Girl Power

In today's class we discussed gender roles in marriage, love, sex, parenting, and society. I was sitting there being a loud-mouth, as usual, and BAM! Powerpuff girls popped into my head, specifically the episode with Femme Fatale, the feminist villain. This episode, Equal Fights, is about a female villain who convinces the girls that they are under appreciated in society because they are girls.

So here are the details: Femme Fatale steals Susan B. Anthony coins from the bank. When she is caught by the Powerpuff girls, she convinces them that they should rebel against their town and let her go for the sake of sisterhood. She gives examples of Batman thus Batgirl, Superman thus Supergirl, and how every other superheroine is connected to male superheroes (with the exception of Wonder Woman.) Hearing this, the girls let her free and continue to beat up, ignore, and insult all the men in their lives.

Now, when I first thought about this episode, I thought "HOW AWFUL!" They made feminists out to be the villain of the episode. They made feminists look like they are just power-hungry-manipulating-women! No wonder so many young girls are disillusioned!

...and then I looked up the episode to write this blog. I read the synopsis, and bit my tongue. The episode actually goes much deeper.

In fact, the villain, Femme Fatale, is the symbol of the STEREOTYPE society gives feminists. She is manipulative, power-hungry, and all for sisterhood- but not necessarily equality. The Powerpuff girls are the REAL feminists. By the end of the episode, they realize the wrongs of Femme Fatale and understand that Susan B. Anthony was rebelling against injustice, and since it was illegal, she expected EQUAL punishment for her crime from the government. So the episode ended up being a triumph over stereotypes. The girls RESEARCHED the history of feminism and LEARNED what feminism is really about. They came to understand that the stereotype of feminism has been taken way out of hand and has left women in more trouble than it was before. Thus I applauded the episode. With the help of the other women of power in Townsville (the bank owner, police woman, teacher, and amazingly titled, Sara Bellum [the brain behind the mayor]), the girls are taught that they need to look out for fellow females, but they must not forget the males. They learn that so long as they play an EQUAL part in maintaining society, Townsville can maintain it's perfection.


HOWEVER! This argument is not completed... I do have a few qualms with miss Sara Bellum:

The Positives: She is the brain behind the mayor. She always knows the solution. She is rational and level headed. She is the REAL example of female power that everyone can strive to be (even if you aren't mixed with Chemical X.) She is a positive influence for young girls watching the show BECAUSE she saves the day without superpowers, and instead, with critical thinking.

Now for the negatives? LOOK AT HER! She is the stereotypical image of what beauty is "supposed" to be. Her chest is huge, her hips are huge, yet her waist is the size of her ARM! Plus, her hair is huge making the rest of her body even smaller! The only thing that may save her from this perceived attractiveness is that we never see her face, which allows us some decision of what the perfect beauty is.

But still, how far can we allow the image of a powerful female be distorted? Sara Bellum is smart (I mean she's named after the brain that controls cognitive function...) but still. Girls see her as this really powerful influence, but are we sending mixed messages on what a powerful woman is? Sara Bellum is objectified all of the time. The only way she gets out of it (which is a positive) is that she out-smarts the men.

But if this is what we expose children to, what are we telling them they have to be? Is it a positive image? Girls can be smart AND beautiful, it doesn't have to be one or the other. Or is it a negative? You can become powerful if you are smart, but you also NEED the looks to get there. How can we expect girls to live up to that standard of beauty?

I guess I shall accept the Powerpuff Girls, after all the protagonists are all female and it is a stepping stone for little girls to kick some ass.