken as a guy and she was too serious about her work. Both ended up finding a happy medium and made me believe that you could have it both ways.

In Chapter 5, the begin by talking about how in earlier decades they were trying to put white against black television shows or get rid of he issue of race altogether. The Cosby Show was a great example of this but then Living Single came on. This revolved around "feminism and men" (138). The question then was presented "could black women be successful in mainstream white society without becoming whitewashed and untrue to who they were? ". I believe they can and have proved it. You have women like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Baily from Grey's Anatomy who are not afraid to be who they are and everyone loves them for it. You still had the shows like NYPD Blue and Law and Order still parade the black hookers, crack heads and negligent mothers which makes things worse. Still, these women make the difference. Oprah's title phrase "you go girl" was big and people still use it today. She has been a big role model for all women with her "Big Give" and her everyday sass that she brings to the shows.

Overall the chapters discuss feminism and the different approaches that it takes. It also demonstrates the raise of femininity with the"new girliness" and the raise with African American women. Women in general are starting to think that yes they can have it all.