Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Old School Sexism

According to Disney, I will never have a beau because...



I don't walk feminine, talk feminine...
I don't act shy or sigh feminine...
I'm not delicate or demure...
And I never hide the real me.

Damn.

A friend of mine told me this song ("Femininity" from the movie Summer Magic) made her think of me in an ironic sort of way. I haven't seen this movie. Have you? What do you think of this song?

13 comments:

lindsay said...

Hah, this is from the Wikipedia page on Summer Magic: At first, Walt Disney did not care for the "Ugly Bug Ball." [another song in the movie] Songwriter Robert Sherman explained to Disney that to bugs, other bugs were not ugly, even if they looked ugly to us, beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Disney liked the idea and the song went on to become one of the popular songs of the year. It was sung by Burl Ives.

Now there's some irony.

Anonymous said...

Shockingly enough, men don't like/want masculine women.

Crazy, I know.

Just like most (sensible) women don't want a feminine man.

That's the fun of heterosexuality. You want people that are of the opposite sex, that look like they're the opposite sex, and that act like the opposite sex.

Amelia said...

Wow. Now I feel like I need to see this movie.

Amelia said...

Sorry, last comment was before I posted Anonymous's...to which I want to say, "Holy Sexist Generalization, Batman!"

It's interesting that Anonymous makes the claim that heterosexual individuals "want people that are of the opposite sex, that look like they're the opposite sex, and that act like the opposite sex."

Especially the part about acting like the opposite sex. Because really, that's a socialization thing, so when he talks about "acting like the opposite sex" in the sense of acting "feminine" (for a woman), he really means gender. And there are so many different gender expressions in American and around the world, that how exactly would someone, in Anonymous's view, know what they're supposed to like if all they have to go on is "opposite"? Opposite from them personally? What if you happen to be a feminine man? What if you don't identify as strictly a man or woman? Opposite, as in what is expected to be opposite of them in society? People have different preferences for what makes a good partner in a relationship, be in a committed one or not. Don't even get me started. There are so many problems with that statement. Good try though?

Amelia said...

Just in case AnonymousTroll sees this, I rejected their last comment because of its inapporpriately authoritative tone about what heterosexual people are allowed to want in a partner, generalizations about feminism, and a lot of other problematic things that I was surprised to see all crammed into one inappropriate comment.

Oh, comment moderation.

The Knitting Professor said...

Oh my God! I totally loved this movie when I was growing up...because of the gorgeous "Paris" gowns that weren't really from Paris. Also, croquet is the coolest game ever, and I love Hailey Mills. I also love the cake that she ate at the fair in Pollyanna. I still lust after that cake. And rainbow makers. (My mother never let me watch anything except the Disney Channel, I'm afraid. I've had a lot of therapy as a result.)

So the feminization of Lollie Joy, the girl getting the makeover in the song, works. Because men are teh stoopid and only care about having girls giggle demurely at their jokes. And Julia's womanliness as female masquerade (she's the gorgeous redhead who was the focus of some of my young sexual fantasies...take that Walt Disney) works like a charm with the handsome schoolteacher. *But* the best catch goes to Nancy Cary (Mills), who despite her resolution to walk feminine and talk feminine, does the exact opposite...she can't stop talking when she meets the rich Mr. Hamilton. And he finds her charming. Alas, he also shuts her up at the end of the movie when they're dancing, so there's a weird kind of double message (the spunky girl gets the best man, but getting the best man is what counts, rather than living a self-actualizing life...oh, and once she gets that man, he expects her to stop chattering on).

It is disturbring that I didn't have to look up any of these names. Also, why the hell did I like this movie? It goes against everything I believed in then and now? Croquet has a devious lure...as do gorgeous redheads in beautiful pink hats.

The Knitting Professor said...

Oh my God! I totally loved this movie when I was growing up...because of the gorgeous "Paris" gowns that weren't really from Paris. Also, croquet is the coolest game ever, and I love Hailey Mills. I also love the cake that she ate at the fair in Pollyanna. I still lust after that cake. And rainbow makers. (My mother never let me watch anything except the Disney Channel, I'm afraid. I've had a lot of therapy as a result.)

So the feminization of Lollie Joy, the girl getting the makeover in the song, works. Because men are teh stoopid and only care about having girls giggle demurely at their jokes. And Julia's womanliness as female masquerade (she's the gorgeous redhead who was the focus of some of my young sexual fantasies...take that Walt Disney) works like a charm with the handsome schoolteacher. *But* the best catch goes to Nancy Cary (Mills), who despite her resolution to walk feminine and talk feminine, does the exact opposite...she can't stop talking when she meets the rich Mr. Hamilton. And he finds her charming. Alas, he also shuts her up at the end of the movie when they're dancing, so there's a weird kind of double message (the spunky girl gets the best man, but getting the best man is what counts, rather than living a self-actualizing life...oh, and once she gets that man, he expects her to stop chattering on).

It is disturbring that I didn't have to look up any of these names. Also, why the hell did I like this movie? It goes against everything I believed in then and now? Croquet has a devious lure...as do gorgeous redheads in beautiful pink hats.

lindsay said...

@Anon

I don't think you've taken an opinion poll of ALL men, so until you have, please don't speak for all men. Even within a random sampling of ten men, their taste in women (or, god forbid, men) is different. Why? Because the people that make up this planet are not uniformly the same and thus, their tastes in partners are not the same.

Your opinion /= everyone's opinion.

Anonymous said...

I don't think you've taken an opinion poll of ALL men, so until you have, please don't speak for all men. Even within a random sampling of ten men, their taste in women (or, god forbid, men) is different. Why? Because the people that make up this planet are not uniformly the same and thus, their tastes in partners are not the same.

Your opinion /= everyone's opinion.


Saying that heterosexual males want heterosexual females isn't an "opinion", it's a fact.

Amelia said...

Anonymous,

Saying that heterosexual males want heterosexual females isn't an "opinion", it's a fact.

Your understanding of humanity is so simplistic...Heterosexual men could easily be interested in bisexual females as well, just to give a single example to refute that statement.

And when you said that "Shockingly enough, men don't like/want masculine women," that was your opinion that you applied to all other heterosexual men in the world. That didn't even had to do with sexuality. It dealt with types of people. We should all be able to agree that not all people are interested in the same types of people (masculine/feminine/etc.etc.etc.).

So, what were you on about exactly?

sally said...

I LOVE this movie and this song is the number one thing I remember from it. I've always just found it hilarious, thought that might also be because Haley Mills always seemed to play really kick-ass roles.

lindsay said...

I won't lie; there is a special part of me that loves The Parent Trap mostly because of Haley Mills.

Anonymous said...

If you want to talk irony how about Haley Mills singing that song even though most of her roles were tomboys or very strong-willed girls irony indeed!