How Hollywood demonizes femininity

 I understand why femininity gets rejected. Throughout history, the connotations of femininity have often led to prejudice. Feminity, and womanhood as an extension, is often associated with outdated gender roles and various adjectives which the feminist community largely reject.

Hyper femininity is often characterised as the “girly girl”, the exaggeration of feminine qualities leaving behind very little masculine qualities.

In society, when anybody showcases an air of hyper-femininity, they are often characterised as weaker, more submissive, sensitive, passive, weak, and dependent. However, femininity is more than just an aesthetic or role. It’s an essence of somebody — inherently within them, that they can’t change.

Feminine gay men are often ostracised to a higher degree, straight feminine men are ridiculed. Lesbian feminine women are often accused of lying about their sexuality, as hyper-feminine people must be interested in men. Trans women and men struggle to either conform to or be accepted to these optional labels of femininity and masculinity, too.

Why do so many little girls claim they hate pink so much (I used to) ? Because the women who resemble the feminine archetype are always portrayed as demons. For example, in Mean Girls, the antagonist, Regina George, is the exact representation of the European beauty standard. She’s blonde, tall, skinny, loves pink and fashion, and she’s absolutely evil

Continuing with mean girls, it contributes to the demonization of hyper- femininity. (disclaimer, I absolutely loved and still love mean girls). The girliness is associated to the bullies, terrorizing the whole school.

 So we probably all know about the "ugly duckling" trope in teen movies, right ? The new girl comes into the picture, she's smart, wears glasses, and most importantly not like other girls. Nothing’s wrong with being a tomboy or not wanting to look like the women displayed in the media, it’s the way they’re portrayed differentiating themselves from these women. The whole plot of these movies consists of turning the so- called ugly duckling into a beautiful swan, obviously catering to the beauty standards of the time. Ironically, in nearly all of the movies/ series featuring this kind of trope, the “ugly duckling” is pretty since the beginning, she’s simply wearing glasses, or has any other attribute that makes her less “feminine” and desirable than others. All these transformations are made to reach one simple goal : so that the ugly duckling can cater to the male gaze. She’s not like other girls but she resembles them, how perfect ?

other sources that I used :

https://youtu.be/FDEOZqnJMqI 

The Denigration of the Hyper-Feminine Woman | by Katie Anderton | Fearless She Wrote | Medium